Dining
Dining
The Culinary Pendulum by Susan Campbell Our insatiable need for new when it comes to cuisine has trends constantly coming and going, and often landing right back where we started when everything old becomes new again. So let’s have a look at the foodie landscape over the ages and where the pendulum might be heading today.
The original creative chefs
Creative cooking through chemistry
It’s remarkable to imagine how early man (and woman) figured out how to not only feed themselves, but also to discover ways to improve the taste of their food by trial and error. Discovering what was, and what was not edible must have certainly resulted in a few fatalities! They were certainly brave those first innovative chefs. So we have them to thank for pioneering the culinary landscape through experimentation.
As if chefs didn’t have enough to work with to prepare creative dishes with foodstuffs, they brought the chemistry lab into the kitchen to make insanely futuristic dishes like disappearing transparent raviolis made with edible paper. Experimenting with liquid nitrogen, centrifuges, antigriddles, and the like, they discovered a brave new world where they could manipulate the very molecular makeup of ingredients to invent completely new tastes and textures. Deconstructing classic dishes and reformatting them in entirely new versions became an art form in itself. Today, that art form is still evolving and delighting diners everywhere.
Food trends through the ages
Since the ability to refrigerate food became commonplace in the forties, just about every restaurant could stock items for later use, which really changed chefs’ whole approach to cooking and menu creation. And every decade since has had its breakout dishes. In the fifties, think casseroles and prepackaged foods. In the sixties, it was all about French cuisine thanks to Julia Child. Remember chateaubriand served tableside and flambéed baked Alaska for dessert? The seventies are when fondue became all the rage and fast food began to hit the forefront of daily life. The eighties were all about Asian and sushi and pizza, while the nineties heralded healthier eating. Throughout the decades the pendulum has swung from small, stacked portions of food inspired by nouvelle cuisine where plating became a high art form, to super-sizing everything with massive all-you-can-eat buffets… and then back again. After that, molecular gastronomy changed the game.
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Alternative diets get some respect
At the forefront of the last decade, alarm bells about trans fats, refined sugar and additives, and chemicals and preservatives that were adversely affecting the body sent chefs scrambling back to the proverbial drawing board to create more healthy offerings. Food allergies also became a concern, and people began seeking alternatives for dishes using ingredients like gluten and peanuts. As well, a growing movement toward organic and cruelty-free options surfaced, while new buzzwords like “superfoods” (relating to foods that were naturally rich in disease-fighting agents) became part of our everyday nutritional lexicon. The challenge for chefs was to create dishes that addressed all of these concerns yet still contained inviting flavors and consistencies and could be offered within
a reasonable budget. Fortunately, there have been great strides in all of these areas. Today, those with restricted diets – either by choice or by necessity – are enjoying a wide range of brilliant, alternative options. And vegetarians aren’t confined to the salad bars anymore when there are dishes like portobello mushroom filled with spinach and herb-garlic cream cheese with truffle risotto and balsamic vinegar reduction on tap! In our quest to eat healthier, new superfoods are being discovered every year. Anything naturally purple seems to be hailed as superfood royalty these days: grapes, eggplant, blueberries and blackberries, plums, red cabbage, purple cauliflower, and now beets! And due to its cancer fighting agents, cauliflower is being touted as the new kale, so watch for all kinds of different incarnations of that well-known vegetable. Flour for pastry is also evolving (or backtracking really), going retro from refined by using ancient grains like quinoa, ground chia, or whole wheat. And vegetable crust for healthier and gluten-free pizza is also on the rise! Natural sweeteners like agave, wild honey, stevia, and coconut sugar are replacing refined white sugar in many dishes. Turmeric, an ancient Middle Eastern spice used in healing for centuries, also seems to be the healthy flavoring wave of the future. Add it to your cooking for a zingy, gingery blast (either fresh or dried), and enjoy its many healing properties from anti-inflammatory benefits to improving cognitive function. !
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Dining
Dining
Sweet meets savory
What’s to come?
Nowadays, you’ll find so many more fruits and sweets in savory dishes beyond basics like applesauce as a complement for pork, or cranberry as a foil for roast turkey. How about grilled filet mignon wrapped in bacon topped with red wine, brown sugar, cloves, and cinnamon served with vegetables, sliced oranges, and fresh strawberries? On the other side of the coin, savory flavors are creeping into desserts. You’ll see surprising flavors of ice cream like beer and hops and roasted corn sorbet popping up. Salty foods are also making the rounds in sweet desserts. Bacon turns out to provide a perfect complement to rich chocolate creations, and olives are now showing up in sweet baked goods!
