All Before Coffee

Not just coffee

Archive for August, 2011

A Chef and A Zebra

Aug 22

Posted by admin in cooking, food universe, gardening, healthy eating, lifestyle | 1 Comment

With farm markets bursting with product and flavor, it’s time for you to join the cars at the side of the road and become a chef. After all not all chefs deal with major food companies who arrive at their back door with a week’s worth of supplies. Sure that’s fine for paper towels, but produce and meats. Nope.
You can be a modern-day chef who visits a garden or works with a farmer and makes his meals based on what’s in market or at the stands. Now’s the time to practice creativity and elevate the basic recipes as you try fresh-picked possibilities.  Emails are overflowing with peach teasers as the East Coast bounty is turning the basic peach lover into a peach canner or at least one who freezes slices for smoothies. Of course, tomatoes are filling baskets and corn readies itself for new grill recipes. Here’s a simple trick: Wash, husk corn, and put it on the grill. Let it make its popping sound; turn, and repeat til kernels beg to be eaten. The sounds of summer.
What’s stopping you? The answer should be: Nothing. The produce is so fresh, brimming with an aura of jus’ picked begging for your attention. This is what a chef who markets does. Chefs, sous chefs, or even line cooks who are on a mission buy the freshest items possible. That’s how a daily menu works. Sure there are plenty of stand-bys, but daily specials thrive in a market environment. Home cooks can do it; it’s not that hard. Shop, talk to the produce stand people, and hit “Epicurious” for strategies. Time to be creative.

Here’s a simple exercise: Zebra heirloom tomatoes, small yellow potatoes, pickling cukes, corn beggin’ to be husked, and peaches of every size and variety (try the new darling donut peach). Add a protein and your bounty meal is bursting with flavor. However you dance the ingredients, they are ready for your creative tong.

Now’s the time to practice. The market waits for no one.

 

 

Tags: , , , ,

Riding the Popularity Bandwagon–The G-F Driver

Aug 15

Posted by admin in gluten-free, health, lifestyle, news, shopping | No Comments

Who could have imagined a year ago that Gluten-Free products would top the popularity charts. This is not a trend but a reality of marketing. G-F products, of course, are needed by those with celiac disease but have become a preferred choice for many other individuals who recognize how much better they feel when they eliminate the flours that cause distress. Grocers, restaurants, big chains, and even small cafes have figured out how they can capture some of this market.

The Bloomberg Businessweek issue for August 15-28 has a great cover shot for the “Popularity Issue” and inside awards its top spot to the Gluten-Free Diet which they say is being driven by those with celiac disease and the 15% of consumers who purchase these products and “help create a $2.6 billion market.” What has happened has occurred with an ease that often does not accompany most product rollouts which can be slow and focused on test markets. Now, big name manufacturers are vying for space alongside the stalwart G-F leaders such as Bob’s Red Mill and Udi’s. When you see 2 loaves of Rudi’s G-F multigrain bread at Costco you see a sea change, and a price drop. Let’s see, 2 loaves at the big box for about half the cost of a single one at the regular store!

The race is on.

More grocers are demonstrating their understanding of the growing numbers by integrating the G-F product line rather than isolating it into a small corner of the store. Sure shelves are often still marked with flip signs indicating a G-F product, but even that has somewhat lessened as consumers recognize the product labeling with the GF symbol. We’ve talked plenty about how obvious products are now quick to boast of their new popularity status. Lea & Perrin’s Worcestershire Sauce remains my best go-to example, but the Chex family should not get excluded from their big bold banners. Wait, now Rice Krispies has the bold banner.

If you think you’ve seen a lot of GF products at the grocers and been passed GF restaurant menus, you’ve barely scraped the surface. Who wouldn’t want to be part of this impressive marketing action?

Not a trend, but a lifestyle choice with a wide arena for traditional companies to make the jump into the G-F universe! Expect to see more such gotcha labels.

Tags: , , , ,

GF Regs Re-Open for Comment

Aug 4

Posted by admin in Administration, FDA, food recalls, gluten-free, health, news | No Comments

It is a tad ironic to mention on one hand how the phrase “Gluten-Free,” or GF as it is listed on many products, has become mainstream knowledge. Yet, the other hand frantically waves for attention as the FDA has extended the comment period for 2007 regs on labeling food “gluten-free” for an additional 60 days. Wait, 2007 regs are not yet finalized and put into law? What is wrong with this picture?

Let’s see where to begin. How about chronologically? As in this is August 2011 and comment submission materials are now due in early October! Have we not wasted 4 years in trying to figure out how to help individuals who are by illness, as in Celiacs, in need of certified foods? The FDA says we are only talking about 1 % of the population that struggles with Celiac. I struggle with that low percentage for it hardly seems a day passes without more attention to this illness. Celiac research paints a different picture, a more startling numeric: 1 in 133 American people has Celiac, according to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness.

How about the people who are gluten intolerant? That number is certainly growing. The FDA focus is only on the US, but we know some countries, such as Ireland, have taken the lead on product identification and restaurant preparedness. Sure, more restaurants in the states are offering gluten-free menus and increasing their range of selections, but what about the security issue? Everyone needs to be certain that what is labeled or described as GF, truly has zero gluten.

Individuals who cannot tolerate gluten continue to struggle with dining out choices as they fear the separation of foods may not be tightly monitored. These are not whimsical fears. They are life-and-death matters.

So what happened to the “new” FDA that was promised to be a more responsive agency? Seems it is still buried under mounds of paper and limited in its roll-out of important mandates. What can a foodservice professional or a consumer do? React; respond within this extended deadline. Go to www.regulations.gov, and submit a comment. Follow the link.

As concerned consumers and food professionals, we cannot let this comment period slip away and allow mounds of paper to be ignored. We’ve had enough of that. GF and gluten intolerance deserve better attention and protection. Now.

Tags: , ,