New resources, recipes and menu ideas are available online for students’ use, to teach them to understand how to help consumers make informed food choices—not only during National Nutrition Month in March, but all year long.

Courtesy of the Soyfoods Council

Soyfoods have played an important role in Asian cuisines for centuries. In recent years they have become popular in Western countries because of their nutrition and health properties.

Soyfoods are excellent sources of high-quality protein and provide a healthy mix of polyunsaturated fat. In addition, independent of their nutrient content, there is very intriguing evidence indicating soyfoods reduce risk of several chronic diseases including coronary heart disease, osteoporosis and certain forms of cancer. All individuals are well advised to eat a couple of servings of soyfoods every day.

Physical structure and location are no longer as important as the ability to promote a good food product through both traditional and innovative means. Beyond pop-up restaurants, touch-screen ordering and food trucks, what’s next on the horizon?

By Douglas D. Stuchel, MAT, CHE

The restaurant business has traditionally relied on word-of-mouth advertising as a method of marketing and driving repeat business. Usually, this exchange has resulted directly from conversations between friends/acquaintances who have recently dined at a particular facility.

We are, however, rapidly becoming a society that uses such mobile applications as Urbanspoon, Foodspotting and OpenTable to guide us to restaurants based on the opinions and recommendations of people we do not know and, most likely, will never meet.

It used to be said that if you had a bad meal at a restaurant you would tell approximately 10 friends about the experience. Today, a bad online review can reach hundreds of potential customers in real time, influencing their dining decision and immediately impacting a restaurant’s bottom line.

Here are five trends and 10 accompanying flavor combinations (farro, blackberry and clove, anyone?) predicted to catalyze menu innovation this year.

Hunt Valley, Md.-based McCormick & Company recently revealed its McCormick® Flavor Forecast® 2013, now in its 13th year. The report is an annual spotlight on the emerging trends that will drive flavor innovation over the next several years.

Compiling insights from a team of McCormick chefs, sensory scientists, dietitians, trend trackers, marketing experts and food technologists in more than 100 countries over the course of a year, Flavor Forecast highlights distinctive food trends and flavors that have a common thread throughout the world.

For 2013, five trends and 10 accompanying flavor combinations are predicted to be the catalyst for menu innovations that are global and personal:

 Food-waste consciousness, “mini meals” and veganism top the list of consumer health trends that will dominate this year.

The growth of food waste consciousness, mini meals, gluten-free products and mainstream veganism top the health trends expected to make headlines in 2013, according to a second-annual forecast by a leading national research group studying health-related attitudes and behavior in America.

The Values Institute at DGWB,a social-science research entity based in Santa Ana, Calif., used observational studies to identify the top health and wellness trends that Americans are most likely to embrace in 2013. A collaboration with DGWB’s BalancedHealthy practice, serving clients in the health and wellness space, the annual list is an extension of the Institute’s work in values-based marketing and social entrepreneurialism and long-term partnership with the international research firm Iconoculture of Minneapolis.

The top five consumer health trends for 2013 will be:

This year, mixers will matter and whiskeys will wow. Also, hard ciders go up a notch, and expect the Americanized version of the German Biergarten to blossom.

Chicago-based trend-tracker Technomic tapped its analysts, consultants and experts to highlight the trends shaping the drinks business in 2013. Based on ongoing research into spirits, wine and beer volume and sales, as well as surveys, interviews and discussions involving brand marketers, on-premise and retail operators, bartenders and consumers, these insights are supported by Technomic’s extensive adult-beverage database including its Trends in Adult Beverage reports and other tools, such as MenuMonitor and the consumer-tracking Project CO-PILOT.

The major developments influencing adult-beverage choices in 2013 include: