Trends Saké Soars. While everyone knows the name, few people really understand the drink. But that may change, since while the market for saké remains relatively small, it is growing in leaps and bounds. Books on the topic proliferate: Perhaps a bottle of fine saké (not the kind you buy hot by the carafe at a sushi bar) and a book on the topic would be a good gift for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day? Some quick pointers:
Vinify Your Own. Saké isn’t the only emerging trend in alcoholic beverages. Home brewing and winemaking as a hobby is growing at a rapid pace. The do-it-yourself beer and wine industry is approaching $100 million in annual sales as more people take up the hobby, estimates L.D. Carlson, one of the largest home brewing and winemaking wholesalers. Carlson sold 40% more starter kits in *According to a recent study by Vinexpo, producers of a leading international wine and spirits show. It’s Easier To Veg Out. There are between 1,000 and 1,200 vegetarian restaurants in the U.S., almost double the number seven years ago, according to the VegDining.com, an online guide to vegetarian restaurants. Part of the transformation is due to advances in cooking that allow chefs to prepare proteins like tofu with a taste and texture similar to meat. They can also work magic with tempeh, which consists of fermented soybeans with a more grainy texture than tofu, and seitan, a More Americans Go “Locavore.” As the organic movement becomes more mainstream, early organic advocates are now moving from organic to “local” choices, buying from small, nearby farms that use sustainable (but not necessarily organic) growing practices. The term “locavore”† has been coined to describe a person who bases most of his or her diet on food grown regionally. (When restaurants talk about their “farm to table cuisine,” that’s the same thing.) Even institutions are demanding locally-grown foods: From Emory University in Atlanta to Google headquarters in Silicon Valley, chefs have been tasked with buying them. The appeal of local food is not just freshness: With ongoing food scares, while there’s no guarantee, the chances are that food grown on a small scale in a nearby area is much less likely to be contaminated. Environmentally-conscious locavores like that fuel is saved in transporting food shorter distances—as well as less air pollution from burning fossil fuel. Much of what is sold at farmers’ markets is considered sustainable rather than organic: Organic certification requires strict standards established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Some farmers have dropped (or never pursued) their certification while still using organic methods, relying on personal connections with customers who trust they are getting organic quality, and are happy to give up the detailed paperwork required by the USDA. Whether at farmers’ markets or through CSAs (community-supported agriculture, where customers pay in advance for a weekly delivery from a farmer, and †Vorare, the Latin root of carnivore, herbivore and omnivore, means “to eat ravenously.” Pro[biotic] Choice. Probiotics are sweeping the dairy industry in a big way. Probiotics are living microorganisms that are added to dairy products and other foods (like nutrition bars and even chocolate) to aid consumer digestion and boost the Learn more about probiotics in our extensive article in this month’s magazine.
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You can eat the beautiful spring flowers as well as enjoy them in your garden, with this delicious cheesecake. Available from MackenzieLtd.com. 
Nespresso doesn’t want to be in the coffee shop business, because this is as first-class an operation as one could wish for. If only we could wave a wand and have every other coffee shop we need to visit turn into a Nespresso shop. The many varieties of espresso (including cappuccino, latte and cold drinks) are perfetto, the furnishings are elegant, the staff is erudite, the prices are the same as at any other shop. But the purpose of the Nespresso Boutique Bar is to introduce Nespresso’s espresso machines. They are capsule machines: With just a touch of a button, perfect espresso is made in 10 seconds. There are nine premium espressos and three “lungo” blends (more American style for larger cups of coffee). In September, what we think is the world’s best cappuccino machine, the Lattissimo, will be on the market; so if you’re a cappuccino fan, put it on your list. It will be in the $650-$750 range, depending on finish. Learn more at Nespresso.com. 
