Now that the recent Paula Deen brouhaha is past us, what can we learn from it? 

To me, the positive outcome is the attention it’s brought to the role of diet in managing type 2 diabetes. No amount of medication (even $500-a-month injections) can override careless eating.

Yet, what people  need to eat if they do have diabetes is not as restricted as many folks think.  

Sure, it’s probably best to forgo Paula’s famous bacon and egg burger that’s sandwiched between  two glazed donuts or skip her deep-fried mac n’ cheese, but a ‘diabetic diet’ (an outdated term no longer used) is not all that different from the basic tenets of healthy eating. 

Now experts say people with diabetes should follow the same type of eating plan as the rest of us, with an emphasis on fiber-filled whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean protein, low-fat dairy, and ‘good’ fats.

Even so, there’s been no shortage of  sugar-free, diabetes-friendly foods showing up in supermarkets.  Yet some experts I talked to believe the growing popularity of ‘diabetic foods’ simply perpetuates a myth.  That was the topic of my latest post for WebMD’s  Real Life Nutrition.  Hope you’ll check it out and leave a comment.

One of the experts I consulted was registered dietitian Hope Warshaw, a certified diabetes educator and author of the American Diabetes Association’s book Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy.

“What is a diabetic food?  There are no special foods that people with diabetes need to eat.  We do a disservice to people by having them think they need to run out and buy special foods.”

Warshaw says the nutrition recommendations for people with diabetes are the same as the general public – no rigid diet and no need to go low-carb or limit your selections to sugar-free foods. In fact, the no-sugar myth is one of the biggest misconceptions about diabetes, according to registered dietitians Karen Chalmers and Amy Campbell, authors of the American Diabetes Association’s book 16 Myths of a Diabetic Diet. This easy-to-read book busts the most common myths about diabetes and cleverly compares the old and new methods for managing the disease.

Sugar has always been intrinsically linked to diabetes. It was even referred to as ‘sugar diabetes’ in the past because people mistakenly believed that eating too much sugar was the cause. For years, people with diabetes were advised to eliminate all sweets to avoid overloading the blood with glucose. Now researchers recognize that sugar has an impact on blood glucose that’s similar to other carbohydrate-containing foods. Today’s emphasis is on keeping track of total carbohydrates rather than strictly avoiding all sugar.

Even if all carbohydrates impact blood glucose levels in similar ways, they do differ nutritionally. Experts still advise choosing whole grains, fruits, vegetables and legumes – in place of concentrated sweets or ‘simple’ carbs. Sugary foods and beverages can add a lot of empty calories and make it more difficult to maintain a healthy weight, which is important for managing type 2 diabetes.

So that’s where some sugar-free options that contain minimal calories (particularly beverages) can be helpful. However, some of the products on the market may not be as beneficial as people think. Many sugar-free candies, cookies, cakes and ice creams contain nearly the same amount of calories and carbohydrates as their real-sugar counterparts. That’s particularly true for sugar-free foods made with polyols or sugar alcohols (such as sorbitol, mannitol and xylitol).

Diabetes cookbooks are changing to reflect the new thinking and you’ll start to see books that no longer have such a heavy reliance on artificial sweeteners. One example is Jackie Newgent’s The All-Natural Diabetes Cookbook, which uses real sugar in recipes and emphasizes unprocessed, whole-food ingredients.

You can even have your favorite comfort food if you have diabetes, as demonstrated in the American Diabetes Association’s latest book The Diabetes Comfort Food Cookbook by culinary nutritionist Robyn Webb. The book features lasagna, meat loaf, mac n’ cheese, and cake — along with the message: “Just a tweak here and there and familiar foods can remain favorites, guilt-free, and enjoyed every day.”

Maybe Paula Deen won’t have to make so many changes after all. But a few tweaks would certainly be good.

Images courtesy of Jeff Houck and Yummies 4 Tummies on flickr.

