Contents:
- Editorial: Monuments to good taste if not to good
tastes
- What's Hot?: 10 current food industry trends
- Corporate Services Highlight: Public
speaking/spokesperson
- Summer Recipe: Red Wine Milkshake
Dana's
Editorial
Kitchens have changed a lot in the last 100 years. Besides
technical innovations as basic as access to hydro electricity, our attitudes
toward cooking and the way we use our kitchens have evolved, too. In the early
years of the last century, well-to-do urban homes were designed so that the
kitchen was virtually invisible. The kitchen was often sequestered in the back
of the house and usually blocked from public rooms by heavy doors. Cooking was
work and genteel ladies preferred to knead their buns and boil their broth
behind closed doors.
A century later, affluent Canadians are flaunting their
kitchens, placing them in the centre of the home. Snazzy imported and
astronomically priced professional stoves, trendy refrigerators in fashion
colours such as cobalt blue with accents of copper or brass (stainless steel
is, so insiders tell me, now passe) all contribute to the effect of the status
symbol kitchens being constructed in open concept lofts, renovated Edwardian
row houses and new monster mansions.
Ironically, few of these homeowners are kneading buns or boiling
broth in their front and centre monuments to good taste. Instead, these
showplaces are used to reheat home meal replacements, combine bagged salad and
bottled dressing or to slather truffle infused mustard on take-out sandwiches.
So, if we're not cooking like we used to, why create bigger, better kitchens at
all? There are a couple of forces at work here. One is human nature over
compensating ("If I can't cook a decent meal every night for my family, at
least I can serve take-out in a gourmet's setting"). The second reason is
marketing savvy, plain and simple. Appliance dealers have figured out that busy
affluent people like to spend money on their nests. So, these savvy business
folks have enticed consumers to think of cooking as a fashionable past time and
gourmet kitchens as a status symbol much like a Mercedes or a Rolex.
The good news (at least for recipe writers like me) is that many
Canadians are practical folk and can't stand the echoes that bounce around in
their empty, expensive kitchens. As a result, guilt is driving them to cooking
classes, cookbooks and grocers for ingredients. In fact, some folks are
improving their cooking skills so that, if only on weekends, their swanky
kitchens will be used.
Unfortunately, this trend is not universal. In fact, in many
over built kitchens (and I do mean over built. Visit a restaurant kitchen and
you'll see 4 chefs working in spaces smaller than some of the kitchens I've
seen in new homes lately!), not much food is ever going to be cooked. Their
granite swathed kitchens are destined to become period shrines much like those
wet bars everyone installed in rec rooms during the 70's. But hey, they're sure
cool now!
~Dana
McCauley
Food Editor
Homemaker's Magazine
Toronto,
Canada
chefdana@danamccauley.com
What's
Hot:
10 current food industry
trends
- cheese carts
- bergamot oil (as a flavouring)
- bagless/bin shopping
- tender wheat
- TV dinners as menu items
- farm to plate beef tracking systems
- honeycomb pieces used as garnishes
- communal tables at restaurants
- flavoured vodka
- bottled water branded for kids
Corporate
Service Spotlight:
Spokesperson/Public
Speaking:
Add interest to your next conference or communicate your message
to media and the public with a custom designed presentation prepared and
delivered by Dana McCauley.
Television appearances, newspaper and radio interviews and
demonstrations at public events bring your message directly to consumers. Dana
McCauley is available to appear as a spokesperson to promote the brand
interests of products she believes in.
Likewise, Dana has appeared from Hawaii to Washington, D.C. as
a speaker at conferences and conventions where she has discussed food and
grocery trends as well as historical cooking and foodservice topics. Dana's
public speaking and spokesperson credentials include The Smithsonian
Institution, The Today Show, The Leeza Gibbons Show, Canada AM and many more.
Contact her at (416) 918 - 7866 for more information about public speaking and
spokesperson services.
Summer Recipe
Red Wine Milkshake
This grown-up version of a favourite tall, cool summertime treat
is perfect for summer entertaining or for when you enjoy your next
poolside "mental health day".
2 cups (500 mL) red wine, such as merlot, cabernet
sauvignon or pinot noir
1/2 cup (125 mL) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (50 mL) orange juice
3 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
11/2 cups (375 mL) each vanilla ice cream and milk
Combine red wine, granulated sugar, orange juice, cloves
and cinnamon in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook over medium-high
heat for 15 to 20 minutes or until reduced to about 3/4 cup (175 mL).
Strain out cloves and cinnamon and cool completely. Refrigerate until
cold.
Combine 1/4 cup (50 mL) chilled syrup with 1/2 cup (125
mL) vanilla ice cream and 1/4 cup (50 mL) milk in a blender or food processor
for each milk shake. Blend on high and pour into a tall glass. Makes 3
shakes.
Tip: The syrup used as a base for this milkshake is also great
as a topping for ice cream or berry shortcakes.
Photo credit: Chris Freeland: freelandphoto@compuserve.com
Find more of Dana's recipes in Homemaker's
Magazine and at www.homemakers.com
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