Possibly in a backlash to the overly abundant all-healthful offerings, one is beginning to see far more indulgent dietbe-damned dishes making a comeback. So bring on the real butter and fully loaded baked potatoes with sour cream, bacon bits, chives, and cheddar cheese. And then there are new culinary “mash-ups.” The term, although typically used when referring to creating a new mix of music, means “a mixture or fusion of disparate elements.” Culinary mash-ups are when a chef takes existing classic dishes and makes something new by combining them. Things like stew-spaghetti, burger-burritos, nacho-lasagna, pastrami-eggrolls… you get the idea. Sometimes it works better than others, but that doesn’t stop imaginative creators from continually pushing the envelope. On the dessert front, one new trend is to serve individual portions like Salted Caramel Oreo Cheesecake in small mason jars, or to combine classic desserts to make new ones like Black Forest Cheesecake. Restaurants today are beginning to shift to concepts rather than style of service or ethnicity of cuisine. You can find entire operations centering around one
Comfort food goes gourmet
There seems to be a nostalgia movement afoot for soups, stews, and casseroles like grandma used to make and the kind of slow braised meats and roasts that typically graced Sunday family dinner tables. Chefs are taking notice and offering up these kinds of comfort foods again big time, but sometimes with a twist. They are adding avant-garde ingredients to rustic dishes to come up with variations like Gouda Mac and Cheese with Peaches and Prosciutto, or Shrimp Shiitake Blue Cheese Casserole instead of basic Mac ’n’ Cheese.
And good old-fashioned pasta is also taking new turns with alternate style noodles made from quinoa, lentils, chickpeas, or “zoodles”(zucchini noodles), and topped with caviar or colored with squid ink. Mexican comfort food is getting new life in dishes like Truffle Tortillas stuffed with mixed vegetables and truffle and creamy mustard sauce. Of course, burgers are continually getting a makeover. There seems to be no end of options available to make a burger gourmet, but now the trend is also revolving around the condiments. Artisan homemade mayonnaise and relishes as
well as additions like black sesame tahini, habañero jam, and fiery pepper sauces are all elevating the burger game. Tiny burgers called “sliders” have become the tapas darlings in trendy gastropubs everywhere. Truffles, Parmesan cheese, and tartar sauce are finding their way onto your side of fries. How about maple tofu chili cheese fries? It’s endless! Though it’s hard to improve upon a perfectly grilled steak, the dipping sauces or marinades that go with them have also gone gourmet with variations like black truffle butter or shiitake mushroom demi-glace, to name just a few. !
Mini Black Forest cheesecake
specific food item like ramen noodles, rice, avocados, chocolate, truffles, fried pickles, tacos, and even edible insects! Technology is also making big inroads in restaurants with the addition of robot bartenders and robots on the kitchen assembly line as well! The culinary adventure continues... On Aruba
This island’s finest chefs don’t need a crystal ball to determine the next best thing in food trends as chances are they’re already ahead of the curve. Fortunately for the adventurous diner, Aruba has such a cornucopia of culinary talents that it’s easy to find everything from futuristic cuisine to comfort food in a wide array of locations.
Tuna tataki with citrus dressing and sesame sauce from Amuse Sunset Restaurant
Filet Signature Steak from Ruth’s Chris at the Aruba Marriott Resort
Prime rib from Legends Pub
You can cook your own dinner (grill or stir-fry) at specialty tables, or dine in a bed, on a luxury boat, in an aquarium, inside elegant, air-conditioned dining rooms, in alfresco courtyards, or seaside by tiki torchlight with toes in the sand. There are open kitchens, pop-up restaurants, food fairs and festivals, and gourmet food stands and trucks. Choose from family-style barbecue haunts, raw bars, sushi spots, all-you-can-eat themed buffets, or the diverse array of authentic ethnic emporiums. You’ll find tapas, small plates, and hearty platters, chefs’ surprise menus with wine pairings, gourmet tasting menus, and menus that go the extra mile for healthy and restricted diets too. The farm-to-fork movement is also alive and well on this island, and the straight from the sea-to-the-server tradition remains the time-honored custom for fish and seafood. You can even catch your own fish and have it cooked to perfection when you join a legendary dining establishment’s fishing expedition. In fact, Aruba’s fishermen are basically in the same boat as the early hunters and gatherers. They also never knew what would end up on their dinner plate that night when they set out for their daily sustenance, but they did always know it would be fresh! And when it comes to fish and seafood – no matter where the culinary pendulum might be heading – fresh catch-of-the-day will never go out of style! "
Take a Culinary Tour! With hundreds of fine dining establishments on Aruba, it can be hard to tell the players without a program, much less experience all that’s on offer during your stay. That’s why a taste tour or wine and dine program might be a good idea for the uninitiated, such as the ones offered for groups by the Aruba Gastronomic Association. There is also a new upscale progressive wine and tapas experience throughout Aruba’s best spots with one of the tours from Kukoo Kunuku. 56 Nights
Bottom right photo courtesy of Ruth’s Chris
Top right photo courtesy of Legends Pub. Bottom left photo courtesy of Amuse Sunset Restaurant
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