Food trends chefs hate, part two
If these six chefs had their way, we’d stop these food trends immediately.
Schilo van Coevorden – Nouveau frituur
“I really think nouveau frituur is bullshit. We should assume that if we make fries or a croquette, it should be good. Apparently we’ve sunk so deep, and the quality of ordinary snack bars has declined so much, that we now need fancy snack bars to eat something as simple as good fries.”
Joris Bijdendijk – Eating street food in restaurants
“For me, nothing necessarily needs to be stopped, but there are certain trends I don’t really understand. For example, street food being served in gastronomic restaurants. Street food emerges in big cities, such as Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh City, where more than 10 million people live. These people have fairly similar eating patterns, which means that millions of people have to eat within a very short time in the afternoon and evening.”
“A few restaurants can’t manage to feed that many people, so other solutions emerge. Twice a day, you see streets in those kinds of cities being transformed; little kitchens on wheels shape the streetscape. Each stall prepares one or two specialties. That’s logical street food, as it was intended. I don’t understand why this is now presented in the West as a form of fine dining.”
Jonathan Karpathios – all-you-can-eat restaurants
“All-you-can-eat restaurants make me so sad. The quality of the food is laughable, and the businesses don’t put the love and attention into the food that it deserves. The whole dining-out experience is truly ruined this way. I’d rather go to McDonald’s than stand in line for food with so many people. Life is too short to eat badly.”
Syrco Bakker – irresponsible products
“I think we should stop using products that aren’t responsibly sourced, such as tilapia fillet and farmed prawns raised in large antibiotic baths.”
Guillaume de Beer – decorative nonsense on the plate
“Smearing dots, brushing things onto the plate, using food coloring, cutting out shapes, molds and cresses. Even though we may have done this a little at Daalder too, I’m completely done with it. When it’s done by good chefs, it can turn out nicely and be beautiful or funny. But if a dish isn’t good at its core and is merely dressed up with silly nonsense, I’d most like to throw that plate right through the restaurant.”
Nel Schellekens – little awareness of our food
“I’m more of a trendsetter than a follower. I’ve always been that way, so I’m not really concerned with trends. But what bothers me is that real food has disappeared into the background. It’s more about color, shape and texture now, but no longer about taste. That’s a shame. The trend I consider important is that we pay even more attention to what we eat. Creating greater awareness, especially among Generation Y. They have absolutely no idea what kind of fuel they’re putting into their bodies. They’ll easily drink two liters of cola or Fristi.”
Also read:
- These are the dishes (star) chefs don’t want to see again in 2020
- Indispensable: these kitchen tools from top chefs
- This is what (star) chefs always buy ready-made
