New confections and snacks offer a reliable barometer of consumers’ evolving flavor demands and food choices, as revealed at the 2012 Sweets & Snacks Expo.

Fun fruits and shared sweets, foreign flavors and healthy snacks are emerging as the trends to meet the ever-evolving appetites of consumers. The 2012 Sweets & Snacks Expo, which began on the last day of this year’s NRA Show in Chicago, featured new products from more than 560 companies leading the industry with the new flavors that meet consumers’ tastes.

It’s barbecue season, after all. Here are 10 tips from an educator and registered dietitian to make dishes served at the time-honored American backyard celebration both delicious and more healthful.

By Renee Zonka, RD, CEC, CHE

At the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts in Chicago, one of the biggest trends we see in healthy eating among Americans is a desire for “better for you” dishes. Foods can be mouth-watering and satisfying, yet with lower saturated fat, calories or sodium or more dietary fiber—or all of these.

Barbecuing is an excellent opportunity to serve more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, leaner meats and antioxidant-rich seafoods—because virtually everything tastes better when cooked outdoors.

Here are 10 easy, delicious ideas for “Building a Better-for-You Barbecue”:

As foodservice operators and food manufacturers aim to remove trans fats and reduce saturated fats from foods, functionality and taste will remain the top priorities. This means that ingredient companies must provide more than simple drop-in solutions to solve food-industry problems. Research, education and culinary support are essential for food companies to offer healthier products. To develop a new product or improve the nutrition profile of a customer’s favorite food, companies can now look to ingredient partners for culinary resources and expertise.

There are many different ways that healthier options can be made available to students in school cafeterias. It is up to culinary educators to take action and make these changes happen.

By Jenni Schouppe

Trying to offer more healthy options and choices for school lunches has become a hot topic across the country. The big question has become: How can schools do this with the amount of money and funding they receive to run their foodservice? What can we do as educators to help make this change?

As childhood obesity rises in this county, it has become imperative that more healthy choices be made available to students in the school foodservice. To make this happen, it is also imperative that staff, students and families become educated in how to make this happen.

Giuseppe Ricciardi took a big risk by opening a second operation next to the longstanding Fairfax favorite he’d owned since 1994. But that bet, like his other restaurant ventures, is paying off.

By Lynn Schwartz

We all know the daunting facts—a large percentage of restaurants fail in their first year and for those that do make it, longevity is rare. So most chef-owners who operate a thriving business count their lucky stars and don’t mess with the concept. Many might duplicate a successful model in another city, but few would risk competing with their own restaurant by opening a second location nearby.