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Rooting out today's top culinary trends

Root vegetables are the food service trend of the moment, according to research on the top plant-based edibles in restaurant kitchens and menus from market research publisher, Packaged Facts.

September 21, 2016 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Root vegetables are the food service trend of the moment, according to research on the top plant-based edibles in restaurant kitchens and menus from market research publisher, Packaged Facts. 

 Packaged Facts researchers collected consumer survey data this past April around top menu items and found six winners, but the study found that the over-riding qualifier for all fruits and vegetables used by restaurants is that they must be fresh, or consumers get turned off no matter what they are. 

The company found that following six categories of fruits and vegetables were driving most of the innovation in restaurant kitchens: 

Celery and Fennel
Both of these vegetable "stalkers" are prized in kitchens for both their versatility and overall usability in that all parts of each plant can contribute to dishes in some way. Of the two, that licorice-tasting cousin of a carrot —  fennel — is spreading most rapidly in restaurant use, according to Packaged Facts. The fact, however, that this herb and its crunchy cousin — celery — are plants whose entire bodies can be used in dishes, is making them little darlings of the restaurant world but also in consumers' home kitchens.

Mint
Mint — in all its many forms — was equally prized by restaurateurs for its ability to be used in nearly every course of the meal from cocktail to dessert. The study found that mint is critical to the flavor of the increasing array of ethnic foods that U.S. consumer gravitate toward these days, including Vietnamese and Mexican dishes.

Radishes
These peppery little spheres of crunch are becoming increasingly prevalent as a burger topping, side item or peppery punch-up for juices, smoothies and even fish tacos. It’s considered a so-called "value-added vegetable" since its uses are so varied, but this red-and-white root vegetable has definitely risen in status from its days as a lowly salad bar item. 

Specialty greens
Poor iceberg lettuce seems to have gone the way of the ocean’s icebergs — slowly dissolving into history. Today's salad greens come in all sorts of shapes, colors, names and varieties, including herbs, such as sorrel, and so-called micro-greens or vegetable confetti, comprised of the immature edible greens harvested a month after germination when baby plants are just a couple of inches tall. Restaurants use these items in everything from garnishes to entrees, according to Packaged Facts.

Specialty Peppers
Americans love their heat and the seemingly infinite varieties of peppers. This — according to the research — also probably harkens back to our growing affection for ethnic foods of all sorts, which often feature lots of heat in the form of an expanding list of peppers. Top trendsetters in this category include shishito, Peppadew and ghost pepper or bhut jolokia.

Boozy fruit
Both booze-lovers and tea totalers are sweet on fruit these days as a way to "fancy" up cocktails or smoothies. Restaurants are discovering the many benefits of offering numerous fruit choices as a means to drive up bar tabs. This is part of that growing interested in spirits over beer and wine that’s giving birth to a cocktail culture comeback a la the Mad Men. 

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.