If you’re a regular reader, then you know I love food trends.  I’ve already written about several 2012 food trend predictions.

So there’s nothing wrong with following the trends and tracking what’s hot, but sometimes it’s good to kick it back old school.  Trendy foods get all the glory, yet there are plenty of foods that are worthy of your attention even though they’ve fallen out of fashion.  That was the topic of my latest  post on WebMD’s blog Real Life Nutrition.  Hope you’ll check it out.

For my article, I asked a few of my registered dietitian colleagues to name some unsung foods that they think are worthy of moving back into the limelight.  I got so many great responses, but only had room in my article to include these top five old-school eats:

Prunes.

Image courtesy of Suprinarck on flickr

Even the name of this fruit is old-school. Now your grandma’s stewed prunes are officially known as dried plums. Maybe this rebranding will spark a renewed interest in this nutrient-rich fruit. That’s what Virginia-based dietitian Lisa Raum, RD hopes will happen. Dried plums are packed with potassium and they’re extremely versatile – easily at home in sweet and savory dishes, such as stews and casseroles. For easy snacking, you can now find individually-wrapped packages of dried plums (marketed as “America’s Super Fruit”) that are ideal for satisfying your sweet tooth instead of candy.

Barley.

Image of barley risotto courtesy of  Tom Dowson on flickr.

Quinoa and farro are the hot whole grains, but don’t overlook humble barley, says Cynthia Chandler, MS, RD, culinary nutritionist with Sullivan University in Louisville, Kentucky. You may think of barley for soup (or maybe as an ingredient in beer), but this versatile whole grain is an outstanding base for savory pilafs and risottos, or is a tasty, high-fiber, nutty ingredient in salads.

Canned salmon.

Image of salmon patties courtesy of jypsygen on flickr

You may have unpleasant memories of salmon croquettes from your youth, but canned salmon is a convenient, affordable option to help you up your omega-3s and meet the twice-a-week seafood recommendation, says Delia Hammock, MS, RD, a nutrition consultant in New York City. “I like to make Asian salmon patties flavored with fresh ginger and sesame, and I love salmon and white bean salad tossed with a vinaigrette,” she says. The quality of canned fish has greatly improved in recent years, and now you can find all sorts of high-quality shelf-stable fish in cans, jars and pouches.

Sun-dried tomatoes.

Image courtesy of Eric Broder Van Dyke on flickr

Trendy in the ‘90s, sun-dried tomatoes are no longer in vogue, yet culinary nutritionist Jackie Newgent, author of the Big Green Cookbook, never stopped using them. She said they provide a distinct rich color and unique smoky flavor to dishes, along with a concentrated nutrient boost. Newgent likes to simmer sun-dried tomatoes into a marinara sauce for a layered tomato taste or puree them into hummus for a snazzier dip. Or she suggests crisping sun-dried tomatoes on top of pizza in place of pepperoni. One of her favorite crowd-pleasers is sun-dried tomato and goat-cheese pizza.

Romaine lettuce.

Image courtesy of Cookiespi on flickr

Dark leafy greens like kale, collard greens and micro greens are what’s hot, but New York dietitian Rachel Begun, MS, RD, author of The Gluten Free RD is fond of romaine lettuce. She calls this lettuce a “gateway vegetable” to eating other greens. Its milder taste is widely accepted and shows people that they can, in fact, like greens and so may be more likely to try other salad greens, she said. The crisp leaves are a perfect backdrop to heartier ingredients in a salad, as is the case with Caesar salads or a steak salad. But it can be enjoyed in other ways, too. Begun said romaine is delicious when braised and makes for a great lettuce wrapper for appetizers that normally might be prepared with breaded or fried wrappers. Consider the nutritional value: its high water content allows you to fill up on few calories, while also being a good source of vitamins A, K, C and folate, along with fiber and minerals.

