Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
Seasons 52 chef says fat does not equal flavor
Does food have to be full of fat, sugar and salt to taste good?
Clifford Pleau, executive chef for Darden Restaurants’ Season 52 chain, where every menu item is 475 calories or less, doesn’t think so.
“I haven’t touched butter in 10 years. You don’t need it,” said Pleau, uttering words that would make the late, great, butter-loving Julia Child roll over in her grave.
“I know there’s a slogan that says fat is flavor. Scientifically that’s not necessarily true.”
Pleau says fat is a flavor “transitioner”. For example, the fat in short ribs can enhance the flavors of a rich, bold wine by taking it to different parts of your mouth. On the other hand, he said, a mouthful of butter or olive oil would desensitize the palate.
There are no deep fat fryers in the kitchens at Seasons 52, which recently opened its first restaurant in Southern California and plans to have 20 around the country by this time next year. Fat isn’t ladled into cooking pans, as it is in many restaurants, it’s spritzed by spray bottle- wielding kitchen staff.
So how does Pleau make the kind of food that one restaurant consultant called “craveable” and “indulgent” without leaning on the industry’s unhealthy habit of layering on sugar, fat and salt?
Is KFC’s Double Down a double whammy?
KFC’s new, artery-choking Double Down sandwich is getting lots of media buzz — but is it helping the brand?
The breadless “sandwich” is just the latest in a long line of decadent dishes from fast-food chains. It features bacon, cheese and “the Colonel’s” special sauce sandwiched between two boneless grilled or fried chicken filets. It’s a low-carb dream but a healthy eater’s nightmare as it is loaded with calories, salt and fat.
The Double Down landed in stores on April 12, about a year after the company introduced healthier grilled chicken nationwide. Its debut has nutritionists calling foul and served as fodder for late night jokes, food blogs — including those run by CNN, the Los Angeles Times and Consumerist — and all those guys who make videos of people eating the latest headline-grabbing fast food.
But according YouGov BrandIndex, which does daily consumer perception research on brands, the Double Down has helped erase all of the perception gains KFC won with the launch of its healthier grilled chicken.
KFC’s “buzz score” levels had been steadily declining for the past month, leading up to the Double Down’s debut last week, YouGov said. Such scores can range from 100 to -100 and are compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.
KFC’s buzz score, which fell as low as 11.5 on the day of the Double Down debut, was 24.4 on March 1 and is currently trending around 14.
School lunch vs. junk food
School lunch ladies around the United States are fighting to feed healthier food to the nation’s increasingly overweight student body, but their biggest obstacle is competing with fast-food chains like McDonald’s and junk food like Doritos.
In Los Angeles, the country’s second-biggest school district is serving up increasingly nutritious and lower-calorie food (the photo at right shows two Castelar Elementary students’ lunch choices).
Despite that, studies have found that roughly two-thirds of schools had fast-food chains within easy walking distance.
West Adams Preparatory High School student Edgar Barragan, 16, ticked off a half-dozen private and public fast-food outlets near his high school, including McDonald’s and a Burger King that is located kitty-corner from school (see photo below).
Paola Villatoro, a 17-year-old at Downtown Magnet High School in Los Angeles, said she joins friends for lunch at a nearby fast-food joint a couple times a week: “There’s a Jack in the Box right across from school, so we get that.”
A fast-food restaurant within about 500 feet of a school may lead to at least a 5 percent increase in the obesity rate at that school, according to a recent study conducted by economists at Columbia University and the University California, Berkeley.
Corporate Accountability International has launched a “Value (the) Meal” campaign aimed at fast-food chains, which the public interest group alleges are putting the health of children at risk. The name of the push comes from fast-food restaurant value menus that often sell food items for $1 or less.
I don’t think taking all junk food out of schools is a good idea, mainly because it doesn’t seem fair to the people who don’t eat it that often. I recently read a book called Junk by Christopher Largen in which all junk food was banned–in fact, it had the same stigma as drugs do today. Doesn’t sound too far off from what’s starting to happen now. Now in the news I hear more and more about taking “bad” candy out of school vending machines and new food laws being considered. Don’t we have a right to eat what we want? Yes, they’re kids and they should know if their food is good for them, but there should still be a choice. Everything is okay in moderation (for the most part). Shoveling five burgers a day down your throat is a bad idea, but what about people who eat out once a week? Once a month? Is it really that big a deal? People should be able to choose to be healthy or unhealthy; it’s their bodies.
Free grilled chicken from KFC
KFC introduced its long-awaited grilled chicken on Tuesday and will give away free tastes on April 27.
The fast-food chicken chain hopes the healthier poultry items will boost flagging sales at its U.S. restaurants.
The grilled chicken has between 70 to 180 calories and 4 to 9 grams of fat depending on the piece. That compares with skin-on fried chicken products, which have 110 to 490 calories and 7 to 31 grams of fat depending on the piece.
(Photo\KFC)
Seemed more healthy, tasted great, tiny chickens… can you say “cornish game hen sized”?
Campbell Soup’s CEO steps up
Campbell Soup CEO Doug Conant, who spends his day selling soup, V8 vegetable juice and crackers, wrapped up his appearance at the Reuters Food Summit in Chicago with an exercise tip.
“Our lives are incredibly chaotic,” said the 57-year-old CEO, who says he has found an easy way to step up his exercise and burn off calories from some of his favorite foods, such as Campbell’s tomato rice soup and a grilled cheese sandwich made on his company’s Pepperidge Farm bread.
“My assistant looks for a free half hour every day,” said Conant, who is ready to lace up his sneakers when the moment is right.
“Conant says he can get in 3,000 steps or more in a half hour. Some studies suggest that 10,000 steps a day can help control weight. But even if you fall below that, experts say any amount of exercise is good.
“It’s a great way for busy people to get fit,” he said.
(Photos: Campbell Soup, Reuters)
Mr. Conant sets a pretty good example by moving around while eating soup. It is surprising that Campbell Soup has not capitalized on the obesity reducing properties of their (non dairy) soups. Soups are quite seasonable in the US and norther Europe, but in Asia soups are popular year round. The water in the soup fills people up and reduces their caloric consumption without thinking about it. Evidently all people eat based on weight and portion size cues as opposed to caloric density.
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