HOW THE FOOD INDUSTRY IS EVOLVING

It is said that the only constant thing is change; this rapidly escalating in the food industry finding it hard to keep abreast.
For one thing, home cooking is less favourable than in the past – in other words “eating out beats eating in” due to a fast paced world ` so little wonder that the local grocery store is now a thing of the past. However, this is not to say that raw food items are obsolete. To the contrary, they are actually becoming more sophisticated and healthy. Restricted diets are now trendy with more focus on what is healthy compared with those essential ones in the past related to medical conditions.

Today many consumers are restricting their intake of red meat, gluten and dairy products demanding food that looks after their bodies, brains and bones but not compromising taste or price and manufacturers are taking good note of the source of their future income.

Furthermore, “going green” emphasises home grown with an essence of freshness, lack of preservatives and less pollution to the planet eliminating fumes generated from trucks and airplanes for transportation of commodities.

Adaption, response and success are the key words in the industry and more scientific evidence reveals availability of “gut friendly” and naturally fermented foods such as Kimchi – a Korean favourite fermented from vegetables with a variety of seasonings. Tempeh created similarly from soy beans and moulded into patties, whereas Miso is a soy bean paste.

In the realm of beverages, there is much enthusiasm as coffees and teas are undergoing quite a transformation with some added natural ingredients for health.
Coffees with cinnamon or almond have an exotic middle eastern flavour, caramel hints of toasted sugar, maple a sweetness and a true luxury; hints of dark chocolate and orange!

Teas follow a similar pattern being flavoured with blueberry, apple cider, caramel and the previous familiar ones with chamomile and ginger still exist.
Finally chocolate tea might sound quite bizarre but it actually comes with cocoa in the teabag!
The question arises for the “purists” what madness exists!!

We all reminisce in various ways about the past but it is marvelous to think that nothing is static and what surprises await us in the future are beyond one’s imagination.