Oser Communications Group

GOURMET NEWS MARCH 2015 www.gourmetnews.com EDITORIAL 1 0 For lovers of all things gourmet, it can be chal- lenging to reconcile long- admired classic foods and timeless recipes with the rapidly evolving techno- logical landscape. And despite what the roman- tics among us might think, we culinari- ans have entered into a brave new world in which our kitchens have become de- cidedly 21st century. Despite the fact that many of us populate our kitchens with antique yellowware crocks, heir- loom silver and vintage-looking refriger- ators, technology has not left the food world untouched. From tablets to smart- phones to Internet-connected appli- ances, the world of today's home cook has become veritably high tech – whether we like it or not. Case-in-point: molecular gastronomy. Just a few short years ago, few of us had ever even heard this term. Only those of us lucky enough to snag a reservation at a culinary hotspot like Wylie Dufresne's wd~50 or Ferran Adria's elBulli would have ever dined on compressed and spherified and deconstructed and geléed foods. Today, however, terms like sous vide and flash frozen have become regu- lar cooking terms, familiar to most home cooks. Top Chef winner Richard Blais even recently released a new cookbook, Try This at Home, where he encourages people to incorporate liquid nitrogen, agar agar and xanthan gum into their own at-home cooking repertoire. Watch- ing him demonstrate recipes from the book on daytime television, it became clear to me that this style of cooking is on the verge of being truly mainstream. Attendees at this year's Consumer Electronics Expo in Las Vegas, the nexus of all things technological in this coun- try, were confronted by a bevy of new food technologies aimed at professional chefs, specialty food professionals and home cooks. It seems that this country's big tech companies are setting their sights on the kitchen as their next fron- tier. In this month's Small Electrics sec- tion, Amber Gallegos runs through a number of new products that are being released in the coming months, aimed squarely at the techie who enjoys spend- ing time in the kitchen. From scales de- signed to craft the perfect cocktail, to a wifi-connected Crock Pot, to a smart cof- fee maker, home cooks are going to need to be a lot more tech-savvy if they are going to take full advantage of the prod- ucts kitchenwares manufacturers have in store for the market. One new technology that seems poised to make an impact on the specialty food landscape in particular is 3D printing. In his cover story in this issue, David Bernard overviews the different applica- tions this technology could have for food manufacturers moving forward. The brightly colored geometrical sugar spheres 3D food printers are coming out with are absolutely breathtaking, but is there a market for gourmet foods made entirely by a computer? Major compa- nies like Hershey's think so. They are al- ready investing in the technology. Is technology playing an important role in your food business? We would love to hear from companies that are in- novating their product lines in incorpo- rating high tech production processes or ingredients. Or if technology plays a role in how you market your company, we would love to hear about that as well. Perhaps you can help us keep up-to-date in a technological food landscape that never seems to slow down. GN — Lucas Witman, Editor 520.721.1300 lucas_w@oser.com WWW.GOURMETNEWS.COM PUBLISHER Lee M. Oser ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Kim Forrester Jules Denton jules_d@oser.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Lorrie Baumann lorrie_b@oser.com EDITOR Lucas Witman editor@oser.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS David Bernard Amber Gallegos GRAPHIC DESIGNER Yasmine Brown ACCOUNT MANAGER Lynn Hilton CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER Caitlyn Roach caitlyn_r@oser.com CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Product Wrap-up & Classified Sales Tara Neal tara_n@oser.com CIRCULATION MANAGER Jamie Green jamie_g@oser.com PUBLISHING OFFICE 1877 N. Kolb Road P.O. Box 1056 Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300 Fax 520.721.6300 SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Gourmet News P.O. Box 30520 Tucson, AZ 85751 520.721.1300 G OURMET N EWS ® OSER COMMUNICATIONS GROUP PRESIDENT Lee M. Oser MEMBER OF: Periodicals postage paid at Tucson, AZ, and ad- ditional mailing office. Gourmet News (ISSN 1052-4630) is published monthly by Oser Com- munications Group, 1877 North Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715; 520.721.1300. Publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited mate- rial or prices quoted in newspaper. Contributors are responsible for proper release of proprietary classified information. ©2015 by Oser Communications Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction, in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher, is expressly prohibited. Back issues, when avail- able, cost $7 each within the past 12 months, $12 each prior to the past 12 months. Back or- ders must be paid in advance either by check or charged to American Express, Visa, or Master Card. Gourmet News is distributed without charge in North America to qualified profession- als in the retail and distribution channels of the specialty foods and hardgoods trade; paid sub- scriptions cost $65 annually to the U.S. and Canada. All foreign subscriptions cost $150 an- nually to cover air delivery. All payments must be made in U.S. funds and drawn on a U.S. bank. For subscriber services, including subscription information, call 520.721.1300. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Gourmet News, 1877 North Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715. FROM THE EDITOR

• Cover