FOOD FOR THOUGHT
What's changing in eating and grocery shopping in '04

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor

Hurry up and slow down: Futurist Art Siemering predicts "The Permanent Hurry Syndrome" will become "The Big Slowdown." Consumers are sick of the stress of multitasking, and finding less meaning in their thing-clogged lives, noting ill effects on their health. So they "reshuffle, simplify and de-stress," Siemering says. Since many consider cooking and shopping banal, they'd rather "grab and go" and spend their time on other pursuits.

Big and small: Two seemingly opposing trends are repeatedly noted: small food (tapas, making a meal of appetizers, tasting menus, mini-desserts, all noted by the food press as trends for 2004) and big food (super-size portions that are increasingly standard in fast food). What does it mean? Differing perceptions of value: High-end consumers prefer a small portion of very high quality food; the medium- to low-end group sees big portions as good value.

Going solo (or duo): Single, urban dwellers, couples with with few or no children, seniors with more money in their pockets all are growing demographics. The Census Bureau predicts single-person households will grow to more than 30 percent of all households by 2010. This contributes to the trend toward small-serving packaging.

Playing dress-up: The Toronto Sun noted earlier this month that grocers increasingly encourage consumers to purchase a prepared food, then jazz it up — resulting in sales of both convenience foods and raw ingredients. For example: Pour a purchased cream soup into a beautiful bowl, swirl through with sour cream, finish with fresh, chopped herbs.

Fruits and vegetables: The food media are reporting that pomegranates are the Next Big Thing, and Brussels sprouts (along with diminutive veggies such as baby cauliflower and garlic shoots) are right up there. Pomegranate juice, pomegranate molasses (an intensely sweet-and-sour distillation that goes where balsamic vinegar went before) and fresh pomegranate seeds star in a wide variety of recipes.

Ethnic and organic: Trends identified earlier in the millennium are expected to continue in various refined forms, including more mainstreaming of health foods and organically grown foods, more ethnic foods (particularly Latin and Asian) in both ingredients and prepared form.

It's freezing: The American Frozen Food Institute reports that 76 percent of restaurant owners surveyed believe frozen-food technology is advancing to such a degree that it soon will be difficult to distinguish between fresh and never-frozen food after preparation. Already, frozen sushi and pre-frozen sashimi are finding wider acceptance.

Many-stop shop: Grocery-industry research reports more consumers doing same-day and almost-daily shopping. Increasingly they buy what what Doug Brummer, senior vice president of marketing and advertising for A&P Canada, calls "gourmet grab and go" — high-quality heat-and-eat entrees and a wide variety of fresh produce and salad dress-ups.

Miscellany: Trends I spotted in various food media, industry and grocery Web sites include Old World wines, screw caps on quality wines, slow cookers, alternative sugars (jaggery, malt, date, palm, etc.), exotic hot chocolate, artisanal cheeses, caramel, Spanish foods.