Tired trends

[albiston]

Psss... BTW the Chinese have nothing to do with spaghetti: fresh pasta was known since the Roman times and it's the Arabs that imported dried pasta to Sicily

Since this was raised here as an aside....My understanding has always been that pasta was introduced to China by Marco Polo. Some however insist that Marco Polo brought it back to Italy from China.

Does anyone have a definitive answer to this burning question? Millions of Italians and billions of Chinese are potentially interested.

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You might want to take a look at this thread in the Middle East and Africa forum. There's lots of good information there, plenty I didn't know too .

Alberto beat me to it on the pasta thing.

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That's what happens when you're too busy showing off in the Tag Team foodblog thread

Edited May 27, 2005 by albiston (log)

[chow guy]

[

I think the sundried tomatoes, at least, ended in the '90's. As for balsamic vinegar, I'm a huge fan, but only when used correctly. Smothering everything in it is just not the way to go. There's a gorgeous passage in Ruth Reichl's book "Comfort Me With Apples" where she discovers balsamic aceto. Of course, she's a fabulous writer, and the way she describes the viscosity and taste of truly excellent balsamic is almost sexual (she's dipping asparagus spears into it). I wish we could go back to a time when balsamic vinegar was so rare that only the good stuff was served, and every experience was like that one.

As for my most-hated food trend: cilantro. On everything. And in places where cilantro had always been (most notably salsas), people just started adding MORE. I hate cilantro, and am SO glad this trend seems to be dissipating.

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[seanw]

Fads i would like to see disappear:

Restaurant reviews that basically tell you where the place is & it's opening hours, critique where necessary & lets see more food criticism(If you want people to consider what they are consuming then i think it would be valid if this starts with the guys/gals who are being paid to say as much!)

Fresh frozen- like Spock used to say "this is not logical Jim" This seems to me to be a way of concealing the fact that ever dwindling resources & economic considerations rule the food chain. Fish should be fresh- not frozen. Market delivery mechanisms need to be more efficient & consumers need to support them, yes even if that means paying more! Perhaps ecological damage will have to be more tightly regulated in order that the evening meal doesn't become another episode of FearFactor. It's the preventative approach to our wellbeing as opposed to medicinal cure.

The propensity among some consumers who take the BurgerKing approach to dining & have it their way! (a useful consideration would be to imagine a full dining room with everybody "customizing", but of course a responsibilty is required from the chef to allow diners to have confidence in his/her abilities to cook!)

Organic growers who just grow carrots, leeks, beans etc. Over centuries farmers, gardeners & cooks have worked to establish their very own set of genetically engineered (But in a good way) crops based on criteria which considers taste, yield, climate, soil etc. We are being told to believe that progress today means that seed has been genetically altered to ensure that it cannot be germinated without the necessary 'key'(also resistant to isanely powerful agri-chemicals used in their production, we should genetically engineer people this way to better avoid genocides of the future eh!) provided by our friendly local multi-national agribusiness. The old way was not so bad, afterall the organic way aint nothing new ,even in Sir Albert Howard's day! The idea that GM food is a panacea to world hunger is a damn lie...(the secret is in the soil) Thank goodness for seed savers. OOps ranting a little, i guess i don't mind using a name for a vegetable, fruit because i understand that somebody worked hard & indeed invested some thought & in instances no small measure of creativity.

Just the tip of the rapidly melting iceberg!

[divalasvegas]

Isn't it nice that we're able to become bored with food so easily?  This thread sounds too much like the country-club set getting bored with last years "Bimmer."

Having said that ... as much as I love "steak frites" ... fer crissake people it's steak and fries not the frickin' second coming!  Enough already!

A.

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Believe me, I'm far from the country club set. For me it's not a question of boredom, but more of dishes or ideas that IMHO never worked and/or made any sense for my tastes, at least. For instance:

1) Sauce/Gravy Under the Food One of the most tasty looking and beautiful things in the whole world of food is well prepared mashed potatoes with a puddle of butter or gravy on it, not under it. Or a hot fudge sundae with the fudge on the top.

2) Cilantro in Everything Imaginable Understandable in cuisines that have a long history of use of it, for instance, Mexican. I respect the fact that many people adore this herb, but I would really appreciate it if I could order something without having to wonder if this has been added in abundance. A friend of mine ordered a pizza and what she thought was parsley was indeed finely minced cilantro, so much of it that it took several minutes to pick it off. Or how about chicken and rice soup ordered from a pretty generic downtown take out? Surprise: microscopic bits of cilantro. For the record both my friend and I despise this noxious herb.

