In this week’s effort to find something new a the market I picked up Trader Joe’s Valencia Peanut Butter with Roasted Flaxseed… The label mentions it contains 320mg ALA Omega-3 per serving, so it must be good for you…

Like most peanut butter it’s not light on calories or fat, but has a very different flavor…

Slightly sweeter than peanut butter, clearly tastes of flaxseed with a salty finish… It’s not the best peanut butter I’ve ever, but it’s a nice change… Keeps with the new trend of jamming as much nutrition into your food as possible…

I’m not sure when the deadline is for getting your food trends for 2009 in is, but the Canadians are out with theirs.
Our neighbors to the North say it’s all about, “hunkering down and surviving the economic chaos.”
Which in their words means affordable eats, comfort foods and getting healthy.

Some of those changes include brown bag lunches, home cooked meals and avoiding the restaurant scene.

2009 Canadian trends

Lower sodium foods
Vegetarian kids
Probiotics
Healthy carbs
Increase in fruits and vegetables
Beer and red wine marinades

The list comes courtesy of Eating Patterns in Canada (EPIC)

After reading the list I wonder if Canadians are trend setters or just jumping on the band wagon?

Love to hear where you think food is headed this year… Let us know in the comments section.

Title: 3rd Annual California Artisan Cheese Festival
Location: Petaluma, California
Link out: Click here
Description: California’s Artisan Cheese Festival returns to Sonoma County for another four-day
celebration of the continuing evolution in artisan cheesemaking. Featured again this year are the esteemed cheesemakers, experts, authors and chefs who make this weekend uniquely rich and satisfying.

Start Date: 2009-03-20
Start Time: 18:00
End Date: 2009-03-23

Last year it was all about pomegranates. You couldn’t and still can’t go into a grocery store without seeing row after row of new products containing pomegranate juice.

This year it seems from the folks I’ve spoken with, cheese is the new pomegranate juice.

Consider the following anecdotal evidence…


I spoke with numerous checkers over the past few weeks from three different grocery chains who reported cheese flying off the shelves… And keep in mind checkers are pretty numb to what passes by them… It takes a lot to catch their eye…

The launch of Culture magazine… A magazine devote to cheese…

Several of the major food makers are expecting huge jumps in the sales of mac and cheese this year…

Cheese shops I spoke with tell me there has been no drop in cheese sales, higher end cheeses are selling still selling well and there has been a big increase in folks asking about American Artisan Cheeses.

Then there’s the predicted trend of a return to comfort foods… Which includes mac & cheese as well as cheese burgers.

We would love to hear your thoughts on the trend, or if you have a favorite cheese use the comments section to promote it…

And if you just find you can’t get enough cheese stories, I found this video by Jeffrey Roberts, author of The Atlas of American Artisan Cheese…

Title: Tee Mamou-Iota Mardi Gras Folklife Festival
Location: Iota, Louisiana
Link out: Click here
Description: Throughout the day, Cajun and Zydeco bands play on the main stage featuring the only raised dance floor in the area. Another stage features the area\’s finest young musicians playing Cajun music. The festival also offers the most delicious Cajun foods and a variety of Cajun crafts.

The highlight of the day is the arrival of the Tee Mamou Courir de Mardi Gras riding through town in the Mardi Gras wagon. The brightly colored costumes are topped off with screen masks and capuchons which hide each persons identity. The courir will then gather on the main stage along with the capitaine, Todd Fruge, to sing their traditional European chant in French that is dated back 400+ years. Once the song is completed, the Mardi Gras descend onto the street like a colorful wave, dancing with any available ladies and begging for loose change.
Start Time: 8:30
Date: 2009-02-05
End Time: 17:00

I’m not sure when you have to stop making food prediction for 2009, but today’s list comes from Reuters news service…

A good list highlighted by a entry called, Recession Diets… It makes the case that foods that are bad for you are cheaper to eat… Translation, “we’re all going to start eating crap.”

Put aside the fact that organic potatoes are 99 cents a pound, while a one pound bag of potatoes chips is $2.49… We don’t have to go the lazy person’s route… Plenty of good options out there…

My favorite recession fact to share is that the Safeway just down the street from my office offers every Friday what I call the recession special… They’ll post a notice on the door in either pink lipstick or on a sheet of white paper announcing what you can get on Friday for $5… see photo above

Just off the phone with NPD in New York, the folks that track what we eat and why we eat it…

Their latest findings show the economy and rising food costs are changing the way we eat and losing weight just isn’t the concern it once was…

So what did they come up with…

* Americans are eating more at home…but that doesn’t mean they’re using restaurants less.
* Breakfast bars and yogurt hit a new high at breakfast, but stopping at restaurants for breakfast also hit a new high this year.
* Americans are losing interest in losing weight as dieting hits a new low this year.
* Snacking is not as impulsive as you might think. Most snacks are planned more than six hours earlier. There is a shift in when the most snacking occurs — more in the morning and less in the evening.
* Probiotics is the “new” health topic, as concerns about trans fat fades.
* Winter is becoming a new grilling season.

Let us know in the comments section if you agree…

Thanks to NPD, Harry Balzer and Kim McLynn for the information.