Some additional old-school eats that dietitians told me shouldn’t be ignored include cottage cheese, buttermilk, sardines, dates, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, beets, baked beans, brown rice, rye bread, apples and bananas. What nutritious nostalgic foods come to your mind?  What’s your favorite way to kick it back old-school?

photo:  Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images

There’s been a lot of buzz today about Paula Deen announcing that she has type 2 diabetes.  And there’s been no shortage of criticism that her decadent, high-fat cooking has caught up with her — and is doing lots of harm to the American public. 

I just turned on the TV in my hotel room and there she was.  I stopped to watch her cook with her son Bobby and it was rather shocking.  In the first few minutes I heard everything from “dangerously delicious” and “guilty pleasure” to “the devil is in this kitchen today! and  “I should be arrested!”

Well, maybe so. 

OK, perhaps  not arrested.  But I do think it’s time she changes her ways.  It’s just not funny anymore.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m a passionate food lover and believe there’s a way for all foods to fit.  And I think Paula has a lot of charm, she’s an enthusiatic cook with a tremendous following.  People LOVE her.  And I think that type of dedicated following brings with it a certain responsibility.

I know Paula isn’t a nutritionist and she doesn’t claim to be.  (Although I did have a few complaints about her children’s cookbook that I previously wrote about on Nutrition Unplugged:  Paula Deen Serves Up Food Advice for Kids.)

To give her some credit, I did hear her say three times on her show that she doesn’t eat this way every day.  That’s great.  But why does she choose to cook this way on her show?  

To me, this is just a tragic missed opportunity.  We need to inspire people to cook more often.  I truly believe that’s one of the best ways we can take control of our health.  But this type of cooking is not the answer.

I wish Paula all  the best.  I just hope she can use her power now in different ways.

Am I wrong?  Doesn’t Paula have some responsibility to make some changes?  What do you think?

Paula Deen Burger by mdclarke on flickr.

Perhaps you’re inspired to make some personal changes in the new year. That’s great – as long as you have a plan in place to make it happen.

Losing weight tends to top the resolution lists for lots of folks.  If that’s your goal, just be sure to stack the deck in your favor so the changes you make stick and you achieve long-term success.

That’s the topic of my latest post for WebMD.  I wrote about  five D’s that could derail your efforts.  Avoiding these D’s could help you avoid another big D — feeling defeated.

To read more, check out WebMD’s Real Life Nutrition blog.

[image courtesy of Life Design Strategies on flickr]

I recently heard a radio commercial for a diet pill that promised to get you “high school skinny.” It just struck me how often I’m hearing the word “skinny” these days. When did skinny become the new ideal?

So many of the popular diet books seem to have skinny in the title. Have you noticed?  Perhaps the trend got started a few years ago with the success of Skinny Bitch, which is a vegan book that sparked an entire line of skinny books and products. Now you can read about the Secrets of Skinny Chicks and Unleash Your Inner Skinny while wearing your skinny jeans and sipping a skinny latte or Skinnygirl Margarita. If you’re hungry, you can grab a Skinny Cow ice cream or skinny protein bar.  The skinny marketing trend has even jumped over to the beauty aisle with skinny shampoos and skinny lotions.

Skinny is everywhere. It has certainly become a mega-empire for the Skinnygirl herself, Bethenny Frankel, who’s making a bundle with her Skinnygirl cocktails, books and other products.  Maybe skinny helps sell a lot of books and a lot of booze, but I still don’t like it. I think it sends the wrong message. That was the topic of my latest blog post for WebMD. To read more, please check out Real Life Nutrition.

Image courtesy of Shira Golding on flickr

Happy New Year to all.  Hope 2012 will bring you lots of joy, great health and good food.

