Edibly Correct

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BY LINDA R. BENSON

1

pasta

olive oil

gams and
beans

Like hemlines,
eating patterns go
through trends and
cycles. Some are very
fleeting. For exam-
ple, remember oat
bran?
But food con-
sumption, unlike fash-
ion, has an extra dimension of complexity.
The food we consume is vital to our phys-
ical health. The experience of dining is im-
portant to our emotional well-being. Food
nourishes the spirit as well as the body.
There are some profound changes in the
ways Detroiters are negotiating the physi-
cal and spiritual aspects of preparing food
and enjoying dining that are showing up
in restaurants, catering establishments and
shopping carts around southeastern Michi-
gan.
With a little help from some of our area's
most prominent chefs and caterers, Style
magazine has developed this list of ten food
trends that are shaping dining and cook-
ing in southeastern Michigan in the 1990s.
Our experts are: Juliette Jonna, owner of
Juliette's Catering, a division of the Mer-
chant of Vino; Christian Alunno, ex-
ecutive chef of the Ritz Carlton
Hotel in Dearborn; Jimmy
Schmidt, former chef of the 1
famed London Chop House,
owner of the Rattlesnake Club 41

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3

2

salsa and
other ethnic
condiments

and restaurants in De-
troit and Denver; and
Ari Weinzweig, co-owner
of Zingerman's in Ann Arbor.

STYLE: Looking at the bigger picture,
what is the most significant change in
the dining and eating patterns of De-
troiters whom you've observed over
the last ten years?

Alunno: I have only been in Detroit since
February. To me, the biggest trend is that
dining is fast here, especially lunch. People
sit down in the Ritz dining room and want
to eat and go. They want more salads, more
pastas, light food that is easily, quickly pre-
pared.
Jonna: One of every five
shoppers at our stores is
looking to get things done
quickly. Some shoppers
even want their lettuce pre-
chopped. Many will pur-
chase a prepared salad and a side dish and
buy a piece of meat for the grill. That's din-
ner. Our carryout business has been grow-
ing and growing. I have 60 items available
on a daily basis. When I started 15 years ago,
I had a dozen.
Weinzweig: There is a difference be-
tween dining fast and fast food. I can
make a very nice dinner in 17 minutes
using just a few simple, quality ingre-
dients: pastas, pine nuts, olive oil and
cheese. Have you ever noticed how

Go

WINTER 1995 • STYLE

4

5

mangoes and
other exotic
fruits

many ingredients there are in processed
foods?

STYLE: That brings us
to another issue —
the popularity of pas-
ta and grains.

Schmidt: I am struck
by the shift from a meat-
and protein-based diet to
a plant-based diet. The
slab of meat was the main entree ten
years ago. Pasta used to be a side dish. In
1977, we started making pasta from scratch
at the Chop House, using spinach, beets
and saffron for color and flavor. It was rev-
olutionary for Detroit. But people ordered
it as a first course, not an entree. Now, the
center of the plate has changed. Grains
and vegetables are the focal point, with
meat on the side.
Alunno: We have an entree of grilled
portobello mushrooms that is quick to
prepare, light, and very popular.
Jonna: I'm doing more things today with
vegetables, grains and olive oil. People are
using olive oil on bread instead of butter. I
use lots of eggplant, for catered parties and
carryout.

STYLE: Eggplant, olive oil, bread, pas-
ta. They all sound very Mediterranean.
Is this some kind of bandwagon re-
sponse to all of the current interest in
the healthiness of the Mediterranean
diet?