Beautiful Day Arrives -Food Trend

Some trends worked , others just faded with time. 
Either because people lost interest, or the marketing campaigns weakened, or the trends proved useless.
Call these trends:  fad. Call them a mode,a  fool's notion, or just a mere frivolity.


 And perhaps later, call them traditional , old or even no longer contemporary! 
 Whether these vogues are  fashion in cloth, shoes, gadgets, decor, accessories, or even food!!! One has to admit that he or she had atleast tried them before they  dwindled from the market.


The recent expectation  in 2008 for Food trends were launched by innovadatabase. Let us see if they will continue growing in the upcoming years! Or they will become a mere "fad" that wont last long . 
I will start posting the major food trends expected. But , for now  I will be only  talking about  trend number 10: "Beautiful Day Arrives".This trend focuses on the effect of food on Beauty, precisely ingredients that improves skin .
Here are some Examples of affordable , cheap and available products, and you can find below some launched products :

• Apple Cider Vinegar: This vinegar has healing properties and it makes the skin soft and supple. Apple cider vinegar  helps peel off dead skin cells. It breaks down fat and helps food digest properly.

• Carrots: Help to maintain the outer layer of the skin to prevent premature aging.

• Cheese: Make a slice or two of hard cheese a part of your diet. Cheese helps to prevent bacteria from growing in the mouth and prevents cavities. Choose between Swiss, cheddar or Gouda.

• Citrus Fruits: These fruits hold the skin cells together by forming collagen. Collagen cannot be added to the skin topically and hence fruits and juices must be made an integral part of your daily diet.
• Garlic: Helps to combat wrinkles and restores tissues.

• Nonfat/low far Yogurt: Is high is calcium and helps to keep your smile white and your teeth cavity-free. And ofcorse not to forget it is good for nails .

• Sweet Potatoes: These potatoes are full of vitamin A and vitamin A is known for being an anti-wrinkling agent. The result of eating this vegetable is smoother skin.

• Tomatoes: This vegetable does wonders to your skin. Tomatoes are rich in vitamin A, vitamin C and potassium. They are also are a major source of lycopene, a potent antioxidant also thought to protect against sunburn.

• Wheat Germ: To get rid of pimples efficiently include two or three tablespoons of wheat germ in your diet. You add this to your cereal, yogurt and cottage cheese.

•  Blueberries: Full of antioxidants and anti-inflammatories that prevent long-term cell damage.

•  Kiwifruit: Another good source of antioxidants, kiwis are also a great source of vitamin C and potassium, all which help prevent wrinkles.

• Walnuts: A key source of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E. The omega-3s found in walnuts also help fight against skin ailments like psoriasis and eczema. 

• Dark chocolate: Full of antioxidants and nutrients, cocoa (choose chocolate with at least 60 percent cocoa) increases blood flow to the skin, which in turn boosts hydration, smoothness, and protection against sun exposure. 

• Tea: Used as skin treatment for ailments and skin whitening , Precisely Chamomile can  treat burns and scrapes.

Some Launched Products in the market: 

Danone's Essensis:( launched in 2009)

 Emmi’s super-premium Beauty Case.

STARBUCKS Launched Chamomile Tea ( Left)

and Tea Frapucino(Right) due to their health benefits 

Russia’s
 Neo Beauty, an innovative
dairy drink, containing a unique
  3D Regeneo formula with aloe vera.

Dove Chocolate with Hazelnut ,Almonds and Raisins :
Combines Taste and Nutrition

For More Info:

1. Chamomile Tea : http://www.sweetadditions.net/food-drinks/chamomile-tea-benefits-for-skin-hair-and-eyes

2. BEAUTY BITES : Lisa Drayer’s Top 10 Beauty Foods: http://www.marieclaire.com/hair-beauty/how-to/tips/beauty-foods

"Chefs are celebrated as designers (move over, Armani, here's Batali!)" Martha Stewart

Food Is the New Fashion:

Martha Stewart - Huffington Post.

Martha stewart in her latest entry on Feb 9, 2011, in the Huffington Post, excitingly states how food is shifting our lives and our culture."Food isn't just only a great pleasure but also a " signifier of style" , Martha claims.

She further elaborates how food trends are changing, how eating habits are evolving into a sophisticated type, and how choosing food became an art, a form of self-expression, fashion like you are choosing your cloth!

A very interesting article that makes me , as a food scientist, proud that I chose this path. 

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To Continue reading, either press the link of the title. Or Pasted below ( Copy right  to Huffington Post):

"When New York Fashion Week gets underway on Thursday, those of us with a keen interest in design and style will be watching to see what comes down the runway. From the cuts to the color palettes, the clothing is almost always interesting -- and even, at times, surprising. And while I don't expect to see anyone outfitted in a raw meat bikini a la Lady Gaga on the cover of Vogue Hommes Japan, it would be almost fitting -- especially if the meat is organic, grass-fed, antibiotic-free, and humanely raised.

