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A review of food trends for 2020 including updates from
restaurants and chefs as well as large grocery store chains
highlight a wide range of topics but there are some common
themes among all of them. This article shares a summary of
some predictions but more importantly, it’s an invitation to
you to try some new things with food as we enter a new year
and decade!
How and Where Food is Produced
Like past years, the topic of local food is still trending.
For those of us in Northwest Ohio, we are fortunate to have
the Toledo Famers Market open all year round on Saturday
mornings and there are many options of food that is produced
and packaged in Northwest Ohio. This offers us the
opportunity to learn about the food and those who grow and
produce it for us. Another common term related to food is
“sustainable”. While this does not have one specific
meaning across all types of foods, it does suggest that the
food is grown or produced in a way that is not draining
resources, possibly addressing environmental, social or
economic concerns. If this is an important value to you,
learn about the meaning of sustainability in the foods that
you choose. Another topic that comes up with food and
sustainability is composting. More places are composting
foods on a larger scale such as restaurants, grocery stores
and entire communities. On an individual level, it is not
uncommon for backyard or community gardens to choose to
compost.
Refrigerated Snack Packs
Have you noticed the wide variety of refrigerated snack
options at the grocery store? It almost reminds me of grown
up Lunchables when I see the options of nuts, fruit and
cheese or meat, crackers and pickles. They are convenient
for times when people are out and about. Is this trend one
that you can also replicate in your kitchen? It’s not that
hard to prepare meals on-the-go that you can grab from the
refrigerator.
Popular Ingredients
Green vegetables like Brussels sprouts, kale and cabbage are
trending. One nice thing about these vegetables is their
versatility. Not only can they be prepared in healthy ways
they can also be used raw or cooked in many ways. Another
type of food that has more options than ever before is
flour. While wheat flour is common, there are many
alternative flours such as other grains, nuts or vegetables.
For whole grains, farro is an ancient grain option that is
being used more by chefs. Other grains that are popular in
other parts of the world and starting to be used more here
include fonio, teff and millet.
Global Inspiration
Foods and recipes from West Africa are noted as becoming
more popular in the US. A common base for many recipes
includes tomatoes, onions and chili peppers. In addition,
other common ingredients in West African dishes include
peanuts, ginger or lemongrass. Probably one of the biggest
challenges with global inspiration is that some of the foods
are already available at local restaurants and grocery
stores whereas others that are just gaining popularity here
might be harder to find.
This following recipe was chosen for two reasons. First,
while it celebrates food traditions and flavors of West
Africa, most of the ingredients are not hard to find in the
US. Secondly, January is known as national soup month, so
this is a delicious way to celebrate! This recipe for
African Peanut Soup can be found online at All Recipes.
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large red bell peppers, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes, with liquid
8 cups vegetable broth or stock
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon chili pepper (optional)
2/3 cups extra crunchy peanut butter
½ cup uncooked brown rice
Directions:
1.
Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium high heat. Cook
onions and bell peppers until lightly browned and tender,
stirring in garlic when almost done to prevent burning. Stir
in tomatoes, vegetable stock, pepper and chili powder.
Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
2.
Stir in rice, cover, and simmer another fifteen minutes or
until rice is tender. Stir in peanut butter until well
blended and serve.
Happy New Year!
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