{"id":38014,"date":"2018-01-08T08:10:44","date_gmt":"2018-01-08T13:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=38014"},"modified":"2018-01-21T10:04:08","modified_gmt":"2018-01-21T15:04:08","slug":"local-chefs-make-2018-predictions-spoiler-alert-its-all-about-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=38014","title":{"rendered":"Local chefs make 2018 predictions; spoiler alert it’s all about local"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Cathy Branciaroli<\/strong>,\u00a0Food Correspondent , The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Cooking and eating local will continue to be a top trend in 2018.<\/p><\/div>\n

Well, it\u2019s that time of year, time for prognostication concerning foods we will or should hunger for in 2018.\u00a0 The national associations and food producers have all weighed in on what\u2019s hot for the coming year, along with what\u2019s pass\u00e9 from 2017 \u2013 think main courses in Mason jars.<\/p>\n

According to restaurant consultants Baum and Whiteman of New York, \u201cplant based\u201d foods will become very popular.\u00a0 We would call this farm to table, with the emphasis on the fruits and vegetables supplied there.\u00a0 They note that 31% of Americans practice meat-free eating at least once a week.<\/p>\n

It appears that we are ahead of this national trend, as local foods have been a popular choice in our area for some time. Think about all the farmers markets that have blossomed across the county.<\/p>\n

Scott Finneran, a chef at the Four Dogs Caf\u00e9 in Marshallton agrees with this philosophy but goes a step farther.\u00a0 In addition to purchased fruit and vegetables, Scott advocates what he calls \u201chyper local\u201d foods, meaning that restaurants or home cooks are growing and cooking produce they grow in their own yards or at least from gardens within walking distance.<\/p>\n

Nick Farrell, chef\/owner of Sovana Bistro in Kennett Square believes that people are thinking more now about food as nourishment or medicine.\u00a0 He also noted a trend that was not on the national organizations\u2019 lists, which is that of individualized eating.\u00a0 He said that diners today expect that specific requests will be honored, if not on the menu then in terms of the request.\u00a0 Check out Nick\u2019s upcoming website http:\/\/www.dineable.com\/<\/a> for help making healthy dining choices.<\/p>\n

Chef Finnaren echoed diners\u2019 demand for allergy, vegan or gluten-free among other special requests.\u00a0 He said that when he began cooking in restaurants, such choices were not the norm.\u00a0 Now he said that a sizable portion of Four Dogs diners have specific needs they expect to be honored.\u00a0 They want to see dishes that are part of their own lifestyles on menus<\/p>\n

Tim Baker, executive chef at The Whip Tavern in Unionville, pointed out a growing preference for food that diners don\u2019t have to deconstruct.\u00a0 These dishes can just be picked up and eaten.\u00a0 Simple and straightforward food seems to be what people want these days, he said.<\/p>\n

Two areas where our chefs agreed with the national gurus were the demand for sustainable food practices and for ethnic dishes, including Italian, Indian and Mexican or dishes that mix these foods together.\u00a0 However they disagreed with the pundits on boozy drinks that these research firms said are growing in popularity, particularly slushies.\u00a0 Chef Finnaren discussed that he on the other hand is experimenting with craft, non-alcoholic drinks and expects this segment to grow.<\/p>\n

So, all in all, we are set for great dining in 2018.\u00a0 Here\u2019s to enjoying it!<\/p>\n

Cathy Branciaroli also writes about her adventures in the kitchen on her award-winning blog <\/em>Delaware Girl Eats<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Cathy Branciaroli,\u00a0Food Correspondent , The Times Well, it\u2019s that time of year, time for prognostication concerning foods we will or should hunger for in 2018.\u00a0 The national associations and food producers have all weighed in on what\u2019s hot for the coming year, along with what\u2019s pass\u00e9 from 2017 \u2013 think main courses in Mason […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[245],"tags":[7426,10787,6727,7354,2878],"class_list":["post-38014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-featured","tag-four-dogs-tavern","tag-local-foods","tag-sovana-bistro","tag-the-whip-tavern"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38014"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38152,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38014\/revisions\/38152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}