As a professional cook, cookbook author and teacher, I have a noticed a shift in the role that food plays in our lives and in our culture. Food has become more than one of life's great pleasures. It has become a signifier of style, too. The notion that "you are what you eat" extends beyond the virtues of a nutritious, well-balanced diet. These days, it often seems that you are what you purchase in the supermarket or at the farmer's market; your grocery list is a reflection of your values and your identity. Chefs are as celebrated as designers (move over, Armani, here's Batali!) and eating and entertaining have become haute couture: Food is the new fashion.

Just consider what Americans have developed a taste for. According to recent research from The Nielsen Company, restaurant and celebrity-chef inspired food brands experienced double-digit growth last year. Food and cooking websites are attracting 70 million visitors each month. That's not to overlook the popularity of cooking reality TV shows like Bravo's Top Chef, which took theProject Runway concept into the professional kitchen, and gourmet food trucks with avid Twitter followings. Even my company's new "Martha Stewart Makes Cookies" app features a "cookie runway," showcasing shortbread and gingerbread people gliding like supermodels!

Food trends are hardly new, and there have always been groups of enthusiasts who are passionate about cooking. As a young newlywed, I, along with many other Americans, spent countless hours cooking my way through Julia Child's seminal Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Since then I've observed numerous food trends and, on occasion, contributed to them. (When I published my 2009 cookbook, Martha Stewart Cupcakes, who would have thought that two years later American women would still have an insatiable appetite for the dessert?)

The current economic environment has only fed the collective interest in cooking; more and more people are eating at home, as evidenced by the increase in cookbook sales, which are up 5 percent at a time when overall book sales have declined. While I'm as eager as anyone else for the economy to improve, I see the growing interest in learning about food and the enthusiasm for home cooking -- especially since studies show that eating together improves family health and stability -- as the recessionary cloud's silver lining. I am further heartened by the increased concern about the origins of our meals -- the quality of life of the animals that provide us with sustenance, and the health and environmental ramifications of our approach to food production.

But there is something different in the current culinary vogue that extends beyond old-fashioned thrift. Personally, I can't recall a time when so many people have had a genuine interest in heirloom tomatoes, for example, or in "forgotten" cuts of meat from nose to tail. Indeed, many everyday cooks are sounding increasingly like professionals, with more sophisticated ingredients and tools at their disposal.

What's in your pantry and on your plate have become a form of self-expression much like a fabulous pair of Christian Louboutins, or absolutely anything vintage. Just as the label "fashionista" evokes an entire lifestyle, so, too, does the term "foodie." The terms are not mutually exclusive, of course.

The re-fashioning of food is an interesting and exciting phenomenon as a new generation of curious cooks and adventurous eaters embrace the culinary arts -- and the pleasures of a seasonal, sustainable diet. Great food doesn't need to be complicated or expensive. It is meant to be enjoyed, ideally with family and friends in celebration of good times -- or as we collectively hope for better times. Like the classic little black dress, good food and entertaining keep evolving, but never go out of style."

Martha Stewart is the host of The Martha Stewart Show on Hallmark Channel and the author of numerous popular books, including Entertaining, Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, Martha Stewart's Cookies, Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, and Martha Stewart's Cooking School.

A Great Place To Be

"To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines of the continents for untold thousands of year, to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be.” Rachel Carson 

Ain Mrayseh-AUB's Beach-Beirut

Peasant Cuisine 1 : Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

Let me start by : “ what is Peasant Cuisine? “

 World cuisine is divided into three major types:

1-      Bourgeois: meaning middle class/urban food.

2-      Haute : highly skillful cuisine , elaborate. First introduced by the French.

3-      Peasant: Right just what you thought of ,  the  food of the farmer, hunter, fisherman, any person that is close to his food source. Unlike us the "city" people, who go to a restaurant and eat a meal , or go the supermarket and grab a ready to eat microwaveable meal...And definitely not like  ordering a 50 dollar meal for a piece of salmon , or  5 grams of caviar.

And thus a peasant food perhaps gives a connotation that it is cheap, unsavory and not exquisite. Yet, it is absolutely the most nutritious, organic and healthy food ever.

Hellman Wonders states that Peasant Foods don’t belong to a village or a country. And so Anthropologists couldnt determine the origins of some peasant foods. This is because ethnic groups migrate and frontiers change (1).
Moreover, written records are rare on this subject since peasant cooks seldom, if ever, jotted down recipes, and the ancient scribes in the city almost never chronicled for posterity the dishes that peasants ate.

Farmer's Market-Ithaca

So if we wanted to talk about  stuffed cabbage leaves. I cant say which country it originated from. First, I thought that stuffed cabbage was Lebanese, since my mom used to cook it all the time. And perhaps all Lebanese families do. Then I saw my middternean friends also acknowledging this meal.

