The Scoop on Super Bowl Take-Out Food. According to the National Restaurant Association, approximately 15 percent of Americans have restaurant food delivered to the home of where a Super Bowl® gathering is held. This year, Super Bowl Sunday falls on February 5th. See if your Super Bowl eating habits are similar to the results found from the research.

2006: Bountiful Tomato Harvest. According to The Washington Post, when Hurricane Wilma struck Florida last October, tomato prices at retail markets nationwide hovered in the $4 per pound range, up about $1.50. As a result, some restaurants even removed tomatoes from dishes altogether or only provided them upon special request. However, Florida farmers have rebuilt and replanted Florida’s fresh fruits and vegetables and the devastated crops have begun to be restored. Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles H. Bronson explains that the tomato supply is back up and retail prices should fall accordingly.

New Product Watch: Guittard Chocolate. E. Guittard, an artisanal chocolate company based in Burlingame, California, recently introduced its Single Origin Chocolate Tasting Kit. The sampler contains four single origin chocolate bars, available in Ambanja, Chuchuri, Quevedo, and Sur del Lago. Also included in the kit is the Chocolate Education Booklet, which covers an overview of the company, regions of cacao plantations, bean varieties and the chocolate making process.

Lunch breaks at the desk. According to the American Dietetic Association (ADA), 75 percent of office workers in America eat lunch at their desks about two or three times a week. In an article from the Washington Post, dietitian Bonnie Taub-Dix of the ADA explains that a dish with chicken and vegetables at a restaurant isn’t that much different from a healthy to-go meal with the same ingredients. What’s important is making healthy meal choices even when you have time constraints at work.

“New” lettuce wraps. Wrapping foods in lettuce instead of bread was big in the days of low-carb dieting. Recently-launched Lettuce Jammers is presenting itself as a “new” lettuce product—packaged, pre-washed lettuce leaves, that can be filled with chicken and broccoli, tuna salad, or anything you choose. Positioned as fancy "wrap" lettuce, does it present the consumer with anything beyond one could find in the middle of a head of romaine, Boston, or other leaf lettuces?

New Product Watch: Pomegranate Liqueur. By Spring of 2006, PAMA™ Pomegranate Liqueur will be launched in upscale markets nationwide. Made with all-natural California pomegranates, PAMA is bottled at a mixable 34 proof (17% alcohol by volume). It is said to be both sweet and tart in taste. The liqueur will be available in 750ml with a suggested retail price of $24.99.

Winter Fancy Food Show begins next week. Nearly 1,100 exhibitors will be displaying more than 80,000 distinctive specialty foods at the 31st Winter Fancy Food Show® in San Francisco. THE NIBBLE™ editors will of course be there, looking for “the best of the best” products for you.  Fancy Food Shows, the industry’s largest specialty food events, are held three times a year: January in San Francisco, May in Chicago, and July in New York City. They are open to the trade only: retail buyers, brokers, caterers, cooking schools, distributors, food service, importers, manufacturers, and the press.  The shows are presented by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT), the industry’s professional association. For more information, visit:
FancyFoodShows.com.

Specialty coffee continues to rise. According to E-Imports, an espresso business solutions provider for the specialty coffee industry, specialty coffee sales have risen 20 percent each year and account for 8 percent of the billion dollar U.S. coffee industry. A study jointly conducted by The National Coffee Association and The Specialty Coffee Association of America found that more than 100 million Americans over the age of 18 drink coffee every day. See if the statistics below match up with your daily java intake:

New Product Watch: Soy Tortillas. Tumaro’s Gourmet Tortillas has launched a new line of flatbreads using solae soy protein. Soy-full Heart Flatbreads are the first nationally distributed soy fortified flatbreads in America. Each serving contains 4 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein. They are available in Wheat, Soy & Flax, 8 Grain ’N Soy, and Apple ’N Cinnamon. All three varieties are kosher, 92 percent fat-free, low in cholesterol and sodium, and have zero grams of trans fats. Tumaro’s Gourmet Tortillas also have a healthy, low-carb multigrain tortilla, as well as other delicious tortilla flavors, including Jalapeño & Cilantro and Pineapple-Banana.

Kobe Beef Returns to the U.S. In 2001, the U.S. banned Japanese beef imports due to the 21 cases of mad cow disease found in Japan. But last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture lifted the ban to allow whole cuts of boneless beef from Japan to enter the U.S. under certain conditions. This means that Japanese Kobe beef, recognized for its gorgeous marbled fat, can  again be sold to American beefeaters who demand the best (like Kobe Bryant’s father, who named him after the food of which he was so enamored).

Remembrances of Things Past #1: Shark Fin Soup. Thought to endow medicinal properties, shark fin soup was considered a delicacy in Southern China until the late 1980s. In the past 15 years, it has become a popular dish in many Asian restaurants throughout the world. Researchers and marine biologists find that the product’s demand has caused some of the shark population to decline by as much as 70 percent. According to The New York Times, some sharks like the silk tip have become extinct from the Caribbean.

Remembrances of Things Past #2: Caspian Caviar. If you’ve enjoyed beluga, osetra or sevruga caviar, you may have enjoyed your last for quite some time.  As we reported last fall, the three species are on the brink of extinction. In October 2005, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service banned the import of beluga; but as of January 2, 2006, the Congress of International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), has declared a suspension of export of all caviars from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine.  Click here for details.

Bottled Water Bonanza. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, bottled water consumption in the U.S. has surpassed that of milk, coffee, and beer. That’s great for the health of Americans, but a challenge to bottled water producers: as the market matures, it will become increasingly important to continue product innovation and to increase brand awareness to combat commoditization and price promotions.

According to a study by international research firm Mintel, half of respondents who drink bottled water prefer spring water to purified water and notice a difference in the taste (interestingly, the two largest American brands, Dasani and Aquafina, are purified tap water). Forty-three percent of respondents feel that there is a significant difference between bottled water brands, and almost two-thirds of respondents are brand loyal. The most discriminating in their views are the segments of younger respondents, Black respondents, and respondents earning under $50,000.

The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) defines bottled water as water sealed in a sanitary container, to be sold for human consumption. This includes carbonated, non-carbonated and flavored waters.

Flavor Forecast. In 2005 it was pomegranate. Prior years brought us international flavors like wasabi and jalapeno. What can we expect in 2006?

Skip Rosskam, President & Chief Operating Officer of David Michael & Company, a developer of flavors for food manufacturers, notes a demand for creates a demand for stronger, more intense flavors(the company recently developed gelato flavors such as apple chervil, blueberry lavender, chocolate espresso chipotle, coconut pineapple thai basil, and pear apricot ginger). He nominates three not flavors to watch for this year and next:

Trend: More Organics. Most of us will probably be eating more organic foods in 2006. According to Datamonitor, organics continue to grow at roughly 20 percent annually, compared with about 3 percent for the rest of the food industry.

Kenneth A. Gawley, director of marketing for Chr. Hansen, a developer of natural ingredients for food manufacturers and other companies, attributes a key portion of organic growth to greater consumer awareness and desire for better health and healthier foods, while still maintaining the convenience of regular shopping routines. “The average consumer doesn’t necessarily want to have to go to a specialty health food store to get good-for-you, natural or organic-type products if they don’t have to,” he says.