Michael Joy is director of product development for Park 100 Foods, in Tipton, Ind. A classically trained chef, he combines culinary arts with more than 20 years’ experience in food manufacturing. Chef Joy oversees all product development for the varied lines of branded, healthy prepared meals at Park 100. Joy’s previous positions include: vice president of culinary services for Original Soupman, international coordinator/Technochef for Firmenich Inc., corporate chef, R&D, for Whitson’s Culinary Group, Long Island, N.Y., and positions in product development with such companies as WR Grace and McCormick and Co. Joy was executive chef and executive pastry chef at the Hilton and Stouffers hotel chains. He is a founding member and past president of the Research Chefs Association and a member and former distinguished lecturer for the Institute of Food Technologists.
The once humble vegetable has taken its fair market share as a main course or stand-alone powerhouse staple. While meat, poultry, and seafood analog makers are focusing on making vegetables look, feel, and taste like meat, consumers immersed in the plant-based trend are demanding better and more creative use of vegetables that are recognizable as vegetables.
Today, sauces and condiments are making bolder statements, taking more daring and expressive directions and asserting themselves as stars in their own right. Even basic tomato sauces are no longer generic but tout the tomatoes used, such as heirloom tomatoes.
In the last few years, however, the health benefits of fermented foods stepped back into returned to prominence, as enlightened consumers enjoy both classic and non-traditional versions of what once were traditional forms of foods.
More consumers are seafood-savvy. Developing and flavoring new seafood dishes requires a new level of creativity in culinary techniques and ingredients.
Although many changes have occurred in cooking over the centuries, simmering ingredients in water to create soup or stew is basically the same process—from cave dwellers to modern kitchens.