What do you plan to eat more in 2012?  I suggest putting your focus on whole, real foods instead of seeking out the next big superfood.  The folks at The Hartman Group have put together an excellent report that looks at the food culture in 2012.  They say “nutritionism” is at an all time high.  This refers to celebrating or demonizing particular ingredients at the expense of the food itself, allowing the popularity of processed foods (such as potato chips with added fiber) to flourish while whole, real foods in the produce section remain uneaten.  That’s a real shame.  But it seems the tide may be turning.  More people are beginning to reject nutritionism and have become increasingly skeptical of overtly scientific functional foods.

Here’s a look at what The Hartman Group predicts will be trending up and trending out in 2012:

In: Real butter. Out: Margarine.

In: Grass-fed meat.  Out: Processed soy protein.

In: Sea salt.  Out: Low sodium.

In: Healthy fats.  Out: Fat Free.

In: Stevia. Out: Artificial Sweeteners.

In: Chicken thigh/dark meat. Out: Chicken breast/white meat.

In: Local, seasonal superfruits.  Out: Superfruits from afar.

In: Whole eggs, cage free. Out: Egg whites.

In: Farmstead cheese. Out: Processed factory cheese.

In: The Family Dinner.  Out: Activities trumping meal time.

In: Fresh produce.  Out: Excessive supplements.

In: Portion control. Out: Elimination diets.

In: Dance/Rumba.  Out: Treadmills.

In: Craft beer.  Out. Ultra Lite beers.

In: Kettle potato chips.  Out: Baked potato chips.

In. Eating dark leafy greens. Out: Drinking wheat grass shots.

Do you agree?  Are there some trends that you would like to see less of in 2012?

[photo credits:  butter: Robert S. Donovan; margarine: Roberto Verzo, eggs: Indiana Public Media; leafy greens: Guidance for Growing; wheat grass shot: Milwaukee Public Market on flickr.com]

I’m back with more trends.  I love this time of year because there are so many trend predictions from all sorts of folks (and sometimes they even agree!).  I’ve written about the 2012 food and dining trends from Technomic and Baum+Whiteman.  Now I’ve culled down some of the 2012 food trend lists from Andrew Freeman & Co. , Epicurious, the James Beard Foundation, Food Channel, National Restaurant Association, Phil Lempert, Huffington Post and Mintel. So here’s another look at 10 hot food and dining trends for the coming year.

1. 2012 will be the year of the potato.

I’m so glad to hear that since spuds have taken such a beating in the nutrition arena this year. Harvard abolished potatoes from their version of MyPlate and schools have banned them from lunch menus.  Thank goodness chefs have a different view.  Look for french fry menus that let guests choose the cut, crispness and sauce; make-your-own mashers with different mix-ins; or custom cut chips with dusts and dips to order.

(F)oxymoron on flickr

2. Grilled cheese is the new hamburger.

Restaurants are devoting special evenings or entire menus to this childhood favorite loved by kids of all ages.  There are grilled cheese food festivals, such as the Grilled Cheese Invitational in Los Angeles, and new restaurants that only sell grilled cheese sandwiches. From fast-casual and quick service (including Dunkin Donuts) to high end, expect more restaurants to develop their own signature grilled cheese sandwiches.

Sifu Renka on flickr

3. A forest of flavors.

Chefs are pine-ing for new flavors, and they’ve found it with new inspiration from the forest.  Expect to see  more flavors that use subtle infusions of pine needles, douglas fir and eucalyptus to flavor sauces, rubs, meats, jus and broths. The new Nordic pantry (inspired by Noma) includes wood sorrel, buckhorn (a tart orange berry), bark flour (made from real trees) and evergreens, including douglas fir.

Grilled steak of Berkshire Roe deer and douglas fir sausage with raw celeriac, spelt flatbread and field mushrooms at The Harwood Arms by  Purple Cloud on flickr.

4. Caneles are the new cupcakes.

Get ready for a new bakery item to replace cupcakes (well, maybe not at kids’ birthday parties).  The new hot baked good will the canele, a specialty of Bordeaux.  They’re made from an egg-yolk-enriched crepe-like batter that’s baked in copper molds lined with caramel and beeswax.  So move over cupcakes, pies and macarons, get ready for caneles to  make their mark.

