From Peruvian food and hand pulled noodles to the happiness diet and, ahem, a load of balls, Andre Dang talks us through his foodie predictions for the year ahead.
Peruvian Cuisine
Peru’s food is a fusion of Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, Italian and Andean flavours and cooking techniques, so think Causa (a kind of layered mash and tuna mayo salad), aji amarillo (a type of chilli pepper) and Cuy (whole roast guinea pig). Peru is THE place for ceviches and tiraditos (another raw fish dish which is sliced in fine, long pieces and served without onion), as well as pisco sours.
While Tito’s has become a bit of a Peruvian foodie institution, Ceviche is due to open in London’s Soho in March, along with Lima London in Shoreditch. Across the pond, La Mar Cebicheria (a Peruvian import) has opened in New York, following a successful launch in San Francisco.
Getting Cheesy
With the British and World Cheese Awards going from strength to strength, and the popularity of the recent Cheese and Wine Festival, expect to see a greater obsession with cheese in all its forms – not just on a board, but fondue, raclette, grilled mac and cheese (it’s even on Hawksmoor’s menu, served with lobster!), rarebits and grilled cheese sandwiches.
Just one of many cheese-related events to look forward to this year is The Cheese Makers Market in Old Beaconsfield on Saturday 14 April.
Jars
We’ve seen plenty of cocktails being served in jam jars, Prohibition-style, in 2011, but 2012 looks set to see the trend expand into food too. Cupcakes in jars, pies in jars, crumbles in jars…it’ll be all the rage in 2012.
Social Dining
The rise of food blogs has set a foundation for group food experiences. Food trucks tweet their locations and flash food raves assemble underground at midnight. Tweat up is the latest way to meet and eat. And it’s not just about the food. It’s about connection, conversation and a sense of community.
Apps like Foursquare, Qype, Living Social and Yelp have shown how ‘group’ is better than ‘self’. Expect to see super food apps that bring previously unknown people together with common likes; to eat, prepare and shop together.
Organic and coordinated through these apps, these communities will emerge based on specific channels of food interest (e.g. Greek foods, raw foods, beef, vegetarian, gluten free) versus the communities of old built around similar demographics or socio-economic traits. Check out Mimi Aye’s Grazing Asia, Danny Kingston’s Allotment dinners and supper club and the recent Pork Camp for some social dining inspiration.
Aged Craft Beers
These refer to craft-brewed stouts, porters, lambics and other fuller-bodied, high-alcohol brews that have been aged for long periods of time, changing their flavour. The beers contain active yeast and will continue to ferment while they’re stored. Unlike a wine’s vintage, which signifies the characteristics of the grape harvest from a certain year, a beer’s vintage simply declares how long it’s been aged. (Brewing is less variable than winemaking).
At Mondiale de la bière 2011 in Montreal, The Moor Beer Company from Somerset was recognised for its Fusion brew, a blend of two beers aged in limousine and sherry barrels that housed five-year-old cider brandy, while Quilon now offers a vintage beer menu to go with its Michelin starred food.
A Load of Balls
There’s something rather satisfying about round morsels of food and they just seem to be getting more popular. Fried goat’s cheese balls, spherical falafel, meat balls of all kinds (including the latest – German frikadeller), bacalau or jamon croquettes, crispy arracini risotto balls and a whole selection of chicken lollipops. All involve some sort of deep frying, and as a result, are a perfect contemporary, drink-friendly finger food.
Hand Pulled Noodles
Noodles have been around for centuries, but in the constant quest for entertainment and spectacle, restaurants are opening which put the art of pulling noodles on centre stage, making their production a piece of theatre that the customers can eat afterwards. Check out Peking Garden in Hong Kong, the new M.Y. China in San Francisco and Noodle Bar in Leicester Square for some noodle pulling action.
The Happiness Diet
Off the back of the launch of a new American diet book written by Tyler Graham and Drew Ramsey, the idea that food not only impacts physical health, but also how we feel, is going to take on more prominence this year. Happiness is a biological event, and in order for our brains to fire on all cylinders, they must be properly nourished. Our neurotransmitters rely on vital nutrients like manganese, B vitamins, and healthy fats to do their jobs. So think mood foods, not superfoods, for 2012.
Fried Sweet Dough
It may sound a little too unhealthy following the festive gluttony, but churros, doughnuts and the Italian Cenci are going to be the way of things in 2012. Everyone loves a hot crispy treat, and these offer a little bit of indulgence. Churros Garcia does an excellent example in and around London, while Rachel McCormack at Catalan Cooking can be found every weekend at Maltby Street Market offering a range of tasty sweet and savoury Spanish style doughnuts.
The Great Outdoors Comes Indoors
Influenced by Noma, chefs are now moving on from ‘edible dirt’ and are instead using subtle infusions of pine needles, Douglas fir and eucalyptus to flavour sauces, rubs, meats, jus and broths.
They are also creating edible landscapes that represent where the food actually came from, such as oysters served on a rock and mushrooms in a forest of edible ‘moss’. This year will see more presentations of nature as edible art and using flowers, herbs and the garden as a source of unusual ingredients.
Yuzu
Yuzu, a Japanese citrus that has been part of the arsenal for high-end restaurants for a while now, seems poised to go mainstream. The fruit has a tart freshness that is a complex blend of grapefruit, lemon and lime and an evocative citrus fragrance. While rare to find fresh, bottled juice, vinegar, paste and powder are becoming more readily available. New products, such as Yuzu Tea (Jayone Citron Tea), Yuzu Marmalade (Sakurauchi Sa) and Yuzu Koshu chilli paste (Yakami Orchard) are starting to make their way out of Japan and into the world markets.
Paletas
Following on from our love affair with artisan gelato and limited edition ice creams, the next trend harks from Latin America. Mexico is home to paletas: intensely flavoured ice lollies that are journeying into the USA and beyond as a recent culinary trend.
The world of paletas, which translates literally as ‘trowels’, is divided in two: paletas de aguas (water-and-juice-based pops) and paletas de leche, or de crema, (milk- or cream-based pops). The icy paletas de aguas are beautiful, barely transparent and have pieces of fruit suspended throughout. Allowing you to rewind to the sticky, artificially flavoured lollies of childhood as a legitimate grown-up is what paletas will be all about to us this year. Flavours include the likes of tamarind, mango, peach, hibiscus, pineapple and cucumber and some come daringly spiked with red chillies.
