2004: The State of the Plate

Deseret Morning News, Wednesday, December 31, 2003
By Valerie Phillips, Deseret Morning News

Hot Topics: Obesity, Health, Beef and Food as Entertainment

In 2003, Americans came to a culinary fork in the road. Quick vs. quality. Junky vs. funky. Hearty vs. healthy.
       As usual, many people tried to go down both roads at the same time. The bipolar attitude toward food meant there were best-selling diet books despite more obesity; more convenience
products while the "slow-food" movement gathered steam; and more people focused on cooking if someone else was doing it on TV.
      Here's what we saw in 2003 and what is likely to happen in 2004:
Obesity tipped the scales. In 2003, more than 60 percent of American adults are either verweight or obese and the number of overweight children and adolescents tripled has tripled since 1980. These facts were chosen as the year's top food story in a survey of 1,300 food editors conducted by Hunter Public Relations.
      Nutrition experts debated possible culprits, but blaming any one type of food is "just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic," Ellen Ruppel Shell, author of "The Hungry Gene," told the Association of Food Journalists at an obesity panel in Boston last fall. "Whether it's carbohydrates or fat or whatever, we simply eat too much."
      In response to consumer lawsuits pointing fingers at food companies, Kraft Foods announced new initiatives, including a cap on the portion size of single-serve packages and the elimination of in-school marketing. McDonald's cranked out a food-tray liner listing health tips from Bob Greene, Oprah's personal trainer, and the fast-food chain test-marketed Happy Meal substitutions, such as milk and sliced apples. The seafood chain Red Lobster added grilled fish, crab legs and veggies to its kids' meals.
      "Obesity is a problem, but we've talked about it so much that people are tired of it," said Pauline Williams, a dietitian who teaches classes for diabetics through Utah State University Extension Services. "You'll see a trend toward nutrition information and products dispensed without really saying, 'This is to lose weight.' " A swing back to home cooking would help," she said. "We miss out on nutrients when we go to a lot of the refined and convenient products."
Meanwhile, the weight loss obsession spurred the sales of diet books and products. Fat-phobia of the '80s and '90s was replaced by carb-phobia.
     Dr. Robert Atkins died on April 17, but it didn't deter the popularity of his diet, which told people they could lose weight by eating bacon, eggs and steak if they avoided carbs, such as bread and rice. The T.G.I. Friday restaurant chain even teamed up with Atkins' company to make "low-carb" menu items.
      Another best-seller, "The South Beach Diet," by cardiologist Arthur Agatston, also took a low-carb, high-protein route, with an emphasis on low-fat animal protein and more liberal use of plant-based oils.
      "The Ultimate Weight Solution," by "Dr. Phil" McGraw, had a built-in marketing campaign with his TV show tie-in, taking it to the top of the best-seller lists, too. Williams doesn't foresee the protein pendulum swinging back next year, especially with food manufacturers jumping on the low-carb bandwagon."Right now you see the new KFC ads promoting their fried chicken as a high-protein food, and I don't think they ever changed their recipe, just their marketing," she said.

 Where's the beef?
       The record-high price of beef was due to several years of drought, combined with more demand due to the high-protein Atkins Diet and the banning of Canadian beef imports due to mad-cow disease, according to Jacob Schmidt, a dietitian with the Utah Beef Council.
      The first case of mad-cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in the United States was reported last week, sparking concern over safety of the country's beef supply. If it turns out to be one isolated incident, beef-eating will likely go back to normal, although prices will probably come down. But if BSE turns out to be more widespread, it could spoil America's appetite for red meat indefinitely. Even at the peak of high-priced beef, farmers were only getting around 96 cents per pound for a live steer, which had to cover the cost of feed, equipment, land and labor.
     "The higher beef prices meant that some of the producers here in the state were actually making a little money, rather than losing it as they have in the past couple years," said Schmidt.   
    
Cooking became entertainment.
      Even people who don't want to cook themselves enjoy watching someone else do it on TV and in local cooking classes. The Food Network made a "Emeril" a household word, and the NBC reality TV show "The Restaurant" showed the ups and downs of operating chef Rocco DiSpirito's Manhattan eatery. (NBC has reportedly ordered
more episodes, so we'll be seeing more of Rocco.) Jamie Oliver, the "Naked Chef," also starred in a restaurant reality show on the Food Network. Rachael Ray, host of "30 Minute Meals," and "$40 a Day" appears poised to become a media darling of 2004. Her cookbook, "30 Minute Meals 2" made it to No. 5 on the New York Times Book Review, and she now has another out, "30 Minute Meals: GetTogethers." "She's more practical and makes things you would actually cook," said Williams. "And it's fast, but it's from scratch. She doesn't use a lot of convenience foods."

Colorful silicone baking pans wobbled into kitchens.
        First there were silicone pan liners that let cookies slide right off and then rainbow-hued silicone spatulas. Now bakeware has gone high-tech with pans that flex like rubber. You can refrigerate, freeze, microwave and bake in the same pan. They also have a "quick-release" non-stick surface, so you can pop muffins out with a twist of the pan. That wasn't always the case when we tested some in the Deseret Morning News kitchen. Even after a generous coat of non-stick spray, the muffins and cake sometimes stuck to the pan, especially if they weren't cooled thoroughly. (The Christmas tree pan made a nice Jell-O mold, though.) Because the pans are so wobbly, they must sit on a cookie sheet during baking. Except for the spot that sat on the cookie sheet, the baked goods didn't brown, and the outer texture was more moist that crispy. So, these trendy toys may be only a flash in the pan.
The silicone liners are here to stay, said Letty Flatt, executive pastry chef at Deer Valley. "I totally love them, especially for some cookies like florentines, tuiles and brandy snaps that are tricky with parchment or the old-fashioned butter and flour dust." But she's not so sure about the silicone pans, partly because of the expense (the ones we tested were around $16-$19 each.)