3) Herbs added to Desserts Rosemary infused papaya sorbet, creme brulee with basil sauce, raspberry mousse with tarragon syrup........... make it stop. Please.

4) Foams on the Plate As has been said already, they look like spit. If part of the dining experience is the visual impact of the food in front you, how could any chef have come to believe that spooning spit-like liquid over one's food would be appetizing? I'm sure it is to many, but not to me.

5) Sub-atomic sized servings, exhorbitant prices

6) The Syscosification of Restaurants Okay I know that's not a real word but paying top dollar for frozen food shipped hundreds of miles and reheated in a microwave is a trend that I hope will disappear, but probably won't.

7) Fixing Food That isn't Broken This just happened today. Co-worker picks up something I had been craving--meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Basic meatloaf is not hard to assemble and is quite delicious, there are many wonderful recipes out there for it; mashed potatoes are good potatoes, whole milk, half and half, or cream, real butter and salt. If there's more to it than that, at least warn people. This simple lunch was rendered inedible by a shitload of secret herbs and spices in the meatloaf and something added to the mashed potatoes that made them taste sour; not a pleasant sour cream kind of sour but a "did somebody leave this in the back seat of their car in the hot sun for a week type of sour." If you're going to serve mashed potatoes incorporating truffle oil, horseradish, stinging nettles, passion fruit, Elmer's school glue or whatever, please let me know before I lay down my hard earned bucks.

I know there's more, but that's all I can think of now.

[chef koo]

I'll wager you're incorrect on this, though I suspect people will stop being so high and mighty about it.  Fusion cuisine has been going on since the Italians stole psaghetti from the Chinese and brought tomatoes in from the New World.  With ingredients and techniques flying around the world with the speed of jet planes and the Internet, and good chefs genetically programmed to experiment and play around, I think fusion's a given, though in a less "look at me" way.

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Definitely agree. "Fusion" was always there and always will be: just read a history of ancient Roman cuisine to see how far back that can go (and it probably goes even further back than that). On the other hand, do whatever you like just as long as it isn't forced and done just for the sake of showing how wildly creative a chef can be. If it works tastewise, it's fine by me.

Psss... BTW the Chinese have nothing to do with spaghetti: fresh pasta was known since the Roman times and it's the Arabs that imported dried pasta to Sicily

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what i mean is that you can label a restaurant's menu as being stereotypically "fusion". and they're everywhere. of course all cuisine is evolving but i think there's a difference when it progresses naturally and out of curiosity as opposed to when the driving force behind it is money and looking for a market

[melkor]

what i mean is that you can label a restaurant's menu as being stereotypically "fusion". and they're everywhere. of course all cuisine is evolving but i think there's a difference when it progresses naturally and out of curiosity as opposed to when the driving force behind it is money and looking for a market

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Fortunately I don't think I've seen wasabi mashed potatoes on a menu in the last couple of years...

[nwyles]

Mullets ? That is going a bit too far !

I am guilty of having some of the above mentioned items / presentations on the menu either in the past or currently.

Quite a few years ago I saw a list of "ins" and "outs" and I was doing a few "outs".

I rushed into the restaurant with pen in hand, claiming I was going to do a new menu right then and there. My wife laughed at me, and said look at your mixes ( sales velocity ) on the "uncool" items. I did and saw that they were some of the top sellers. I guess the customers did not realize they were "uncool" and eating out of "fashion" food.

Give the people what they want. This thread smacks of culinary elitism. If people don't want something or have decided a "fad" has died, they will decide with their pocketbooks. As long as it tastes good and looks good, leave well enough alone.

P.S. I do like the term "overSYSCOfrication" !

[touaregsand]

Mullets  ? That is going a bit too far !

I am guilty of having some of the above mentioned items / presentations on the menu either in the past or currently.

Quite a few years ago I saw a list of "ins" and "outs" and I was doing a few "outs".

I rushed into the restaurant with pen in hand, claiming I was going to do a new menu right then and there. My wife laughed at me, and said look at your mixes ( sales velocity ) on the "uncool" items. I did and saw that they were some of the top sellers. I guess the customers did not realize they were "uncool" and eating out of "fashion" food.

Give the people what they want. This thread smacks of culinary elitism. If people don't want something or have decided a "fad" has died, they will decide with their pocketbooks. As long as it tastes good and looks good, leave well enough alone.

P.S. I do like the term "overSYSCOfrication" !

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I don't disagree with much of what you are saying. I loathe elitism and boredom.

