#4 – Vegetables Step Up to The Plate

Industry pro Michael Whiteman from Baum & Whiteman has published his predictions for the hottest trends in restaurant and hotel dining for 2016 and here’s #4:

#4 VEGETABLES STEP UP TO THE PLATE
We’ve reached a tipping point for vegetables. They’re pushing animal protein to the side of the plate … or entirely off it. Relentlessly rising beef prices, horror over hormones, a scramble for ever-more antioxidants, health-and-diet concerns, growth of farmers markets, locavore drummers, increasing numbers of flexitarians … all the stars have nicely aligned. It helps that vegetables are more seasonal than animals, adding menu excitement for restaurants recognizing that buying seasonally reduces food costs … and keeps menus fresh. Say hello to “Root to Stem” dining … a logical extension of the nose-to-tail movement … with restaurants serving vegetables trimmings otherwise heading for the trash. Say hello to “Vegetable Forward” restaurants … with increasing numbers of chefs deploying flesh as a condiment … not as the main act on the plate. USDA says potatoes, tomatoes and lettuce comprise 60% of US veggie consumption. 

Fast food may be to blame … but you also might conclude that, like fish, people shy away from cooking at home what they don’t know about. You don’t see heaps of romano beans at the supermarket, or rainbow chard, or romanesco … and tonight not many people are grilling cauliflower steaks … or fabricating carpaccios of mushrooms. You go to restaurants for that stuff.

You can read the remainder of Michael’s predictions for the hottest trends coming in 2016 by going here:
​http://www.baumwhiteman.com/