” We write with trepidation. How shall we tell our fellow Americans that our palates have been ravaged, that our food is awful, and that our most respected authorities on cookery are poseurs?”

John L. Hess & Karen Hess, 1977

The summer of 2010 is strolling along and I want to take readers down a culinary journey that will reshape the American palate.

It is now time to move out of the restaurants that charge way to much for the quality of food they serve and learn how to express flavor, texture, color, at home all while impacting our health in a good way.

The emancipation of American taste buds is about food demystified, cookbooks exposed and a grand love affair with fat and flavor. During the next 365 days (Starting August 1, 2010) this blog will focus on food, glorious food, the good, the bad and the ugly.

There is a big demand today for locally grown produce, and goods made by mom and pop stores.

According to Entrepreneur.com, “For every $100 spent at a locally owned business, $68 comes back to the community. Only $43 recirculates from national chain stores.”

The Department of Agriculture reports a 5% annual growth in farmers markets over the past five years. Is it possible that Americans are finally seeing the light and realizing that mega farms although feeding the masses are not providing us with the type of product we need to sustain good health and good taste.

It will be interesting to see where all this will lead us in the next five to ten years. Sometime and I do mean “sometimes” locally produced foods are far superior to anything purchased in a grocery store, however there are still farmers out there passing off substandard product and that needs to be checked. I won’t name names, but while living in North Carolina I was appalled by the number of local farmers pawning off flavorless fruits and veggies. I’m all for local but who is policing the “locals?”

Once upon a time there was a little child who loved his mother very much. Mom and dad worked very hard to provide “little man” with everything he needed and most of the things he wanted. One day it was discovered that mom was going to have a baby; twins to be exact. This made “little man” very happy. When the babies arrived home, a very interesting thing happened. Mom decided to stay home with the babies until they got bigger. This made “little man” really, really happy. He had his Mom and sister and brother home when he arrived from school each day.

One day “little man” explained to his teacher that he was just so happy his Mom was home with the babies because she now prepares a “feast.” The child went on to say, “Mom is cooking us dinner at home, she made a chicken in-the-oven, and green bean casserole, rolls, and a pie and we are so happy.”

So why was the child so happy? This little story is true and was provided by a teacher in a public school system in the south. It was reported that most of the children in the school eat out for dinner every night, rarely getting a home cooked meal. And we wonder why our children are obese, diabetes is on the rise and our little ones suffer from all sorts of allergies, headaches and insomnia?

I will continue to say it until I am blue in the face. Get back to the basics! Get back to the basics! Get back to the basics! Please parents, understand that it starts with you. Don’t talk about how busy you are, just learn a few great recipes or better yet take a cooking class.

Did you see the movie Twilight? Remember the Collins family all together cooking for Bella; and they didn’t even eat human food. Okay, I probably shouldn’t have gone there, but you know what I mean!

Here we are again, almost a year later and another cookie has been selected as the $1 Million Grand Prize-winning recipe. I am the first to say congratulation to Sue Compton, Delanco, New Jersey. The cookie looks sweet and delicious and I am sure there will be lots of bakers rushing to make these little jewels over the coming months.

I am still waiting however for Pillsbury to step up to the plate and have a good old fashioned Pillsbury Bake-Off that requires good old fashioned baking skills; no pre-packaged dough or mix, just flour, eggs, sugar, baking powder, soda, salt, chocolate morsels, you know really good chocolate and the like. Is that too much to ask? I’m a baby-boomer and I remember a time when we did not “dumb” down the skills of the American baker. I guess this is about all we can expect since removing home economics/cooking from the middle schools.

What will it take to get back to the basics? Maybe a better questions is do we want to get back there or just continue the path we’re on and make cooking and baking as simple as popping a can? A Pillsbury can that is…

There is something to be said about condiments, those wonderful little side dips and dishes that take a dish over the top. Look, there is no surprise that everyone once and a while we need something to enhance the flavor of food and I’m not just talking salt and pepper; although with the wide variety of both there is no surprise that a dish cannot be kicked up a notch by an amazing Fleur de Sel de Guérande (grey salt) or  Aframomum melegueta (Grains of Paradise Seed) a combination of a mild black pepper, ginger, cardamom and coriander offering up a delicious taste and sinful aroma.

I am currently on the lookout for the most unusual condiment known to mankind. I thought for a while bamboo pickles were the hit of the year, particularly since I had not really heard of anyone eating bamboo. I then ran across Brimstone pepper jellies and since I am a huge fan of using pepper jelly as a glaze on baked and grilled salmon I thought I had found the 2010 condiment of the decade, but no, not yet. I’m still looking.

Share with me what condiment knocks you off your feet? I’d love to hear from you…

Dining at Jim & Nicks outside Atlanta is always a treat and I often wonder about the key to their success. The place is always busy, unless you visit between shifts and the food is consistently good, piping hot and full of flavor. The sluggish economy has not really put a damper on this little jewel and it got me thinking about what the key to a successful restaurant is in this economy.

The answer is simple, restaurants who are doing well have a very clear vision of who they are and what their customers want from them. Today when a customer goes into a restaurant they want comfort, security in the emotional sense, good food, in some cases gourmet or sophisticated, all at reasonable prices. If you can deliver that you will be around through thick and thin.

The problem is some restaurant owners are either too blind or stubborn to change and that’s a shame. There are just too few dollars to go around these days, and if I have said it once, I will say it again. “Give me a reason to come to your establishment, because I really don’t have to.”

Remember the menu does not have to be huge, but simply fresh, sustainable and delicious.”A report released in January by the Washington, D.C. based National Restaurant Assn reported “Restaurant operators remain relatively optimistic about sales growth in the months ahead. Thirty-three percent of restaurant operators expect to have higher sales in six months (compared with the same period in the previous year), compared with 35 percent who reported similarly last month. In comparison, 22 percent of restaurant operators expect their sales volume in six months to be lower than it was during the same period in the previous year, and 21 percent reported similarly last month.” Grow is moving at a snails pace.

Hint: The top ten new restaurants in America are serving homemade pastas, home-style French, New England, Asian, and Mediterranean cooking; bite size Spanish tapas, farm fresh veggies, exotic innards (yep brains, livers, tripe, tongue, heart, and kidneys are back) and the traditions of the south and Louisiana; fried oysters, caramelized beef short ribs and sinfully luscious bandy soaked bread pudding.

Do you think comfort is here to stay…for a while?
Stensson, Annika & Donohue, Mike. (2010) News Release | National  Association. Retrieved March 07, 2010, from http://www.restaurant.org/pressroom/pressrelease/?ID=1895