Caneles by Emm Ess on flickr

5. Doughnuts get upgraded.

These irresistible fried treats have recently resurged in popularity.  Look for other regional and country-specific doughnuts, such as the Texan kolache, Turkish lokma or Portuguese malasada.  The fried sweet dough will also be showing up as churros (preferably with cajeta on the side), beignets, and koeksisters.

joyosity on flickr

6. Hand-pulled noodles.

Noodles may be nothing new, but innovative and exciting restaurants are highlighting this ancient art with glorified exhibition style hand-pulled noodles.  It’s dinner and a show.  One example includes Hand Pulled Noodles at Chef Martin Yan’s M.Y. China, which is opening Spring 2012 in San Francisco.

Hand-pulled noodles by Kattebelletje on flickr

7. Desserts veggie up.

Move over carrot cake, cutting edge pastry chefs are turning vegetables into sweet finales.  They’ll make you eat your veggies with sweet satisfaction.  This trend coincides with the wacky ice cream trend, including veggie-centric flavors like this beet ice cream.

Beet ice cream by shesimmers.com on flickr

8. Bloody good food.

I’ll admit that this one has me a bit squeamish.  The folks at James Beard believe it’s the natural step in the nose-to-tail movement (or maybe it’s our love for Twilight and all things vampires these days).  Whatever the reason, blood is appearing on menus more and more: Blood pancakes, blood pudding waffles, blood cups, sauces thickened with blood, blood ice cream.  In fact, bloody food was the cover story in the July issue of Food Arts magazine, written by Brad Farmerie of the Michelin awarded restaurant Public in NYC.  Public even featured a special bloody menu recently for an underground supper club that included Swedish blood bread, blood tofu, pig blood popsicles and horse pig blood brûlée.

Blood sausage crepes by Sifu Renka on flickr.

9. Fennel pollen

The latest in rare, must-have ingredients for chefs? An Italian favorite: fennel pollen. While Mario Batali extols its virtues, chefs far and wide are finding inventive uses for it, including Canlis in Seattle, where the powder dusts snapper sashimi. Where to get it? Try the Pollen Ranch.

Fennel pollen vinaigrette by Hawaiianbeeswax on flickr

10. Global cuisines

Previous trend reports said Korean and Peruvian cuisines will be big in 2012.  The latest lists predict a range of international cuisines:  modern Thai, fast casual Asian (like Shophouse Southeast Asian Kitchen from the folks behind Chipotle), Indian street foods, high-end Indian, Nordic, Czech, Hungarian and Eastern European.  Epicurious calls out  Singapore as one of the tastiest cities on Earth — the place to eat in 2012.

I just wrote about 2012 restaurant trends, but I’m back again.  My previous post was based on the predictions from Technomic.  This time the predictions are from Baum+Whiteman, international food and restaurant consultants in New York. They say the coming year will be all about “into the wild” as chefs go foraging for new ingredients and customers abandon comfort food for intense mix-and-match global flavors.  Korean and Peruvian cuisines will be big, and we’ll see a lot more meatballs, innards and odd parts (like tongue and beef heart), goat meat, house-made pickles, seaweed, craft beers and micro-distilleries. I pulled from their larger list of predictions to identify these 10 food and dining trends for restaurants and hotels in 2012:

1. Whole world on a plate. Look for a multi-ethnic, multi-sensory dining experience where flavors clash on purpose. Now it’s all about multi culti. A zucchini pizza dabbed with hummus and topped with crunchy wasabi peas is from nowhere geographically because it’s from everywhere. Cooking is at a crossroads where everything collides.

Fusion pizza:  Germany, Lebanon and Italy unite, by dhorst1 on flickr.

