Bringing self-sufficiency and sustainability home FOOD TRENDS from page 19 Justin Copious Joffe
Justin Copious Joffe
allergies, especially gluten,” Rosenberg, of Blackbelly Market, says. “So our menu, without even trying that hard, is very Paleo-friendly. We do a lot of meat and a lot of vegetables so that kind of falls into play with gluten intolerance. The dairy thing is a little tougher; I like to work with butter. But the wheat/gluten thing has become pretty easy for us.” Alec Schuler, owner of Arugula restaurant, says the eaters are making a shift to a more casual environment.
20
Menus should be understandable for the average Joe. For Schuler, adapting menu items to be palatable for those of us who didn’t go to culinary school was a necessary lesson in adapting to new trends. “We had a corn risotto topped with heirloom tomatoes and alto
adige speck [at Arugula],” Schuler says. “But the average Joe might not think of those combinations together, even though it was delicious. So, I thought, let’s just give them paella or squash risotto — something they can immediately identify with. People want it more casual and more relaxed, not ‘I can’t pronounce the name of that dish. What is it?’” But that doesn’t mean that restaurant-goers will be talked down to. “The dining public is much more educated about food now,” Rosenberg says. “People really want to know where the ingredients come from, so sourcing is probably one of the most important things great chefs and great restaurants are doing — knowing exactly where the food is coming from and working with great farms, great