LITTLE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER

Eating out Eaing inThese days, the typical grocery-shopping consumer makes several stops when they shop: the discount big box, the neighborhood grocery store, and, with more frequency, the local farmer’s market. Given the growing loyalty to all items local, it’s time to welcome back the butcher, the baker, and the chocolate maker.
While these artisan suppliers have already captured the hearts and minds of foodies, now everyday folk are beginning to, once more, gravitate to the locally-owned specialty shop. Good food service, special orders and not only do you get to know the person behind the counter, you really get to know your cuts of meat.

THE PIES HAVE IT

Pie and MashMove over fancy cupcake and make room for the humble pie. No matter how you slice it — berry or pumpkin, apple or shoofly, sweet or savory — pies are picking up in popu- larity across all regions of the country. In 2010, page views for pie and pie crust recipes were up more than 20%
YOY.
This is not only a seasonal happening, but a serious
surge in interest helped along by the appeal of other homey efforts such as canning, vegetable growing and apron wearing. Cakes are still being baked, and cupcakes frosted, but filling a pastry shell with fresh-bought ingre- dients is, well, just like Mom used to say, easy as pie.

SPEED SCRATCH

Good Food LondonEven with all that pie baking going on, the ma- jority of consumers are not making their crusts from scratch but buying them from the grocery store fridge or freezer case. Harried schedules, multiple commitments and busy family lives have created a need for cooking speed. Many well-versed cooks would swear making home- made pie crust is quick and easy, but the truth is most household cooks pride themselves on making daily “home- cooked” meals equally speedy as they are delicious.
According to a fall 2010 home cooks survey, 76% of home cooks are shaving time and ingredients from meal preparation using pre-made ingredients. Some might call it cheating, but what’s theharm if the admirable goal is to bring together family and friends, spend a little less time prepping, and a little more time enjoying one another.