Food Trends & Nouvelle Cuisine

• Trends in Dining, Context and Projections

Market Segmentation Approach to Food Trends

• The XTC trends tree has 'trends' at the top, the 'axis' in the middle and the 'consumer' at the botton
• Trends include: exoticisim, fun, vegetal, slimness, cosmetics, time saving, solidarity, sophistication, variety of senses, natural, medical, energy well-being, easy to handle, nomadism and ecology
• The axis includes: pleasure, health, phyiscal, convenience and ethics

Early Food Movements

• Hippocrates stated "Let food be thy medicine"
• Traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda are systems, and not trends or movements
• Many food philosophers warned against excess
• Epicurus (341-270 BC) stated “We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink."
• Socrates(469-399 BC) stated “Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat."
• Confucius (551–479 BCE) professed "Coarse rice for food, water to drink, and the bended arm for a pillow-happiness may be enjoyed even in these."

Trends vs Fads

• A trend is defined as a general development or change in a situation or in the way that people behave
• A trend signals a permanent shift
• A fad is "a style, activity, or interest that is very popular for a short period of time
• Fads have no influence over the general direction in which things are moving

Identifying a Food Trend

• Ways to identify a food trend includes finding out what kitchens are working on before they hit the menu, use social media & chef discussion groups, analyse consumer reactions & posts
• Identify a food trend, includes paying attention to growing concepts and design, and the demographic being targeted and observe the supply chain
• How other industries are affecting or inspiring the food industry and insight and ideas they offer are signals for identifying a food trend

Trend Life Cycle

• Embryonic stage: exclusive, rare, elite
• Early adopters: the trend gets airtime from specialists but is still rare and financially risky
• Mainstream: intrepid consumers embrace the movement and post about it on social media. Eventually skeptical consumers adopt it too
• Tapering off: the trend is no longer unique and adopted/replicated by mainstream businesses. The trend may be pushed to the level of ridicule to maintain its relevance and freshness, still appeals to latecomers but is now commercial
• End stage: the trend is viewed as dated but the "best" of the trend (production methods, ingredients etc) remains in most kitchen arsenal or repertoire

Nouvelle Cuisine

• Nouvelle Cuisine started in 1973
• Nouvelle Cuisine relates to both Health and Aesthetics
• Pierre Troisgros, Paul Bocuse, Michel Guérard, Roger Vergé, Louis Outhier, and Alain Senderens are key chefs of the movement
• Henri Gault and Christian Millau, popularized the cuisine who are the duo behind the famous Gault&Millau restaurant guide, a rebellion against the conservative principles of the Michelin Guide
• Nouvelle Cuisine Commandments include not overcooking, using fresh quality products, lighten up the menu and avoid systemically modernist
• The commandments also mention seeking out new techniques, avoiding pickles, cured game meats and fermented foods and eliminate rich sauces, and not ignoring dietetics
• Finally, not doctoring up presentations and being inventive are important as well

The End of Nouvelle Cuisine

• Nouvelle Cuisine is largely assimilated into the mainstream of cooking
• Nouvelle Cuisine has been ridiculed in the mainstream, it has lightened French cuisine and brought a sense of honesty to dishes

The "Health" Movement

• Low Fat Diets started in the 1940s
• Seed oils replaced animal fats as a healthier alternative
• This resulted in a surge of obesity and cardiovascular disease
• Weight Watchers started in the 1960s

Modern Food Trends : Health

• Health Trends fit into three categories: Medical, Natural and Plant-Based
• Medical: functional ingredients promote good health and prevent or even treat disease
• Natural: minimally processed foods that reassure consumers with their “natural” qualities
• Plant-Based: ingredients derived partly or wholly from plant sources
• Paleo Diet started in 2002
• 2010 was the rise of Coconuts and "Superfoods"
• Gluten-Free diets became popular in 2013, Veganism was in 2017 with Ketogenic Diet in 2018
• Digestive Health also became important in 2018

Food and the World

• Canada's Food Guide has moved from a pyramid structure to a plate

Vegetarianism and Veganism

• Key reasons why people are reducing meat consumption relate to health and the environment
• In Canada, 7.6% are vegetarians, 4.6% are vegans (2020)
• In the USA, 5% are vegetarians, 3% are vegans (2018)
• In the UK, 25.8% are vegetarians, 4.4% are vegans (2019)
• Calls to switch entirely to plant-based foods might ignore grazing and browsing animals
• How healthy is industrially grown soya, maize and grains? What is the ethics of driving up demand for these crops requiring fertilizer, fungicides, pesticides and herbicides?
• Sustainable forms of livestock farming can restore soils and biodiversity, and sequester carbon
• Eating less meat and dairy are healthy choices and protect against cardiovascular disease, by reducing obesity and lowering cholesterol
• Little is known about the long-term consequences of veganism and whether it hold significant advantages over an omnivorous / vegetarian diet
• Education and financial resources are necessary for the diet to performed optimally
• The value of the global vegan food market is set to reach $24.3bn by 2026, with Vegan cheese alone is expected to develop into an industry worth nearly $4bn

