From social networking’s impact on success to a greater emphasis on in-house rustic fare to save cost, Technomic predicts the biggest influences on U.S. restaurants next year.

Just as the nation's economic forecast includes mixed signals, restaurants across the United States face a varied landscape of expected trends in 2012. Technomic, the leading foodservice research and consulting firm, sees these seven developments making news in the coming year:

1. Consumers Seek a Twist on the Familiar. Shell-shocked consumers are in no mood to take risks, but novel flavors still tingle their taste buds. Look for comfort foods with a twist (gourmet, ethnic, artisan, wood-fired) as well as innovation in familiar formats (sandwiches, wraps, pizza, pasta) rather than breakout items taken from less-familiar global cuisines.

The CIA’s recent Worlds of Flavor® International Conference & Festival examined the casualization of fine dining.

Dozens of leading chefs from all over the world shared their expertise about the growing role of casual food in different world cuisines at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at Greystone in St. Helena, Calif., November 3-5. “World Casual: The Future of American Menus” was the topic of the 14^th-annual Worlds of Flavor® International Conference & Festival held at the college’s Napa Valley campus.

Jose Garces, the James Beard Award-winning Ecuadorian-American chef who owns eight restaurants in Philadelphia and Chicago, provided examples of how to successfully translate world-casual concepts onto American menus. The Food Network Iron Chef led a workshop on the signature casual flavors of Mexico, Ecuador and Peru and gave a presentation about the next generation of Latin casual at a session moderated by Chef Rick Bayless, with CIA chef-instructor Iliana de la Vega as a fellow presenter.

USS Philippine Sea shares culinary techniques with high-school students in Eastern Europe.

By Petty Officer 2nd Class Gary Prill

Culinary specialists from the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea met with culinary arts students of the Burgas High School in Burgas, Bulgaria, to provide techniques and training as part of a community service project, October 26.

During the event, the crew worked alongside the students making cultural dishes, desserts and appetizers that they later enjoyed at lunch. The event also gave the sailors a chance to meet with local residents and experience the rich history and culture of Bulgaria.

Says Mintel, Millennials lack skill, but believe learning to cook is one way to earn credibility with peers.

While Baby Boomers have been given credit for launching America’s cooking craze and nurturing it over the past few decades, Baby Boomers’ children, the Millennial generation (aged 17-34 in 2011), are now poised to take over and start stirring the pot.

According to a new Mintel report, younger cooks may lack skill in the kitchen, but make up for it with their enthusiasm. Only 6% of Millennials say they have advanced skill in the kitchen, compared to 15% of those aged 55+. A quarter (25%) of Millennials, however, claim to “love cooking” versus 17% of their senior counterparts.

“It appears that years of frequent cooking helps to hone skills, but the downside is they sometimes fall into a rut from fixing the same dishes over and over,” says Fiona O’Donnell, senior analyst at Mintel. “This creates an opportunity for marketers to provide seniors with options that adhere to specific health requirements, as well as add an element of fun and adventure to meal prep.”

Bill Rodgers, executive chef, Keens Steakhouse, New York City

By Lynn Schwartz

Keens Steakhouse in New York City is renowned for superb hand-picked and dry-aged steaks and the legendary mutton chop, a 26-ounce saddle of lamb, that TheNew York Times promises will “provide as much pleasure as a carnivore could want.” But on Thanksgiving, it’s the turkey, a special guest on the Keens’ menu, that takes center stage. For Executive Chef Bill Rodgers, Thanksgiving means serving up a bountiful feast, which includes preparing 50 (20-pound) turkeys and more than 3,000 side dishes. And like any guest star, the turkey must be excellent, worthy of both the holiday and the restaurant’s stellar reputation.

Although this part of case-study teaching can be arduous, there’s real value in reading papers. Doing so allows us to suggest ways to improve students’ thinking.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Last month, we discussed Types of Case Studies, as part of the continuing series on case studies. This month’s Mayo Clinic is about evaluating student papers, an aspect of case-study teaching, but also one of the challenges of teaching that many of us dread or at least would like to avoid. In large universities with big classes, teaching assistants often help with, or complete, this task, but in most culinary programs, it is part of our teaching responsibilities. There are advantages and teachable moments involved.

Contrary to what students might think, life is not like “Hell’s Kitchen,” where food can be discarded with abandon. Here are eight easy and effective ways to teach basic food-cost principles that will serve your students well.

By Adam Weiner, CFSE

I believe that for our students to climb the kitchen ladder of success, it is important to teach them not only also how to cook well, but how to think like a chef. One thing that has always been at the forefront of chefs’ minds throughout the centuries is food costs. In today’s world, food costs, more than ever, can make or break a commercial establishment. (Even if you are only teaching a class to teach people how to cook at home, food costs are still critically important, since food is a very large part of a household budget.)

The truth about GMOs.

By Christopher Koetke, CEC, CCE

In this world, we live surrounded by myths and even believe some of them. Lobsters scream when you boil them. Eating bananas makes you more appealing to mosquitoes. And a company has genetically engineered and marketed a tomato containing a gene from the arctic flounder to make the tomato more resistant to frost and cold. Like most myths, this one has a kernel of truth, but turns out it’s more of a red herring than a fishy tomato. Yes, back in 1991, DNA Plant Technologies did experiment with this, but it was a total failure, was never marketed, and the idea died in the laboratory. So please feel free to continue eating tomatoes.

As educators, we often stay away from controversial issues like genetically modified organisms (GMOs), either because we don’t feel secure in our own knowledge of them or because we see them as too political and polarizing. And in the culinary world, as we look to many respected chefs who are dedicated to organic and sustainable foods, GMOs elicit a “Hell, no, we won’t go there” response. But is that response built on fact or fiction? Where did they get their information? Was it factual and provided by a neutral source?

SandwichPro.com offers new on-trend sandwich-making demos.

Courtesy of Unilever Food Solutions

SandwichPro.com recently debuted its “Chef Demo” video gallery full of great sandwich ideas from the Unilever Food Solutions culinary team. Click on the “Recipes” tab, then click “Chef Demos” on the left-hand side. From ethnic-inspired trends to classic combinations that thrill, Chefs Steve Jilleba, CMC, and Matt Burton guide viewers through the recipes with step-by-step instructions. Several of the videos relate to trend articles elsewhere on the site.

The president of the American Culinary Federation led an entourage of U.S. chefs to partake in and contribute their talents to the Bidvest World Chefs Tour Against Hunger in South Africa in August.

By Michael Ty, CEC, AAC

Like many chefs, I knew about the World Chefs Tour Against Hunger in 1993 and 2003, events that made a difference in the lives of the children of South Africa. Although I was not able to participate in those first two tours, I knew many ACF chefs who did. They came back with stories that were unbelievable, and some chefs considered the experience life-changing.