Dining
Dining
The Culinary Pendulum by Susan Campbell Our insatiable need for new when it comes to cuisine has trends constantly coming and going, and often landing right back where we started when everything old becomes new again. So let’s have a look at the foodie landscape over the ages and where the pendulum might be heading today.
The original creative chefs
Creative cooking through chemistry
It’s remarkable to imagine how early man (and woman) figured out how to not only feed themselves, but also to discover ways to improve the taste of their food by trial and error. Discovering what was, and what was not edible must have certainly resulted in a few fatalities! They were certainly brave those first innovative chefs. So we have them to thank for pioneering the culinary landscape through experimentation.
As if chefs didn’t have enough to work with to prepare creative dishes with foodstuffs, they brought the chemistry lab into the kitchen to make insanely futuristic dishes like disappearing transparent raviolis made with edible paper. Experimenting with liquid nitrogen, centrifuges, antigriddles, and the like, they discovered a brave new world where they could manipulate the very molecular makeup of ingredients to invent completely new tastes and textures. Deconstructing classic dishes and reformatting them in entirely new versions became an art form in itself. Today, that art form is still evolving and delighting diners everywhere.
Food trends through the ages
Since the ability to refrigerate food became commonplace in the forties, just about every restaurant could stock items for later use, which really changed chefs’ whole approach to cooking and menu creation. And every decade since has had its breakout dishes. In the fifties, think casseroles and prepackaged foods. In the sixties, it was all about French cuisine thanks to Julia Child. Remember chateaubriand served tableside and flambéed baked Alaska for dessert? The seventies are when fondue became all the rage and fast food began to hit the forefront of daily life. The eighties were all about Asian and sushi and pizza, while the nineties heralded healthier eating. Throughout the decades the pendulum has swung from small, stacked portions of food inspired by nouvelle cuisine where plating became a high art form, to super-sizing everything with massive all-you-can-eat buffets… and then back again. After that, molecular gastronomy changed the game.
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Alternative diets get some respect
At the forefront of the last decade, alarm bells about trans fats, refined sugar and additives, and chemicals and preservatives that were adversely affecting the body sent chefs scrambling back to the proverbial drawing board to create more healthy offerings. Food allergies also became a concern, and people began seeking alternatives for dishes using ingredients like gluten and peanuts. As well, a growing movement toward organic and cruelty-free options surfaced, while new buzzwords like “superfoods” (relating to foods that were naturally rich in disease-fighting agents) became part of our everyday nutritional lexicon. The challenge for chefs was to create dishes that addressed all of these concerns yet still contained inviting flavors and consistencies and could be offered within
a reasonable budget. Fortunately, there have been great strides in all of these areas. Today, those with restricted diets – either by choice or by necessity – are enjoying a wide range of brilliant, alternative options. And vegetarians aren’t confined to the salad bars anymore when there are dishes like portobello mushroom filled with spinach and herb-garlic cream cheese with truffle risotto and balsamic vinegar reduction on tap! In our quest to eat healthier, new superfoods are being discovered every year. Anything naturally purple seems to be hailed as superfood royalty these days: grapes, eggplant, blueberries and blackberries, plums, red cabbage, purple cauliflower, and now beets! And due to its cancer fighting agents, cauliflower is being touted as the new kale, so watch for all kinds of different incarnations of that well-known vegetable. Flour for pastry is also evolving (or backtracking really), going retro from refined by using ancient grains like quinoa, ground chia, or whole wheat. And vegetable crust for healthier and gluten-free pizza is also on the rise! Natural sweeteners like agave, wild honey, stevia, and coconut sugar are replacing refined white sugar in many dishes. Turmeric, an ancient Middle Eastern spice used in healing for centuries, also seems to be the healthy flavoring wave of the future. Add it to your cooking for a zingy, gingery blast (either fresh or dried), and enjoy its many healing properties from anti-inflammatory benefits to improving cognitive function. !
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