This latest offering from Pepsi Japan includes energy-enhancers such as Korean carrot, royal jelly extract, ginseng extract, guarana extract and arginine as well as a large caffeine shot.
If you happen to be in Japan this over the summer and need an energy boost, check it out for 138 yen (approx £1).

They are shaped like oversized pencils, where the “leads” contain three different flavours: truffles, pesto and chilli. They have a sharpener included so the required amount of cheese can be sprinkled on the dish. A scale on the pencils and on the back of the packaging doesn’t just simply list how much of the Cheese Pencil is needed for each dish, but even how many calories the portion contains.

Sadly for all you cheese fans only 500 sets of parmesan pencils were created and they sold out within a fortnight.

Ref: FoodBev.com – 22nd July 2011

We like to keep up with the latest food trends and have recently come across Panamore, a German pizza maker allows customers to create and order the pizzas of their dreams online and then receive them by mail the next day.

Customers begin by browsing through the diverse assortment of toppings, descriptions of which include details on origins and also pairing recommendations. These include meats, seafood, deli selections, gourmet cheeses and a variety of herbs, nuts and oils and intriguing options such as hummus, lemongrass and truffle oil. Consumers can order up to four pizzas at a time and pay on the site. Pizzas are then created and packaged with professional cooling packs before being sent via DHL.

We like the “design your own” concept, but pizza by post – we’re not sure that will catch on!

Ref: Springwise – 24^th June 2011

London’s Inamo restaurant offers a dining experience like no other.  The pan-Asian restaurant uses E-table, an interactive ordering system, which is designed to give patrons control over their dining experience.  As well as enabling diners to place their orders themselves, they can project images of each meal onto the table, watch chefs at work via a live webcam feed,  play games with other diners, find out more about what’s happening in the local neighbourhood, and to top it off, order a taxi home.

We think Inamo have created a dining experience that is quite charming and unique.

Website: www.inamo-restaurant.com

Ref: Springwise – 27^th June 2011

High food prices are good news for farmers because, as I’ve already mentioned, there is greater incentive to produce more food. Commodity traders and speculators gain too, but it’s not such good news for consumers, especially those in poor or developing regions. Costly raw materials are also bad news for processed food makers. In the UK food prices rose by 3.1% in 2010 and are expected to rise by a further 6.6% during 2011. As a result, expect to see more food shoppers trading down between price segments and buying more private label products. However, also expect some counter-trends (and counter-intuitive trends). One example is meat. Rather than eating out, many people will buy expensive cuts to eat at home and will seek out other permissible indulgences to offset the austerity that exists elsewhere.

Ref: The Economist (UK), 22 January 20011, ‘The consequences of costly nosh’.

Here’s a list of Canadian food trends for 2011 and beyond, courtesy of the Globe and Mail. First up, we have vegetable ash. Ash has traditionally been used as a protective coating for cheese, but it’s now making an appearance elsewhere. Don’t expect it to last. Next we have olive oil alternatives. Apparently walnut, hazelnut, almond, sunflower, soybean and hemp oil are all in fashion. Locally grown global produce is self-explanatory (I hope), while sea buckthorn probably needs some explanation. This is apparently a shrub that’s high in antioxidants, hopefully with the thorns removed. Drinkable snacks sound weird, as do liquid snacks. Think of drinks that are somewhat solid (i.e. yoghurt). Healthy indulgences seems to mean pizza with more vegetables on top, while US invasion refers to US chain restaurants such as McGuire Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken and Woody’s BBQ heading north of the border. Artisan Cheese is something not entirely new while Better Breakfasts simply means breakfast flavours later in the day. Finally, Old School Dishes (Old School Cool?) means things like chicken in a pot and salmon with parsley sauce. As for Canadian drink trends, the list includes brown spirits, value shoppers, cabernet franc, white wine not red (due to warmer winters caused by climate change), lighter glass bottles (lower carbon footprint), pink cocktails (especially Negroni), locapours (like locavores but with drink), cross-border sales and Sangria (and anything else Spanish). One trend that really did catch my eye was something called Baskin Robins at the Bar. Apparently, the millennial generation, brought up on Doritos and other highly flavoured foods, is demanding more flavour intensity.