2. Korean food hits the charts. Thanks largely to food trucks, Korean food has entered the American lexicon.  Bulgogi, kimchee, kalbi, bibimbap are all the rage in Wednesday food sections, which means that shelter magazines will start featuring dumbed-down recipes in 2012.  Look for upscale places to serve items poached or braised in kimchee broth augmented with Asian and non-Asian flavors.  Showing up soon in your supermarket’s ethnic food sections will be kochujang ( red pepper paste).

Korean BBQ burger with braised short rib, kimchee ketchup and pickled vegetables by Nicknamemiket on flickr.

3. Peru gains momentum. Peru’s food is cross-pollinated by Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, Italian and Andean flavors and cooking techniques. It’s the source of the world’s most exciting ceviches and tiraditos (another raw fish dish) and it is where pisco sours come from.  Look for causas, lomo saltado, aji amarillo, antichuchos, cuy (whole roast guinea pig, legs, head and all) and tiraditos, along with vibrant, acidic fruits and juices that go into their unique raw fish preparations.

Ceviche by extramsg on flickr.

4. Innards and odd parts. Tongue, gizzards and pigs ears are moving up from ethnic neighborhoods and onto menus of upscale restaurants.  In the year ahead, look for more “wobbly cuts,” such as tripe, chicken livers that are crunch-fried and beef heart (but not brains, yet), because customers are increasingly adventurous.

Grilled beef heart and french fries by Nicknamemiket on flickr.

5. In a pickle. House-made vegetables and fruit pickles will appear on more menus as chefs concoct ever more complex ways of making these preserves.   But they’re not your grandmother’s pickles:  chefs are going global with additions of Asian fish sauce, Mexican peppers, ginger, yuzu, smoked paprika and star anise.  Kimchee is at the sweet spot of the Korean and pickling trend.  In fact, Baum + Whiteman predicts kimchee may be the ingredient of the year.

House-made pickles by Law & Food Blog on flickr.

6. Instead of bread. Look for sandwiches piled on things other than bread:  arepas, flattened tostones, bao, waffles, rice cakes.

Bao by Dust Mason on flickr.

7. Forget skyscraper architecture. Chefs are shifting from stacking food as high as possible to stringing out ingredients in caterpillar-like lines along oblong or rectangular plates.  The technique is primarily used with ceviches, tartares, sushi and sashimi, with salads as the next frontier.

Tartares of Niman Ranch Beef and Watson Farm Lamb, and Monkfish Liver with Scallions and Sea Salt by Charles Haynes on flickr.

8. Comfort food hits the wall. When the recession hit three years ago, Americans gravitated to crisis food: homey roast chicken, soothing meat loaf, voluptous mac ‘n cheese and the holy cheeseburger.  Now we’re bored by gastro-nostalgia.  Instead, we’re demanding new taste thrills and culinary invention.  Plain old roast chicken is giving way to goosed-up fried renditions, such as highly spicy, crisp Korean fried chicken. Mac ‘n cheese is being reworked with pork rillettes or with chicharrones for crunch and braised pork necks for depth. Meatloaf has taken a dive as customers opt for all manner of meatballs at twice the price.  Hamburgers are going to new heights:  bone marrow, head cheese, pastrami-and-eggs, Cajun crawfish.

Ground beef and bone marrow and lamb and pickle cucumber sliders by justine.foong on flickr.com

9. Round things that go pop in the mouth. Hot sharable bar food includes kimchee- and parmesan-filled arancini, fried goat cheese balls, spherical falafel, meat balls of all kinds, bacalao croquettes, crispy oxtail risotto balls — all of them dropped briefly in the fryer and served with multi-ethnic sauces and dips. Other contemporary, drink-friendly finger food includes mini sandwiches with banh mi flavors, Korean meatball sliders, all sorts of global chicken lollypops, ceviches, flatbreads from everywhere and fried green tomatoes.

Tuna tartare and smoked gouda croquette by stu_spivack on flickr.

