FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Trade expo offers insight into food preparation

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor

The two-day trade-only Hawaii Lodging, Hospitality & Foodservice Expo last week was something of an eye-opener— a peek inside the largely secret world of restaurant food service.

Revelation A for many consumers, had they been allowed into the show, would have been to discover that a lot of that food you think is "homemade" in restaurants isn't. Soups are sold in concentrated form, and entrees such as stews and chili come vacuum-packed. Bread dough is purchased pre-formed and frozen. Frozen appetizers and desserts a la Costco are used in restaurants, too. Pre-whisked eggs come in cartons.

Chefs make use of frightening "stabilized" products, such as a whipped cream look-alike that can be stacked a mile high and will never, ever collapse (possibly even surviving nuclear holocaust, it appeared). Even meats are pre-cut and vacuum-sealed in ready-to-prepare portions so that today's line cooks need not know of meat cutting, and there's no waste.

Not that all this is bad: Sous vide ("without air," French for vacuum packing) foods can taste just like fresh. Properly frozen bread dough is indistinguishable from fresh when baked. But some of this stuff seemed kind of sneaky, and some dismayed me because these products speak of the spread of "by the numbers" food preparation (place bag A in pot B, heat and serve), which offers few opportunities for cooks to grow in understanding of the ingredients they're using or to develop their creativity. Just another sign of getting farther and farther from the foods we eat. Even some cooks don't need to know how to cook!

I'll share with you a few products of interest today and continue with others next week:

• Kisami wasabi from Kinjirushi Wasabi Co., chopped Japanese horseradish sold in plastic vacuum packs that can be frozen or refrigerated once opened. This authentic stuff (no added mustard) is less bitterly biting than the garish green stuff in the can or tube, and more flavorful as well. At Marukai.
• Demarle Flexipans, flexible pans and molds made of silicone (cousins of the Silpat baking sheets preferred by experienced cookie and pastry bakers) for biscuits, cakes and shaped baked goods and candies. Nothing sticks to this stuff, you don't need to grease, and because it's flexible, you can push the item out from the bottom. Not available at retail in Hawai'i, but see www.demarleusa.com.