favorite of Marie Antoinette, and Marilyn Monroe is said to have awoken every morning to a glass of Piper (she may have preferred coffee, but Champagne made better fodder for magazines). This summer, the venerable Champagne house is making an effort to be cool while keeping its patrons cool. One approach is the Piper-Heidsieck Cool Box, a bottle of Piper Cuvée Brut that comes in its own handsome Champagne chilling container. Another is by promoting the Piscine (French for “swimming pool”) cocktail served with Champagne ice cubes instead of in a flute. After you pour it from the Cool Box, your glass of bubbly stays ice cold while you laze in the sun. Of course, you need to devote part of a bottle of Champagne to making the ice cubes, so it helps to have a 
Organic chocolate pioneer Dagoba has introduced a 68% cacao chocolate bar—still semisweet (the bittersweet border is considered to be 70%), with omega-rich hemp seeds, heart-healthy pumpkin and sunflower seeds and to remind us that it’s a modern bar, a touch of Balinese sea salt. Don’t be convinced that this is health food though: There’s enough fat and sugar in any chocolate bar to make “health benefits” a delusion (the exception to the rule is that those who eat 99% or 100% cacao avoid the sugar—but that’s not most of us). For more information, visit DagobaChocolate.com. 
dishes. Nation’s Restaurant News reported on some popular new dishes at restaurants nationwide that you can make at home: a steak and Gorgonzola salad with arugula and spinach, tossed with vinaigrette and garnished with candied walnuts (from Maggiano’s Little Italy in Dallas). We love nutmeg as a seasoning for spinach, but Youssef Hammi, chef at Himmarshee Bar & Grille in Fort Lauderdale, recommends sage. To get more vegetables in your diet, serve grilled fish, chicken or other protein atop a bed of wilted baby spinach leaves; add some toasted pine nuts and a dab of garlic butter or other compound butter. Spinach is high in vitamins A, C, K and folate and is also a good source of iron and magnesium. It also features lutein, an antioxidant that protects against macular degeneration, or loss of eyesight. If you still feel anxiety about bringing spinach back, remember that it was regular spinach that caused the problems last year, not baby spinach. 
the way those coffees taste. Now, you’re going to learn which coffee pairs best with which food. The foodservice division of Sara Lee, the country’s largest dining program coffee producer whose offerings include Douwe Egberts (the coffee in 
The nut underneath is a creamy white color, like the macadamia. Raw and unsalted, their taste is subtle compared to the common goobers we’re used to, somewhat green and healthy-tasting with interesting nuances and a softer texture than most nuts. Most people might not guess they’re peanuts. Like any other peanut, they can be eaten straight out of the bag or added to recipes, and score high in nutrition: 26% protein, heart-healthy oleic acid, all eight essential amino acids and arachidonic acid, a fatty acid typically only found in meat products. For more information about Organic Wild Amazonian Jungle Peanuts, visit Sunfood.com. Sunfood Nutrition founder David Wolfe is also the President of The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (ftpf.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to planting fruitful trees and edible plants to benefit the environment and its inhabitants. FTPF’s mission is to plant 18 billion fruit trees across the world and encourage their growth under organic standards.
foray into organics, with an Organic Peanut Butter Bon. A creamy peanut butter center is covered in deep milk chocolate and topped with 
News, a growing body of research suggests that heavy coffee consumption may lower the risk of Type 2 diabetes and other serious diseases. Rob M. van Dam, PhD, a Harvard researcher, concludes from an analysis he did in 2005 of eight major studies that adults who consume six to seven cups of coffee per day lower their risk of diabetes by one-third over those who drink two cups per day. He stated that another study done last year showed that two or three cups per day lowered women’s diabetes risk by 13%, four or more cups per day cut the risk by more than 40%. At least seven other studies suggest similar benefits. According to Lenore Arab, PhD, a nutritional epidemiologist at UCLA, other studies suggest that coffee could help lower the risk of liver cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and possibly colon cancer. This is good news to the tens of millions of American coffee drinkers. 
