Blog

Food Trends & Social Media

Fill Your Plate

09.19.2011

The Food Channel’s Kay Compton-Logsdon recently shared some top food trends. The Food Channel’s vice president and editor-in-chief made a point to stress the importance of utilizing social media and figuring out ways to exploit these trends.

Fresh and local goes beyond a trend: It’s here to stay.

“People are talking about your food,” Compton-Logsdon said at the opening day of the National Chicken Council’s Chicken Marketing Seminar, referencing the thousands of active food bloggers and online forums where consumers and people working in the food industry interact on a regular basis. “The genie is out of the bottle and marketers have a lot to gain by having a presence on social networking sites.”

Compton-Logsdon went on to discuss how The Food Channel’s Top Food Trends for the year have played out. Top foods of the decade identified by The Food Channel included sushi, bacon, cupcakes, sliders, gourmet burgers, “superfruits” and olive oils. This list also includes up-scaling bar food.

Specific to Arizona, there are food trends aplenty. Susie Timm, “head cheese” and owner of Girl Meets Fork, a promotional and marketing food company, suggests we get ready for some exciting trends in food. “I see the resurgence of tomato-free ketchup taking the culinary scene by storm,” says Timm. “Think blueberry, pumpkin, peach or oyster; all great condiments, none with our little red friends.”

Peach ketchup? Well, if the peaches are from Arizona, it will taste wonderful.

Timm also talked about cherries. “Cherry will re-emerge as the original ‘superfood’ and be seen on menus and in specialty products from coast-to-coast.”

She also discussed how specialty salts are emerging as special seasoning for our meats and vegetables. When we serve up a nice tender and juicy Arizona steak, we can offer some unique salts for seasoning.

Whatever the food trend, much of what we produce will be the featured item on our plates. Let’s make sure we exploit these trends to accentuate our Arizona agriculture!