Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/173967
food trends This month we look at bite-size bagels, the iced coffee craze, millennial dining habits and more. BY DENISE SHOUKAS Taking one of New York City's iconic foods—the bagel—and spinning it into a more bite-size experience has paid off for co-owners of Bantam Bagels, Nick and Elyse Oleksak. They've created the first doughnut hole–size bites of bagel dough stuffed with a variety of fillings, from the Weekend Brunch, an everything bagel bite filled with lox, tomato and red onion cream cheese, to the Summerberry Shortcake, a blueberry bagel with strawberry cream cheese. "I think they are such a hit because we are making the bagel accessible again," says Nick Oleksak. "You don't have to worry about the big doughy mass that the bagel has become over the last few years; our Bantams are bite-size and allow you to try many different flavors, from sweet to savory." As for the most popular variety: "The Bleecker Street. It's our tribute to our block and our neighbors: a pizza dough Bantam filled with John's Pizza marinara and Murray's Cheese mozzarella cream cheese and topped with Ottomanelli & Sons pepperoni." What's in a Name? Meet the Core Food Culturists First the term "gourmet" became ubiquitous, then "artisanal" was co-opted by mass-market chains. Now it seems "foodie" has fallen out of grace. PHOTO: BANTAM BAGELS BAGEL HOLES ARRIVE 2.3 million Enter the Hartman Group with a new descriptor for former foodies: number of meat goats on American farms in January 2013, up from 415,000 in 1987. The increase is attributed to the rise in immigrant populations from goat-eating countries. Core Food Culturists. Unlike those who say they are foodies but dare to Source: The Economist Never a favorite among some groups for seeming at turns silly or elitist, true food lovers are irritated nonetheless by the mainstream public applying the term to everyone who shops at a Whole Foods. include a lot of "meal assembly" in their lives, core food culturists cook from scratch and choose ingredients from specialty food markets, hyper-local producers and farmers markets, or even grow their own fruits and vegetables or raise chickens. They rarely brag about food experiences, but the group also includes those who may not cook but have eaten broadly and voraciously. Hard to say if this term will actually catch on, but with foodie fatigue on the rise, the suggestion box is out for new monikers. 14 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com HangoverFree Beer Say goodbye to the dehydration that leads to nextday hangover symptoms. Australian scientists at Griffith University's Health Institute have brewed up a hangover-free beer by adding electrolytes to two commercial beers—one regular strength and one light beer. End result: The light beer was three times more hydrating than normal beer.