Cigdem ALAGOK
Coordinator Chief
What comes to my mind when I think about my field; We add new flavor palettes to our palate… Maybe we add spices that we did not know before, but will become our favorite when we taste them, to our jars in the kitchen… Maybe this year, we use two ingredients in the same recipe that we never imagined would come together and realize how they are compatible with each other. Maybe this year we will find different trends and explore different aspects of ourselves… Maybe we are eager to try different techniques while cooking the same dish. We always try steaming the fish that we love to fry in oil. Instead of cooking the spinach in the evening, we can make a smoothie for breakfast this week. This year, we make lentil soup, which is among the winter flavors that we cannot give up, with ginger. Believe me, these tiny changes and small bold steps won’t just change the taste on your palate. It will bring the energy of the kitchen, the rhythm of shopping, the colors of the jars, and therefore a series of differences that can be easily brought to life. The kitchen is a bit of life, as we are what we eat… Let’s start this year by introducing lentils and ginger, at least, to start the change…
It’s the season of Spinach Smoothie…
Fresh, green leafy spinach, which is among the indispensables of the winter months, is very rich in calcium, vitamin A, phosphorus and iron. Keep in mind these little tips about spinach, which you can find in abundance and economically in our country: When taking spinach from the counter, its freshness must be checked, it should be consumed on the same day it is bought, and if it needs to be stored, it should be kept in the salad drawer of the refrigerator for a maximum of 24 hours. Even if it is prepared as cooked, it is recommended not to store it because nitrites absorbed from chemical fertilizers are oxidized and turned into nitrates. When you consume it raw, I recommend you to choose fine-leaf, baby spinach, which we call baby leaves, for salads and smoothies. You can use the following ingredients for a healthy smoothie with plenty of vitamins and minerals. 50 g baby spinach 1 medium peeled cucumber 1 diced green apple 1 peeled kiwi 5 g fresh ginger 1 tea glass of water The recipe is also very simple: Chop the cucumber, kiwi, ginger and apple into small pieces. Put all the ingredients in the bowl of the hand blender. Add water to it and mix for 2 minutes. Add the baby spinach and mix for 1 more minute. Consume it fresh throughout the day.
The route is being rebuilt!
The food industry, which is trying to keep up with technology and the modern world, started to draw a new route for itself in 2023, with many companies switching to remote or hybrid working order. At the first stop, we see that the frozen product market is gradually developing in Turkey. Frozen food, which entered our lives with pizza 50 years ago, has become one of the rapidly growing sectors in the food industry today. The size of the global frozen food market is predicted to be worth $177.07 billion in 2021 and will grow by 5% each year until 2030. Although the interest in frozen food products in Turkey remains below the world average, it is inevitable that the shelves of frozen products in the retail channel will expand day by day, especially in big cities, with the increase in the number of individuals living alone.
Let’s take a look at the trends we come across in this route
The growing dependence of the Y generation on ready-to-cook foods due to time constraints and the Z generation’s interest in fresh and healthy food is driving the growth rate of the frozen product market. It is predicted that the product range and market will expand in all categories, including appetizers, ready meals, meatballs and white meat poultry, vegetables, side dishes, baked goods and desserts. Our second stop in the changing route of the food industry is fruit and vegetable juice shelves. The global fruit and vegetable juice market size is $131.62 billion and is expected to grow 6.5 percent annually from 2022 to 2030. A report published by the International Food Association Council (IFIC) Foundation in November 2021 reveals that consumers prefer healthy drinks, especially for breakfast meals and snacks, due to increasing health concerns. People’s awareness of their health and wellness has increased significantly during the pandemic period. It is thought that a secret shift towards carbonated, sugar or sweetener drinks with additives has begun. The adoption of healthy eating habits day by day and the interest in healthy and nutritious beverages that will help prevent chronic diseases seem to expand the cold pressed fruit and vegetable juice market globally. At the last stop of our changing route, there are packaged meals that are practical, economical, and portioned in a way that reduces food waste, which is growing with the effect of the pandemic and our rapidly changing life conditions. The common features of these products, which can appeal to every budget and every taste; they have been packaged in a protective atmosphere and have undergone either pasteurization or sterilization. Soup varieties, meat dishes, pastas, stews, compotes, grain-based ready-made salad packages, gluten-free and vegan varieties have taken over the market shelves quite aggressively. According to an article published in Progressive Grocer; The popularity of these foods, including breakfast meals, increased by 11 percent and that of main meals by 5 percent. Another striking point is the effect of the interest of full-service restaurants and hotels in these products on the growth of the market. In 2023, we will see these products, which are packaged in food-safe, heat-resistant packages, everywhere with many different options. These are the things I caught in the new route of the food industry for now.
There are also intense changes on the consumer side.
Now the consumer gets what he will use to achieve the lowest cost. Five years ago, if we had seen slices of watermelon cut into 4 pieces and portioned with cling film, we might not have been able to make sense of it. We may be about to lose one of the most important teachings of our millions of years of family traditions and codes! I’m talking about our teaching of taking a Diyarbakır watermelon that weighs at least 6 kilos, tapping the top of it, and guessing from the sound it makes about how red, sweet and juicy it is inside. Future generations will probably never know the meaning of that croaking sound. But while they buy watermelon slices wrapped in transparent stretch foils and eat them with pleasure, they will not feel the regret of “I wish we had taken a nap there”.