Tom Doorleypredicts the food trends of 2007
What will this year bring to Irish food? To be perfectly frank, probably more of the same. I think we can expect more foams of every flavour, and there may even be a resurgence in the unlikely ice creams: savoury stuff flavoured with Parmesan and bacon and what have you.
So far we have been spared the molecular gastronomy of Ferran Adrià and Heston Blumenthal, but I suppose it's only a matter of time before an Irish chef decides to have a go. I have yet to taste the grub of either of these two ground-breaking chefs, and I'm not rushing to do so. This is pure prejudice, of course. I believe that food science has done lots of damage to what we eat, and I also believe that really good cooking (which relies on excellent ingredients and the boring old boiling, basting, baking and roasting) does just fine.
Curiously, though, one recent technological advance tickles my fancy. This is the Pacojet, which allows chefs to make lovely, smooth-textured sorbets without using sugar syrup as a base. Savoury sorbet is one of the few 21st-century innovations in the kitchen that I reckon is worth it.
The smears, squiggles and drizzles that decorate the plates at restaurants such as the excellent Mint, in Ranelagh, Dublin, will undoubtedly become more common. Silly as they are, even in skilled hands, they will very likely be just plain daft when employed by chefs who simply want to impress.
I suspect we will see more avocado oil (for no other reason than its beautiful green colour) and argan oil, which is a pleasantly nutty stuff that originates in northern Africa. Varietal olive oil must surely be on the brink of great success now that we know what extra virgin and unfiltered really mean.
Prince Charles has been credited with a renaissance in mutton across the water; Kay Harte was serving up corned mutton at the Farmgate in Cork before HRH was smitten with the idea of mature sheep meat; perhaps the notion will spread beyond the confines of the English Market in the months ahead.
My finger has been firmly on the pulse of the wine market since my recent conversion to retailing in Lismore,
Co Waterford, and one trend that has struck me is the renaissance of interest in sherry. My range of Lustau sherries has been flying off the shelves at exactly the same time as restaurants such as the Winding Stair, in Dublin, and Jacques, in Cork, have been featuring half-bottles of fino and manzanilla on their menus. Having written one of my first wine articles on sherry, as far back as 1987 (for The Irish Times), my joy is unconfined.
Irish wine consumers are abandoning the New World in favour of Europe, having twigged that the real value is to be had from southern France, Spain, Portugal and the less fashionable bits of Italy. There are brilliant wines waiting to be discovered in the €12-€20 bracket, and 2007 will be good for small, quality-minded importers.
Concerns about carbon footprints will not just discourage Peruvian asparagus and Californian strawberries; I very much hope it will lead to a boycott of patio heaters in favour of warm clothing. Smokers are morally obliged to wear thermal undies during the cooler months.
I'm sorry to say that food as status symbol will continue to separate us from our brothers and sisters in France, Italy and Spain. As a result, many farmers'-market traders will continue to mark up their goods as if they were paying shop rents and to sell produce with serious food miles.
It would be nice to see farmers regulate their markets with a clear agenda of ethics and sustainability. As things stand, the decent and honest traders who form the backbone of the movement will find themselves swamped by their greedy and opportunistic colleagues.