But I think the title refers to the bad haircut not the fish.

[BCinBC]

Elitist or not, I wish to add Cedar Plank Salmon to the list. I have ranted about this in the past (although a recent post in a Vancouver thread indicates that it may only be a west-coast phenomenon; I am too lazy to go pick up a link). Anyway I do not order it, and am pleased to see that it is going the way of the sundried tomato. Hmm, sundried tomato is to mullet as cedar plank salmon is to grubby flannel shirt? (yet I still love the music)

Daddy-A: admittedly if I saw the words "steak frites" on the menu at say Denny's, I'd be pretty pissed. Then again, if I was actually in a Denny's I'd have to be pretty pissed... But steak frites done right in a small French bistro - still a beloved classic!!

[melkor]

I've been served cedar plank salmon in rural NY also - it sadly isn't just a west coast phenomenon.

[Andrew Morrison]

OK - Nice thread. My two cents:

Stemless wine glasses are the devil and should be treated harshly wherever they are encountered (no lawsuits please).

People from outside North America who abuse their own stigma as shit-tippers even when they know our societal norms should be deported (I don't care if you're from Mars or Holland - you don't eat in a fine dining restaurant and play the French/Brit/German card with 3%).

Hostesses who are hired for one reason only. What the hell happened to the Maitre'd?

Beyond that, I wonder at the future of sous vide, foams, and lab food.

Edited May 27, 2005 by editor@waiterblog (log)

[Daddy-A]

Isn't it nice that we're able to become bored with food so easily? 

This thread smacks of culinary elitism. If people don't want something or have decided a "fad" has died, they will decide with their pocketbooks.

I don't disagree with much of what you are saying. I loathe elitism and boredom.

I think this is fair discussion, as long as we put it in perspective ... that's all I was saying. Crab and atrechoke dip may be passé, but it's still damn tasty. I have no issue with a discussion of "ins" and "outs" ... my business thrives on it. "What's the latest trend in countertops?" My immediate reaction is "Why do you care? Put in what you like." But then I realize that some people DO care, and to chastise them for that is just as bad as the "crime" I accuse them of.

Elitist or not, I wish to add Cedar Plank Salmon to the list.

I have a good chuckle when I pass the souvenir stalls at the ferry terminals in BC. You can pick up a "Salmon Cedar Plank" for $25!! The plank itself was probably given away from a shake & shingle mill. God bless the tourists!!

Daddy-A: admittedly if I saw the words "steak frites" on the menu at say Denny's, I'd be pretty pissed. Then again, if I was actually in a Denny's I'd have to be pretty pissed...    But steak frites done right in a small French bistro - still a beloved classic!!

BC - I love steak frites. It just seems that EVERYONE is doing it. Are there no other types of meat? Does nobody grill merguez anymore??

A.

[tarragon]

Food in bowls. I hate my food all in a pile.

[Pan]

Food in bowls. I hate my food all in a pile.

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Even for noodle (pasta) dishes? I find that bowls work well for those.

[shelora]

Homous - and all it's many way of spelling and making it. It appeared on way too many menus and on way too many a potluck table, to ever want to eat it again.Too much garlic, not enough garlic, no garlic, with tahini, without tahini, with water, with no salt, with too much salt, with too much oil, with chunks, very smooth, with tons of unchopped parsley.... I never want to see hummous again. Ever.

Corn kernels - a LAME excuse for an ingredient in salsas and fillings for things like samosas, at any time. In fact, corn kernels are the #1 food found in stomachs during autoposies. Whole. Those undigestable thingies should be banned.

Chopped parsley - The day when chopped parsley became a flourish, then a sprinkling, then a torrential downpour on plates, the same way icing sugar became the cocaine of the pastry chef - icing sugar shaken over every dessert.

[Toasted]

Beets. Nasty things. Now people are roasting them and throwing them in salads and they still taste like crap. Time to move on people. Why can't the humble parsnip have it's turn?

[TheFoodTutor]

Ditto on spinach and artichoke dip.

Hot bacon dressing.

For that matter, spinach salads.

Broccoli-cheese soup.

Fried chicken tenders.

Fajitas!

Oh god, I could go on and on. But as others have pointed out, all of these items sell really, really well. Is something really out of style if the majority of people still line up to buy it?

People from outside North America who abuse their own stigma as shit-tippers even when they know our societal norms should be deported (I don't care if you're from Mars or Holland - you don't eat in a fine dining restaurant and play the French/Brit/German card with 3%).

Agreed. Oh, if only this were a fashion that we could outlaw.