Slow Food

• Slow Food relates to: Animal welfare, ethical social economic concerns, environment and health
• Founded in 1986 by Carlo Petrini in Bra, Italy and is promoted as an antidote to "fast food"
• Slow Food’s goal is "to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life and combat people's dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us."
• The Ark of Taste travels the world collecting small-scale quality productions that belong to the cultures, history and traditions of the entire planet: fruits, vegetables, animal breeds, cheeses, breads, sweets and cured meats

Slow Food Philosophy

• Slow Food philosophy is based on 3 interconnected principles: good, clean, and fair
• Good means quality, flavorsome and healthy food
• Clean means production that does not harm the environment
• Fair means accessible prices for consumers with fair conditions and pay for producers

Slow Food Structure

• Worldwide, there are over 1,500 Slow Food communities
• To realize its projects and ambitions, Slow Food created these entities: the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity founded in 2003
• The Terra Madre Foundation was founded in 2004 to support the growth of a global network of food communities, chefs, academics and youth working for a sustainable food system
• The University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNISG) was opened in 2004 to educate future food professionals

Farm To Table

• Farm to Table relates to: Ethical social economic concerns and environment
• The movement promotes sourcing ingredients directly from local farms rather than through longer + distant supply chains

Pros and Cons of farm to table

• Produce is picked when ripe, resulting in much better flavour and nutrient concentration + suited for simpler menus and synergies with farm and restaurant when chefs are involved in the chosen farm
• It also means there is much less green house gases due to shorter transport and it will help boost local economies to support local

Molecular Gastronomy as a precursor to Modernist Cuisine

• Molecular Gastronomy is the scientific discipline that explores the phenomena occurring during culinary transformations
• It is focused on phenomena occurring during the preparation of dishes and unlike traditional approaches of food science, considers mostly chemistry, physics, or biology of food ingredients and industrial transformation
• It combines Food scientists, culinary scientists, food engineers, and chefs collaborating within these areas, whether in the kitchen or in industry

Molecular to Modernist Cuisine

• Public misunderstanding, copycats, gimmick addicts, commercialism and gastronomic mediocrity caused the founding chefs of the molecular movement to abandon it
• They rekindled their original intentions under the name "Modernist Cuisine"

Modernist Manifesto

• Three basic principles guide cooking: excellence, openness, and integrity
• Cooking values tradition, builds on it, and along with tradition is part of the ongoing evolution of our craft
• Embrace innovation - new ingredients, techniques, appliances, information, and ideas - whenever it can make a real contribution to our cooking
• Modernist cooking believes that cooking can affect people in profound ways, and that a spirit of collaboration and sharing is essential to true progress in developing this potential

More Food Trends

• Nose-To-Tail relates to: Ethical social economic concerns and animal welfare
• Zero Waste relates to: Ethical social economic concerns and environment

Ethnic Foods

• There is some discussion that ethnic foods have a 3 year rotation

Concerns About Calling an 'Ethnic' Cuisine a Trend

• When "ethnic" cuisines becoming trendy, it is usually based solely on their approval by white people
• If a trend improves their material condition, what do the original communities the people of colour get from a trend
• More often than not, eating a food does not translate to respect for the people who make that food

Forward Looking Trends

• Mindfulness involves the new consumer attitude, mostly led by millennials, to truly understand everything possible about a particular food and then support the company
• The support includes whether it be a brand or a retailer and aligning with values and supporting it with purchases
• Ethical claims on packages have increased seven-fold since 2010 and a new set of corporate values: social conscience, health and wellness, enhanced nutrition and life hacking.
• Tactile relates to multi-sensory for food and its also the new secret weapon for products, packaging and display.
• Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, or ASMR is a new food media world, where acoustic sounds like slurping, chewing, whispering and the crinkling of packaging trigger pleasing sensations
• The restaurant experience is no longer a passive experience but an interactive one

Neuro Nutrition & Biohacking

• Diet is the #1 cause of death due to preventable metabolic disorders
• 10% of the world population is on an exclusion diet because of allergy or health issues
• NeuroNutrition makes the connection between food and the brain: from growing foods, cooking, how/when we eat, and nutrients themselves
• In the last five years, “brain claims" have increased by 36% (sports nutrition and cereals mostly)
• BioHacking is the science for more individualized nutrition and products
• Some restaurants have on-staff nutritionists to help patrons choose foods for gut health, immunity, cholesterol, inflammation, fatigue and even depression

Explore the life cycle of food trends, from their embryonic stage to strategies for maintaining relevance. Delve into Nouvelle Cuisine, its principles, and key figures. Analyze data on vegetarianism and veganism, considering diverse perspectives on their long-term health benefits.