Fondue and more.
        Fondue made a comeback in 2003. Some cutting-edge foodies took it a step further with another type of Swiss cooking equipment - raclette. A grill on top cooks veggies and meats, and while cheese melts in small, shallow pans below. When the meal is cooked, the melted cheese is poured over the top. The Juhl Haus, Sur La Table and Orson Gygi sell raclettes locally. But at around $100, they probably won't replace the George Foreman grill on the average kitchen counter. "I think fondue will carry over to next year," said Burton Vick, manager of Orson Gygi. "I don't know if raclettes will get as big as turkey deep fryers did, but they will do as well as fondue sets."
      Cooking styles across America seemed to separate into two camps: the hurried have-to cooks and hobby foodies who play with organic, exotic and artisan foods. Sometimes these are one and the same person, hence the rise in upscale convenience products.
      "Dashboard dining is still big, anything you can hold in your hand and still hold the cell phone with the other hand. The three-meals-a-day is long gone," said Gale Rudolph, a food scientist who developed Lean Pockets for ChefAmerica. She now develops low-glycemic, high-fiber meal replacement bars for USANA here in Utah. "People are willing to pay more for convenience, such as a single-serve shake in a can, as opposed to having to scoop it out, add milk and shake it up." But people expect more sophistication. "At ChefAmerica, they're now interested in doing a vegetarian Lean Pocket, using up-market cheeses and black beans. Four years ago they never would have looked at doing a non-meat. In restaurants, you're seeing more ethnic foods, and there's more of an understanding of the subtle differences between different cuisines, such as Thai and Vietnamese."

 "Slow food" gains momentum.
        A backlash against processed, mass-produced and fast food may bring more people back to the kitchen, or at least to a good restaurant."There's an element of people in the community who are interested in pushing the envelope, and a greater emphasis on ingredients of integrity that are made by people who are passionate about it, such as artisanal cheeses and olive oil," said Steve Rosenberg, owner of Liberty Heights Fresh specialty food store."People are moving back to making things in traditional ways, because we're now learning about all the negative health effects from cutting corners, such as trans-fats." He pointed to the success of the downtown Farmer's Market, and the rise in organic foods. Vick said there's been a huge increase in sales of high-end cookware, too.
      "I think the honor of cooking and bringing the family together has returned, although I don't think it ever left most corners of this state," said Rosenberg. "People are taking it seriously and take the time to prepare it by hand with great ingredients."

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,575040248,00.html

Be a Pumpkin Eater and Get a Big Boost of Antioxidants

Dana Carpender, United Feature Syndicate, Oct. 13, 2004

What can weigh 100 pounds, is full of vitamin A and has about 9.3 grams of usable carbs per 1-cup serving? I hope you guessed fresh pumpkin, which is available for only a couple of months in the autumn. If your only experiences with pumpkin are jack-o'-lanterns and high-carb pie, reconsider this tasty vegetable. Pumpkin is lower in carbs than most winter squashes and an excellent source of vitamin A, an antioxidant essential to the immune system. Pumpkin is also known to play a key role in eye health. In addition to vitamin A, a cup of cooked, mashed pumpkin has calcium, iron, protein, vitamin C and only 49 calories.
       Look for a small pumpkin weighing 2 to 3 pounds. If you can't find fresh pumpkin or don't want to cook one, canned pumpkin is available year-round. Here are ideas to get you cooking:
• Dice the meat into chunks, steam as a vegetable and spice with nutmeg.
• Substitute pumpkin and rutabaga for cubed sweet potato in stews. One cup of cubed sweet potato has 22.8 grams of usable carb, while a 50-50 pumpkin-rutabaga mixture has just 7.5 grams of usable carb per cup.
• A can of pumpkin, mixed with a mashed sweet potato, makes a good sweet potato casserole.
• Toss chunks of pumpkin into your pot roast along with sweet potatoes and turnips.
• Don't throw away the seeds, which also are low-carb. Pick off the strings, toss the seeds with oil and salt, and roast them at 300 degrees for 45 minutes. Roasted and salted pumpkin seeds in the shell are sold in convenience stores. Health food stores and Hispanic markets carry them hulled, often labeled "pepitas."
Dana Carpender is the author of 500 Low-Carb Recipes.

Reach her via www.holdthetoast.com.

Chili Lime Pumpkin
1 pumpkin, about 2 pounds
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 cup shelled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1 teaspoon chili-garlic paste
(often found in the Asian section of the grocery store)
2 teaspoons lime juice

      Slice pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds. Peel the rind and cut the flesh into slices about 1/2 inch thick. Put butter and oil in a big, heavy skillet over medium heat. Swirl pan as the butter melts. Lay pumpkin slices flat in the pan. Sauté until lightly golden on both sides, and tender, yet still al dente. You'll need to do this in more than one batch; keep the cooked pumpkin warm on a plate under a pot lid. While the pumpkin is frying, toast pumpkin seeds by stirring them in a dry skillet over medium-high heat until they swell a bit, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
        When all of the pumpkin is cooked, put it all back in the skillet. Mix together the chili garlic paste and lime juice and gently mix it in, coating all of the pumpkin slices. Lay the pumpkin slices on serving plates, top each serving with a tablespoon of toasted pumpkin seeds and serve.
Makes 8 servings.

Approximate values per serving: 89 calories, 5g fat, 8mg cholesterol, 2g protein, 10g
carbohydrates, 1g fiber, 30mg sodium, 57% calories from fat, 9g usable carbs.