Ref: Globe and Mail (Canada), 5 January 2011, ‘The Year Ahead Food & Wine’

Keeping things small is also hot. This means smaller plate sizes (for less money), but also smaller menus and smaller premises. Judas Goat, Meat & Bread and Japdog Cafe in Vancouver are examples. According to the US National Restaurant Association’s top 20 trends for 2011, we should also expect to see more locally grown produce (do you think?), sustainable seafood (yawn) and hyper-local restaurants with chefs doing their own butchering to keep costs down. Cocktails are also back (again) too.
Meanwhile, a set of forecasts produced by Andrew Freeman & Co (a hospitality consultant) says that pies are the number one trend for 2011 (certainly true of savoury pies in the UK). Also on the menu is mobile apps for restaurants. Oh, and one other trend. Goat. Yes, that’s right, goat.

Ref: Vancouver Sun (Canada), 5 January 2011, ‘The year of the goat’, by M. Stainsby. www.vancouversun.com

Has the era of cheap food come to an end? Food prices have erupted recently and are even above their 2008 peak. Prices are now higher in real terms than at any time since 1984. Why? Some of the reasons are temporary – droughts in Russia and Argentina, floods in Canada and Pakistan and export bans in a number of nations keen to hold onto food stocks, either for their own people or for their own profit. Higher oil prices have also had a direct impact because rising oil costs mean rising fertiliser costs. Ethanol is also factor. In the US, subsidies now mean that 40% of America’s corn crop goes towards filling cars rather than feeding people.

But there are much longer-term forces at play, not least the fact that the world’s population keeps growing (along with incomes), and diets are changing to include much more meat, in turn affecting the need for water. For example, 1 kg of wheat requires 1,150–2,000 litres of water to produce, while 1 kg of beef needs 16,000 litres. The global population is growing at around 1% per year, which means that that yields of staple foods will have to rise by about 1.5% per year (to take into account the increasing demand for meat). It may not sound like much, but it’s more than current increases and if you start to project growth over a 30-year period things start to look gloomy. One estimate, for instance, says that production will have to increase by 70% between now and 2050.

The good news is that in China and India domestic farmers are doing well in supplying local populations. But the amount of unfarmed land is already close to the sustainable limit and so too is the amount of water that’s available for agriculture. And don’t forget that climate change could make many of these issues worse.

So what’s to be done if we are to avoid more food riots and more starvation? Ironically, higher prices might actually be a solution due to the fact that higher prices stimulate investment. We may also get used to eating less in the West. In the meantime, much more money should be spent on basic agricultural research.

Ref: The Economist (UK), 26 February 2011, ‘The 9 billion people question: A special report on feeding the world’ and ‘Crisis prevention: what is causing food prices to soar and what can be done about it?’ www.economist.com

Turmeric may not just be one of many tasty culinary spices it may also help fight cancer and inflammation, according to Dr Richard Beliveau.

Writing for the Toronto Sun, Dr Beliveau explained that the spice came from the ginger family and consequently had high levels of curcumin, which is thought to be the active anti-cancer ingredient.

“Amongst the numerous benefits associated with the regular consumption of turmeric, several studies published in recent years have shown that the spice could play a pivotal role in cancer prevention,” he explained.

Dr Beliveau cited reports which showed that Indians, who traditionally use the spice alongside coriander and garam masala in local dishes, are less frequently diagnosed with many types of cancer.

The yeast spread, loved or hated by British people the world over for more than a century, has fallen under the radar of a 2004 Danish ban on foods fortified with added vitamins or minerals, imposed to protect customers from exceeding safe levels of nutrients in their diet.

Marmite joins a list of prohibited foods. I can think of more, such as Ovaltine, Horlicks, Rice Krispies, Farley’s Rusks and Australian Marmite rival Vegemite.

Marmite is rich in B vitamins and fortified with folic acid, and was first produced in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England, in 1902.

Love it or hate it, if you live in Denmark you won’t have the chance to find out from now on.