Well, it's the beginning of a New Year, and there's something to be said about what's new and not.
It's been said that soba noodles, the Asian buckwheat ones, with scallions and soy sauce is a dish popular to welcome the New Year, and I do love soba noodles.
Having been raised in the South, my favorite traditional New Year's menu is a simple one! Hoppin' John, Collard Greens, Cornbread and Ribs. Hoppin' John cooked with rice is eaten for good luck throughout the year. The collard greens represent dollar bills. It is said the more one eats, the more money one will have. My in-laws, who are Polish, always have pickled herring....never could get into that one! So, through the years I combined both, traditional Southern and Polish, with sauerkraut and kielbasa, ham, and red beets with horseradish. Of course, a variety of cold salads and condiments are always on the table.
While consuming your favorite traditional meal, you may want to contemplate a few food trends predicted for the coming year. Many already are emerging.
1. Good-bye trans fats; hello omega-3's. This one's self explanatory.
2. Organic goes even bigger. I like Muir Glen organic tomatoes in cans. You can find them in your favorite supermarket usually stocked with such foods as specialty milk substitutes, canned diet foods and "exotic" packaged foods.
3. Most everyone has jumped on the dark-chocolate-for-health bandwagon, but study results are preliminary, so back off a bit until the final word comes in.
4. Superfoods go exotic. For example, acai, a fruit you'll probably find incorporated into other products since in fresh form it deteriorates rapidly, and quinoa, not technically a grain, but it looks, cooks and tastes like one.
5. Welcome back carbs. The downfall of low-carb has been coming for at least a few years, but more folks will acknowledge it in 2007, though whole-grain breads still will be better than the gooey white stuff.