But after I did my research, it turned out that this peasant food is actually cosmopolitan .

 The dish has emerged in different regions.Surely, there are different versions of this dish that differ in taste according to the region.(2). So, some of these varieties include include 'golubtsy' in Russia, 'chou farci' in France, 'sarmale' in Romania, 'holubky' in Czech Republic, 'kåldolmar' in Sweden, 'gołąbki' in Poland, 'lahana dolması' in Turkey,”malfouf Mehshi” in Lebanon and other arab countries, and a peurto Rican version  “Repollo Relleno Con Carne”!!!

 Surely, one would say.Cabbage???? This smelly vegetable.??? This dull taste?Why should I eat it  when I can enjoy other appetizing foods???

Let me tell you why :

1.      STORAGE  :They store well and grow in many different areas of the world, which makes them readily available throughout the year.

2.      CANCER FIGHTER : Cabbage is full of phytonutrients, which signal the body to produce enzymes involved in the detoxification of the body. These enzymes help to fight free radicals that can cause a number of different types of cancer, including lung and prostate cancer.

3.      VITAMIN C which is an antioxidant that protects against the cell-damaging effects of oxidation from free radicals.

4.      ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE Not all cabbage is green. In fact, a special kind called red cabbage has special antioxidants called polyphenols. These help protect brain cells from being damaged in a way that relates specifically to Alzheimer's disease.

5.      CHOLESTEROL Cabbage has a certain phytonutrient known as indole-3-carbinol. This helps to lower cholesterol in the body by preventing the liver from secreting an enzyme that helps to carry cholesterol throughout the body.

6.      ULCERS : Cabbage juice has a good concentration of glutamine, a type of amino acid. This protects and strengthens cells in the stomach, which helps prevent ulcers from forming.

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Here is one great recipe  that i would like to share you from : Group Recipes Website

Photo taken from Hub Pages

Ingredients:

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• ·         1 or more large cabbages
• ·         1 cup short grain rice
• ·         1/2 lb. minced or ground beef or lamb
• ·         1/4 cup lemon juice (as desired)
• ·         4 TBSP butter
• ·         1 1/2 tsp salt
• ·         1 cup water
• ·         1 head garlic, cloves separated with loose paper or skin removed (more to taste)
• ·         a dash of ground paprika
• ·         a dash of ground cinnamon
• ·         a dash of ground cumin
• ·         OR
• ·         1/4 - 1/2 tsp allspice or bhar hellou
• ·         1 tbs dry mint

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How to make it

• ·        Large pot to blanch cabbage leaves, covered casserole, saucepan or stewpot to cook stuffed leaves.
• ·         CHOOSING the cabbage is important, as you have to be able to get enough leaf area to actually hold the stuffing, rolled. Large, loose-leaf cabbages are best; you might need more than one cabbage if the leaves are tightly wrapped, as you will only be able to use the outermost leaves.
• ·         GENTLY peel the leaves from the cabbage. Lay them flat, and cut the largest area you can without large veins.
• ·         WHEN your pot is boiling blanch some leaves for few minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and put in cold water then put in a colander. Repeat same procedure with remaining leaves.
• ·         LINE bottom of cooking pot with bones (if you have bought lamb shoulder and cut the meat from the bone) or with a thick layer of cabbage leaves.
• ·         MIX rice with minced meat, spices and salt. Place cabbage leaf, shiny side down, on a work surface.
• ·         PLACE crosswise about 1 TBS of stuffing (depending on the size of leaf), and fold ends, roll tightly. Place seam down in cooking pot, packing tightly together. Place several cloves of garlic between each layer.
• ·         REPEAT procedure with remaining leaves. You will want about five  'mahshi' per person.(5 pieces per person)
• ·         PLACE 4 TBSP butter in saucepan. Invert a heavy plate on top to keep rolls in shape during cooking.
• ·         COVER leaves with water, bring to a boil then reduce to low simmer and cover. Simmer very gently for two hours or until tender.

·         Add one table spoon dry mint boil it for five minutes .

·         Serve hot.

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To check how much calories and nutrients are  in each cabbage roll :

http://www.fitday.com/webfit/nutrition/all_foods/vegetables/cabbage_stuffed_with_meat_and_rice_syrian_dish_puerto_rican_style_repollo_relleno_con_carne_y_con_arroz_arabe_mihsy_melful_.html

References:

1.http://www.hillmanwonders.com/peasant_dishes/about_p03.htm

2.http://www.buzzle.com/articles/stuffed-cabbage-rolls.html

3.http://www.fitday.com/webfit/nutrition/all_foods/vegetables/cabbage_stuffed_with_meat_and_rice_syrian_dish_puerto_rican_style_repollo_relleno_con_carne_y_con_arroz_arabe_mihsy_melful_.html