[Pam R]

Give the people what they want. This thread smacks of culinary elitism. If people don't want something or have decided a "fad" has died, they will decide with their pocketbooks. As long as it tastes good and looks good, leave well enough alone.

P.S. I do like the term "overSYSCOfrication" !

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Hallelujah.

I am guilty of a number of these sins against food.... and I'm ok with that.

[WHT]

Ring molded foods or anything set in the center of the plate or artfully offset.

The use of the words Chutney or martini to try and describe something that isn’t.

Herb infused oils as garnishes as who really wants an oil slick on their plate.

Any food that requires an explanation of the chef’s intent, philosophy or spiritual position much less anything I am expected to get. If I want my consciousness raised I will meditate.

Food in small piles or presented in other awkward ways much less anything that requires an explanation of how to eat it.

Oriental spoons being used as plates. You are not that clever and I’m not that stupid.

Any food other than haggis that requires a processional or its own theme song or haven forbid, a light show.

Pyrotechnic devices as garnishes, flan A la Great White anyone?

Any sort of server lead entertainment meant to be fostered as spontaneous. Coyote ugly was bad as a movie and I don’t need to live through any contrived ad hoc tributes by 20somthing waitstaff.

Food that is world famous or award winning in the mind of the copywriter but in no other reality or form that can be readily agreed on or much less proven.

[Pan]

Some of the things people are complaining about in this thread are just matters of taste. Hummus can never be a "tired trend"; it's a classic, basic item in Middle Eastern food. It would be like calling hamburgers or fried chicken or eggs over easy a "tired trend." And there's nothing wrong with beets for people who like them. Nor is there anything wrong with fajitas when they're good.

[Pam R]

Some of the things people are complaining about in this thread are just matters of taste. Hummus can never be a "tired trend"; it's a classic, basic item in Middle Eastern food. It would be like calling hamburgers or fried chicken or eggs over easy a "tired trend." And there's nothing wrong with beets for people who like them. Nor is there anything wrong with fajitas when they're good.

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Hallelujah...ummm...again.

[maggiethecat]

I have been bored and put off by food trends since the seventies: fondue-- with flamenco guitars--, chain crepe places, balsamic vinegar, Benihana, very al dente pasta, couscous, Atkins, foam and spittle, Mongolian Wok joints, sun dried--you name it.

Fact is, they were all good. And they still are; it's only our low boredom threshold and our desire to be tickled with the next new thing that prevents us from admitting that the Magic Pan or trickled coulis weren't exciting the first, or ten times.

[TheFoodTutor]

Some of the things people are complaining about in this thread are just matters of taste. Hummus can never be a "tired trend"; it's a classic, basic item in Middle Eastern food. It would be like calling hamburgers or fried chicken or eggs over easy a "tired trend." And there's nothing wrong with beets for people who like them. Nor is there anything wrong with fajitas when they're good.

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No kidding. I make my living selling spinach and artichoke dip. I don't see anything wrong with that.

And I like tater tots.

Ha!

[rosebud]

Some of the things people are complaining about in this thread are just matters of taste. Hummus can never be a "tired trend"; it's a classic, basic item in Middle Eastern food. It would be like calling hamburgers or fried chicken or eggs over easy a "tired trend." And there's nothing wrong with beets for people who like them. Nor is there anything wrong with fajitas when they're good.

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No kidding. I make my living selling spinach and artichoke dip. I don't see anything wrong with that.

And I like tater tots.

Ha!

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Thanks to a thread on this site, my DH and I have re-discovered the joys of tater tots, to the point that we have bought different brands and held side-by-side comparisons.

[shelora]

Some of the things people are complaining about in this thread are just matters of taste. Hummus can never be a "tired trend"; it's a classic, basic item in Middle Eastern food. It would be like calling hamburgers or fried chicken or eggs over easy a "tired trend." And there's nothing wrong with beets for people who like them. Nor is there anything wrong with fajitas when they're good.

Too many people excitedly running on a trend, decide their version of a dish is a representation of a classic. Not so. I think it is nothing short of blasphemy to the history of Middle Eastern cuisine or any cuisine that has existed for lifetimes, for some lame ass to make it for a pot luck dinner or put on a restaurant menu for their underpaid staff to ruin it without any consideration for food history.

Hummous in my experience went through a culinary frenzy and is now a tired trend. Perhaps we can return to the origins of the original and pay the dish some due respect.

Further to that, if a cook can't even make a fried egg correctly, why would I want to patronize a breakfast establishment?

Edited May 28, 2005 by shelora (log)