I wondered if this would happen. I’ve read and written about comfort food for a year—to the point it bores me now as it must bore you. But alas, I was recently asked to write yet another article about comfort food. In the process, I contacted Suzy Badaracco, president of Culinary Tides Inc. to get her take on the topic. She boldly wrote back, “Comfort is absolutely the wrong direction going forward. Way off base for several reasons, but can be put on the right track easily.”
A more tantalizing response I could never receive. I had to talk to her about that. I’ll paraphrase her perspective.
Comfort means familiar. When we’re stressed out for any reason—the early pandemic shut-down, the recession, or anything personal that affects our day-to-day life, we go back to what we are familiar with—reminiscent of better days.
In our current state, we are slowly coming in and out of upheaval. The pandemic shutdown reversed a bit, but then came the delta variant. The recession slowed, but then came inflation.
Meanwhile, when we’re not clinging to comfort, we’re out exploring new experiences and flavors with food. She likens this ebb and flow of recovery with its comfort/exploration swings to a blender. Exploration speeds up, until the next crisis hits, and then the blender slows down. Political unrest and epic weather storms are other factors that slow it down when once again, we lean in for a spoonful of comfort food.
So, what foodservice operators are doing is developing playful hybrids or mashups of comfort food with a fun twist. That way consumers can have their comfort food while exploring new experiences.
She pointed to Panera. It recently came out with a Mac & Cheese Grilled Cheese Sandwich. That is mac & cheese sprinkled with Parmesan crisps on toasted white miche bread. She also mentions Sonic’s Grilled Cheese Burger LTO it described as “Sonic’s famous grilled cheese sandwich on buttery Texas toast, adding in a perfectly seasoned 100% pure beef patty, mustard, ketchup, and diced onions.”
I liked Suzy’s other illustration. You could compare straight comfort food to wearing/bringing flannel pajamas to the table. Comfortable, yes, but not party material. Instead, take the comfort element and dress it up, perhaps with global flavors and ingredients or healthful ingredients.
Comfort fall beverages typically call on pumpkin spice. But look for ways to make it spicier or fermented or sour. Instead of pumpkin spice, play with apple spice, or better, ginger, which is more extreme on the palate, she said. If you’re planning a comfort-food item that includes milk, use plant-based milk to dress it up in more modern sensibilities.
I took the time to look up some fall beverages, which I’d call seasonal comfort. I found some with “flirty twists.”
Suzy’s suggestion to step away from pumpkin and toward apple spices is showing up in fall beverages right now.
- Apple Crisp Macchiato at Starbucks: Espresso with apple and brown sugar flavors, steamed milk and a caramelized spiced apple drizzle (made with apple juice, apple purée, cinnamon and nutmeg).
- Caramel Apple Crave Aloha Autumn Latte at Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii: Espresso and dairy with caramel and apple butter topped with cinnamon, available hot, cold or blended with ice.
- Caramel Apple Shake at Del Taco: Vanilla shake with caramel and Granny Smith apple purée.
Fun crunchy sweet texture shows up in a few other fall offerings. Examine these:
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Cinnamon Crunch Latte at Panera: Espresso, foamed milk and cinnamon flavored syrup topped with whipped cream and sprinkled with the same Cinnamon Crunch topping that is on Panera’s popular Cinnamon Crunch Bagel.
- Spiked Peppermint Cocoa at Snooze An A.M. Eatery: Snooze hot chocolate, tequila, coffee liqueur, peppermint and vanilla syrups topped with whipped cream & crushed peppermint candies.
Finally, here are a few honorable mentions for making fall beverages fun and exploratory.
- S’mores Shake at Cousins Subs: Vanilla gelato spun with s’mores flavored syrup and topped with whipped cream.
- Caramel Pumpkin Brûlée at Dutch Bros. Coffee: Coffee with spiced pumpkin and salted caramel flavors topped with a soft top (sweetened aerated milk), raw sugar sprinkles and spiced pumpkin sauce.
Tell me what you think.
Jody
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