eliminating the rights of Americans to eat foie gras. They achieved a huge victory by getting Arnold Schwartzenegger to support a law that will ban foie gras starting in 2012 (we’re betting the Governator personally doesn’t like foie gras) and the Chicago Assembly to outlaw the sale of foie gras last year. The same activists are attempting to instigate action in New York and elsewhere; while we don’t anticipate foie gras speakeasies, Chicago restaurants have shown creative ways of getting around the legislation. Opponents of foie gras say the procedure of using feeding tubes is painful and sickens the birds, but no veterinary organizations have supported this stance. Supporters say the birds’ gullets are naturally expandable (think of pelicans swallowing whole fish), and that they naturally gorge before migrating, so that neither of the alleged “cruel and unusual punishment” accusations are valid. THE NIBBLE fears the danger of allowing fringe groups to legislate what can be eaten, worn or otherwise consumed—has always been surprised that, given the tiny size of the foie gras industry, animal activists are so vehement about spending their time and energy on such a small group of animals that is farmed in just a handful of countries. We opine that their concerns for animal welfare could make a truly significant impact by improving the condition of the many millions of lobsters and crabs, who are plunged live to their deaths in boiling water in many nations around the world. Between finding a less painful way to kill many millions of crustaceans and the feeding method of thousands of geese, which problem should be solved first?
and Moscow, has announced that the 10 year anniversary of the show will be held at the New York show, from November 9th to 11th. The show is held at the Metropolitan Pavilion and Altman Building in New York City. This year’s show will feature some of the most famous pastry chefs and chocolate makers in the U.S., beginning with the chocolate fashion show—leading fashion designers paired with pastry chefs creating unconventional clothing in chocolate—on the evening of Thursday, November 8. For the 10th anniversary celebration, the week leading up to the main chocolate fashion show will be filled with an extensive program of mini events. Mark your calendars! Read more about 
antioxidants than the leading dark chocolate.” That may be, but don’t expect antioxidant health benefits from eating it given the 19 grams of sugar, 180 calories and 100 fat calories in a 1.3-ounce bar. It’s a bar of extremely sweet milk chocolate—not unlike a regular Hershey bar, the sugar overwhelms the chocolate flavor. While the company promotes “smooth, creamy milk chocolate taste,” we find that it has the texture of inexpensive chocolate—fibrous, not melt-in-your-mouth creamy in the least. Our recommendation: Forget the antioxidant hype, there aren’t enough antioxidants in this bar to do anything but make you feel psychologically better. If you want to eat a wonderful milk chocolate bar, try the company’s fine 
combinations to hit town over the last several years. We admit a fondness for all salted bars, including 
certified-organic, authentically strained Greek-style yogurt, which is thicker than European-style yogurt, called Oikos Organic (oikos means house or household in Greek). Using authentic Greek recipes, the yogurt is made in the U.S.The brand will be called Greek-style yogurts are the fastest growing segment in natural foods channels. The Oikos line has 0% fat and is available in both plain and vanilla, the latter a new flavor for lovers of Greek yogurt. The yogurt includes five live and active cultures, including L. acidophilus, Bifidus and L. Casei. It’s diet-friendly, with 120 calories or less, 0g fat and 16g of protein per 6-ounce serving. The suggested retail price is $1.89 per 6-ounce cup and $4.49 per 16-ounce tub. Learn more at OikosYogurt.com. 
2005 production. Wisconsin was the leading state producer, with 25.9% of the production; California took second. Not surprisingly, due to the popularity of pizza and other Italian foods, Italian varieties led production, with 3.99 billion pounds accounting for 41.8% of total cheese produced in 2006. Mozzarella accounted for 78.8% of the Italian production, followed by Provolone with 8% and Ricotta with 6.1%. California was the leading state in Italian cheese production, manufacturing 29.7%. Following America’s love of cheeseburgers, American-type cheese was the second largest type produced, at 3.91 billion pounds; Wisconsin led with 21% of production. We consumed 
Drink With The Sopranos.
