Tune In To Food Trends This Season With Nestlé Professional

With winter fast approaching, now is the time to add some sparkle to your winter menu and it is easier than you might think to bring this season’s latest food trends to life…

Three trends set to soar are:

1. Eat Brazil:  With Brazil set to host the World Cup and Olympics in the next two years, Brazilian cuisine is set to be a mega-trend here.

2. Part-time vegetarians:  Thanks to the rise of the ‘vegivore’ and the growing demand for healthier eating, a new breed of meat eater is choosing to eat vegetarian and ‘flexitarianism’ is set to be a mega trend this winter.

3. Quirky Presentation:  From Heston Blumenthal’s ‘The Sound of the Sea’ to Restaurant Story’s ‘Three Bears porridge’, theatre and artistry is set to be huge.

Download our latest trend guide now to find out how you can bring this winter’s latest food trends to life with delicious, seasonal recipe suggestions from CHEF®, DOCELLO™ and MAGGI®.

For more trends and recipe inspiration check out the MAGGI® website at www.maggi.co.uk/professional, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter today.

For more information about Nestlé Professional® please call the customer care line on 0800 742842.

For more inspiration and recipe videos from the MAGGI chefs, have a look at our YouTube channel at  https://www.youtube.com/user/MaggiProfessional?feature=watch

On Trend: Brazilian food in the spotlight

The founders of Cabana talk Business, Brazil and Barbecues…

With Brazilian food currently going down a storm in the capital, Jamie Barber and David Ponte (pictured above), founders of the award winning Cabana Brasilian Barbecue restaurant brand, tell us about the highs and lows of running a thriving business and what inspires them…

Who/what inspired you to set up Cabana?

D: I was born in Rio and have always had an immense love for Brasil. My father is French Moroccan and my first foray into the restaurant business was founding Momo with Mourad Mazouz.  With Momo, we were part of a growing movement to make Moroccan food mainstream in London, and I had always hoped to do the same for Brasilian food.

J: I have been in the restaurant business since founding Hush in Mayfair in 1999 and have always been fascinated by the idea of “Brasilian Barbecue” i.e. freshly grilled meat brought to the table on huge metal skewers.  When I met David I realised we had a golden opportunity to really make this concept work in London.

What makes the Cabana brand stand out in such a competitive market?

Simply put, there is no-one else in the market today who has taken the traditional concept of the churrascaria (Brasilian Barbecue) and updated it for the 21st century.  There are multiple Italian chains within the ‘inspirational casual dining’ sector, a myriad of burger restaurants and Mexican food is continuing to rise in popularity, but there is only one Cabana!

How do you react to the changing marketplace?

We are constantly renewing our menus and reviewing customer feedback. We both also eat out (perhaps too much!) as we like to make sure we’re aware of the latest trends whilst still staying true to the brand.  A great example is the Picanha Burger: David has always wanted to put Picanha (Brasil’s favourite cut of steak – the Cap of Rump) on the menu, but Jamie realised that some customers would dislike this cut, which comes with a layer of fat on the top.  When the burger trend took off, we realised that a Picanha Burger was a great way of being part of the zeitgeist whist putting our own stamp on something with a dish that is on trend, wholly Brasilian and unique to Cabana.

What is the best piece of business advice you’ve ever been given?

D: “Look after your customers and the business will look after itself”. My father’s words…

J: “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.”

What does real Scottish food look like?

Susan Gregory, Head of Food, Nestlé Professional

The deep fried Mars Bar has a lot to answer for.

Just a mention of it has become a shorthand way of denigrating the ‘poor’ Scottish diet, of mocking a reliability upon the deep fat fryer, and of lamenting a lack of inventiveness when it comes to food innovation. But the worst thing about the deep fried Mars Bar isn’t that it tastes bad (which it does), or that it has become a placeholder for intelligent food debate (which it has), but that it prevents conversation about all the incredible, seasonal food that Scotland specialises in.

Haggis, shortbread and porridge aside, we should celebrate how good Scottish seasonal fare is, and as we wave goodbye to summer we can look forward to hearty bowls of Scotch broth. The soup, which involves slow cooking a bounty of autumnal root veg with barley and, traditionally, lamb, utilises the best of Scotland’s home-grown ingredients and prepares them into a satiating dish. September and October are great months to try using carrots, leeks, turnips, and potatoes, and Neeps and Tatties come into their own over the colder months.

The growth of the Casual Dining Sector and new food trends for British cuisine have aligned to highlight dishes such as Scotch Broth, which is enjoying a voguish return to menus in pubs and restaurants up and down the country. The Scran and Scallie, an upmarket Edinburgh-based gastropub opened by Michelin-starred Tom Kitchin and Dominic Jack earlier this year, give their ‘Sheep’s Heid Scotch Broth’ pride of place on the a la carte and fixed price menu.

The Scran and Scallie is doing important work to remind us what a wonderful natural larder Scots have, by highlighting regional classics that have been somewhat neglected in recent years as imports and pre-prepared meals came to dominate kitchen cupboards. Cock-a-leekie, a chicken and leek broth, is a delicious concoction with all the cathartic, revitalising promises of a classic chicken soup, and their sausage and mash is a reminder that comfort food can be just as seasonal and wholesome as any other dish. And not a deep fat fryer in sight.

There’s yer dinner…

Vegetarianism: Flash in the pan or slow-cooked trend?

Susan Gregory, Head of Food, Nestlé Professional

Scotland, the land famed for its fine meat – the Aberdeen Angus steak, black pudding, the square sausage and haggis to name but a few…. but how does that work with the latest food trend – part-time vegetarianism?

Pretty well it seems – vegetarianism is no longer the preserve of hippies or those who scorn the idea of eating something ‘cute’. The uptake of vegetarianism and veganism on a part-time basis has been the accumulation of several trends floating around in the foodie ether. Paul and Linda McCartney have been advocating ‘Meat-Free Mondays’ for years, and Gwyneth Paltrow’s recently-published It’s All Good is further proof that vegetarian doesn’t mean tasteless.

And Scotland has embraced this trend to great success as Peta recently named Glasgow the most Vegan-friendly city in the UK.

We all know that ‘Foodie’ culture has never been stronger and there are more TV shows dedicated to food than ever before, so it comes as little surprise that Scots have been engaged in debates about vegetarian food and have agreed that meat needn’t be the only source of protein in our diets. To this end, The University of Glasgow was proud to be the first UK University to be accredited by The Vegan Society.

Colin Kearney, manager of Mono, a vegan restaurant in Glasgow’s city centre which was recently named ‘Best place to Eat’ at the 2014 Vegfest Food Festival Awards has watched his customer base and profits grow as more and more people are open to trying plant-based dishes. “A lot of our customers don’t follow a strict vegan diet – in fact, most of them aren’t even vegetarian. They come to Mono because they are interested in food and exploring new ways of eating.”

It seems that part-time vegetarianism may well be here to stay…