10. The foragers are coming. Upscale chefs are rushing to harvest dinner from the underbrush and under rocks — or assembling dishes that looked like they might be untamed gardens.  The horticultural landscapes are sent to tables on slabs of slate, miniature rock slides, primordial wood shapes and thrown glass instead of plates.  Watch for white acorns; tips of fir needles;”dirt” made of dried and crumbled mushrooms, black olives, bulgur or sprouting grains; eucalyptus leaves; chickweed; wild ginger; wood sorrel; yarrow and sumac slip onto upscale menus.

Atelier Crenn (”poetic culinaria”) by carendt242

Buzzwords for 2012

Fresh sardines. Uni. Yuzu. Tamarind. Kalbi. Bao. Bibambap. Bulgogi. Huacatay. Bone Marrow. Ox tail. Duck. Flowers. Hibiscus. Arepas. Coconut oil. Goat meat. Shiso. Green papaya. Seaweed.  Ultra-long dry aging of meat.  Lamb ribs and belly. Hand-made ricotta and burrata. Micro-distilleries. Exotic bitters on the bar.

Braised lamb belly, cilantro sauce and quinoa puree at Mo-Chica, a Peruvian restaurant in Los Angeles, by MyLastBite on flickr.

What’s in store for us when we go out to eat in 2012?  Here’s what Technomic, a foodservice research and consulting firm in Chicago, predicts will be the seven leading restaurant trends in the coming year.

A twist on the familiar. In today’s economy, shell-shocked consumers are in no mood to take risks, but novel flavors still tingle their taste buds.  Look for comfort foods with a twist (gourmet, ethnic, artisan, wood-fired) as well as innovation in familiar formats (sandwiches, wraps, pizza, pasta) rather than breakout items taken from less-familiar global cuisines.

Mac & cheese made with fontina, dry jack fonduta and shaved black truffle topped with onion rings at Citizen’s Band by Niallkennedy on flickr.com.

Rustic fare made in-house.  Commodity costs are rising, labor costs hold steady and diners demand rustic fare, the simple preparations of fresh ingredients. The result:  restaurants will curtail purchases of value-added items in favor of cheaper cuts, beans, grains and produce that require more back-of-house prep to transform into honest, homestyle food.

Johnson’s Farm Rabbit Cassoulet with red beans, pork belly and bratwurst by Social Eatery on flickr.com.

Next steps in local sourcing. The rising use of seasonal and local items suits the less-is-more culinary trend. To facilitate purchasing, growers, manufacturers, distributors and operators continue to work toward a more transparent, safe and efficient supply chain, streamlining workflow, recording every step and reducing waste.

Power of social media. Consumers increasingly trust friends and peers more than professional marketers. They’re taking control of social media to share their restaurant experiences and opinions with the public (via review sites such as OpenTable), or with their own circles, such as Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare (and now Google+ as this article in QSR Magazine reviews).  This helps some restaurants rocket to popularity and leaves others quiet.

Image courtesy of WaterStreetCC on flickr.com

Transparency rules. Restaurant customers are looking for disclosure of everything from calories and allergens on menus to labor and local-sourcing practices.  A small but growing number are serious about nutrition, labeling, sustainability and community involvement, and they are using this knowledge to make purchasing decisions.

Resistance to discounting. The foodservice industry will continue to operate in a take-share environment, but discounting is cutting to the bone.  To counter daily deals and other forms of discounting, operators turn to creative, sometimes in-the-moment, methods to reward their best customers, such as a free dessert out of the blue.

Brands expand through flexible formats.  Format flexibility is required as restaurants cater to new around-the-clock day parts, switch gears from fast-casual by day to full-service at night, or transform their kitchens into catering commissaries during slow times.  This flexibility is also evidenced in streamlined, high-effeciency smaller-footprint units and brand extensions.

Michael Kornick’s Fish Bar in Chicago by sbbenhcs on flickr.com.

Michael Kornick’s DMK Burger Bar in Chicago by Kidltamap on flickr.com.