The Great Food Revolution

What was eaten in North America up to the 1960s was fairly predictable, in large part to things like the Canada Food Guide which told people what they should eat. What changed was the lowering of airfares, allowing the average person to travel globally and try the cuisines of their travel destinations. Conversely immigrants were demanding food from their native countries, which in turn allowed locals to try these foreign foods. Two examples of this globalization are the popularity of balsamic vinegar and sushi, both relatively unknown in North America fifty years earlier. Not only were foreign foods brought to North America, but they were transformed using local ingredients, which created such things as the California roll. Further globalization can be seen by the introduction of the Michelin food guide to Asia. The food revolution has also spawned convenience foods - such as packaged and washed salads - and the A-list celebrity chef, who wields great influence over the general populous. The popularity of cooking has led to an increase in cooking programs and a growing importance in food styling for such things as photo cookbooks.

The grocery business is a $4 trillion industry, with a plethora of products on supermarket shelves vying for the lucrative consumer dollar. The supermarket owners, food processors and food producers are all in the battleground for these dollars. It is a competitive business with low margins, thus food products have to capture the imagination of the consumer to remain on store shelves over the long run. Product developers scour the globe looking for flavors that might be the next big thing in the national food market. In product development, the food is often transformed to the palate of the local consumer. Many supermarket chains have their own in-house brand, which is in competition with other products in their stores. The food not only has to be good, but it has to be made known to the public through in-store and general marketing campaigns. The local food movement is also infiltrating the large scale grocery business as they are aware that many consumers now want to know from where their food is coming.

In New York City, where little food is grown or produced, an army of people collectively work 24 hours a day to get the approximately 24 million meals (3 meals a day for 8 million people) to the table. Most people are dependent upon what happens in the middle of the night at among: the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center and the New Fulton Fish Market where decisions about produce, seafood and other perishable food items are made for the upcoming day; Amy's Breads where 500 kilograms of dough are prepared into several kinds of bread products; and Financier Patisserie, where the bread is made into sandwiches and where other pastries are made. Some people are on the road, such as artisan farmers who are bringing their foods to market, or cargo ships bringing in imported foods such as bananas. By daybreak, commuters are either preparing their breakfasts or buying food from retail vendors just opening. Many others, such as restaurateurs, are buying food for the entire days needs. By noon, the lunch rush hits, but many others are searching out or "rescuing" free food - still edible but not salable - for charity purposes. By mid-afternoon, restaurateurs are in their kitchens in preparation for the dinner crowd. Some wholesalers, especially of extremely perishable wares such as white truffles, are making the rounds of restaurants. Diners are beginning to relax as the supper hour hits. By midnight, the process starts all over again.

Today's trends may be predictors of what will be the foods of the future. One scientific trend is molecular gastronomy, which at its core is the transformation of food via science, quite often for entertainment value. Foods are also being transformed in the farmer's field, where new varietals of fruits and vegetables such as the pluot (a cross between a plum and an apricot) are being grown. When certain foods that once were abundant but are now becoming less so (such as many fish species), other foods need to take their place. Such is recent vogue in jellyfish as food. Another current trend is eating healthy, such as eating foods that contain omega-3, probiotics and prebiotics. Nestlé would like to take it as far as personalizing its food to the individual needs of each and every person it feeds. Bloggers are gaining influence in the culinary world, they who have a mass audience of people just like them. But celebrity chefs have even more influence as witnessed by what Jamie Oliver has been able to achieve in transforming the way Britons eat. And with more and more people moving to cities and space becoming an issue, vertical farming - growing food in skyscrapers - may be the wave of the food future.