Food

Named the Best TV Drama Series for a third year in a row at this week’s Emmy Awards, Mad Men is about an advertising agency and lifestyles of 1960s America. Its historical authenticity and visual style have boosted interest in interior design, fashion, beauty, and even cocktails of the era. So much so, there’s a Mad Men Cocktail Culture iPhone app that challenges your skills at making popular cocktails of the ’60s.  So welcome back the likes of Gin Collins, Gimlets, Cosmopolitans and classic martinis (though as far as we’re concerned, this never really went away).

And for the non-alcoholic set, who want to savor the classics, there are homemade sodas – a trend that’s in step with the growing menu trend toward simpler, more natural foods, and a rising interest in locally made.

Canyon Ranch in Miami has been serving up their homemade version since their opening, as well as Michael’s Genuine Food and Drink, which just opened their new outpost in the Cayman Islands. Their ginger-lemongrass, cherry rosemary and strawberry basil sodas uses basil from their nearby vegetable garden. And while it’s not homemade locally, their Captain Eli’s Root Beer is not to be missed.

~Karen Weiner Escalera

One of the hottest cultural travel segments, culinary tourism, is seriously in vogue. Previously regarded as an elite/special interest product in parts of Europe, wine and culinary tourism is going more mainstream and cashing in on the growing consumer trend of appreciating regional wine and food travel experiences.

A Food Court boom is upon us, and they’re going upscale, with some of the prestigious names getting in on the act. These initiatives, much like the retail shopping bazaar, help with bring in added income and boosts both room rates and occupancy. We think the appeal of food court dining is that it’s a product of the small plates and grazing trend - trying different foods at one seating – plus, it’s casual.

Are you ready for the next food trend? First it was organic, then local. Now, a new culinary movement is sprouting: urban foraging. As expected, this trend has been hot among foodies in California and New York City for years.

Restaurant and food pop-ups are flourishing in every shape and size. Intimacy and hipness is the attraction: the ‘I-know-something-or-somebody-you-don’t-know’ feeling. We’ve seen numerous examples of pop-up restaurants in recent years, including those with strictly three-month seasonal menus. Others use guerrilla gourmet dining clubs: strictly word-of-mouth, unlicensed, underground restaurants in unmarked buildings, blind alleys and urban caverns.

After a gloomy 2009, floral prints are THE trend for spring/summer 2010. Designers adorned their spring collections with garden varieties of rosettes and sweet floral patterns on just about everything from accessories to dresses and jackets. British brand Liberty kicked off thes season earlier this year by bringing its iconic florals to America in the form of a Target collaboration. This bright, happy trend has also influenced the beauty world, causing an explosion of pretty pinks and cotton candy hues for lips, cheeks and nails in shops.

Globetrotting oenophiles can stop by The Ritz London to taste a glass of the hotel’s signature Pauillac wine, bottled by Baron Philippe de Rothschild in the first ever partnership between the prestigious label and a hotel. The hotel is part of a new movement by luxury hotels to offer guests bespoke, customized house wines.

Urban roofscapes continue to be hot real estate and there’s a lot happening in the city skies. First it was rooftop pools and bars (NYC’s Gansevoort, Madrid’s Urban), then rooftop beehives (Fortnum & Mason, Fairmont Royal York) and rooftop pop-up hotels (Hotel Everland at Paris’ Palais de Tokyo museum). So how is the the restaurant industry getting on board?

Exclusionary and elusive experiences still appeal to consumers and remains at the top of what is appealing and sexy in the minds of consumers, despite the recession. They want to feel as if they are a part of a select elite group, even if it’s only a temporary illusion. The more privileged a consumer feels for having access to a product or service, the more the added level of mystique will sell. Here are some nifty examples of selling the mystique factor….

We used to go to culinary school. Now we want to make the cheese, not just watch the process on TV. Farms schools are the next big thing in foodie vacations, burgeoning from the current farm-to-table trend.