A saké with at least 30% of the grain removed is referred to as junmai or junmaishu; at least 40% is ginjo or ginjoshu. Junmais and ginjos can be paired with bigger flavor foods, like toro, grilled chicken and tempura. Rice polished 50% or more creates the more delicate daiginjo or daiginjoshu sakés, which pairs with more gently flavored foods, such as poached whitefish or raw scallop. A fourth category, honjozo or honjozukuri, refers to a saké to which a small amount of pure alcohol has been added during the fermentation period. And a fifth type, nigori or nigorizaké is loosely filtered saké that is cloudy, almost milky white. Pair them with spicy or heavily fried foods and lighter meats.
the first three months of this year than in the same period in 2006. Experts credit the rapid growth in general wine sales with fueling interest in homemade wine. Within three years, Americans are expected to consume nearly 3.8 billion bottles of wine annually, which would make the U.S. the largest wine-consuming country in the world, surpassing historical “winners” Italy and France.* You don’t even need a cellar or an extra room: The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports of Vine Park, a thriving “brew on premises” business where customers come in to brew their own beer or wine, then come back to bottle it later. Wine accounted for more than half of the company’s 30% sales increase last year; in 2005, wine contributed to only 6% of the increase. In addition to the pride of becoming a “vintner,” the price is right: Wine ingredient kits, which contain everything needed to make wine, cost $30 to $160, depending on the quality of the juice concentrate. Organic concentrates are also available. One kit produces 30 bottles of wine. The initial investment of equipment to get started, including the cost of bottles, is about $100. That’s $6 a bottle for wine from the best juice, amortizing the cost of the equipment, for a wine equivalent to a $15 or greater retail purchase. Perhaps for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, you can give a gift to get the celebrant started on Chateau Your Family. 
concentrated wheat gluten. Once a network of obscure “health food” cafés, the vegetarian and vegan experience in some cities has blossomed into fine cuisine with Zagat ratings and celebrity clienteles. Dennis Bayomi, president of VegDining.com, estimates there are more than a dozen fine dining vegan eateries nationwide (in addition to being meat-free, vegans eat no animal by-products, including dairy, eggs and honey). An expanding global pantry has contributed vegetarian dishes from other countries. The Associated Press reports that Chef Rich Landau and his wife Kate Jacoby opened Horizons in the Philadelphia suburbs 11 years ago, expecting to serve hummus to college kids, and was surprised when his restaurant filled with “suits and ties.” Now, Horizons is a chic downtown restaurant where diners wait an hour for a table on the weekends to enjoy pan-seared tofu with hearts of palm, poblano cream and agave baked beans, wasabi-glazed tempeh or a maitake and smoked eggplant empanada. New York City’s neighborhood cafe, Candle 79, on the Upper East Side, has celebrity regulars like Paul McCartney, Alicia Silverstone and Woody Harrelson: They’ve sold 3 million vegan meals in the last 20 years, like seitan piccata with lemon caper sauce and ancho-seared tempeh with roasted sweet potato purée and pomegranate reduction. Just because it’s meat-free doesn’t mean the food is cheaper: In fact, it’s costlier than traditional fare. It costs 40 percent more to serve organic products, which are generally preferred by vegetarians; and the labor to prepare vegetarian dishes is more intensive.
immune system. According to USProbiotics.org, a nonprofit research and education website funded by the California Dairy Research Foundation, probiotics aid digestion by balancing naturally occurring gut flora. They’ve been hot in Europe for 20 years, but only now getting into the American diet. For example, Dannon’s Activia, a yogurt with probiotics that improve overall digestion (and the most widely marketed probiotic brand), introduced in January 2006, has been sold in Europe since for more than 20 years. Dannon introduced its DanActive line of probiotic drinkable yogurts in Europe in 1984 and later expanded to Asia under the brand name Actimel; more than 6 million bottles are sold daily! Probiotics fits into a larger trend of 