AldiWatching

When in Germany on Nestle biz, I watched Aldi squish Wal-mart's bananas. Aldi had its own wine label, cheeses from local farmers, gorgeous produce and stunning low prices. Wal-mart finally left the market. Now I'm watching Aldi expand in the US.

What a terrific competitor for Wal-mart in grocery. Target can't prevail here, they come from dept store roots--Aldi is the same family as Trader Joe's.

Could Aldi US, based in Batavia, join McD and Kraft as Illinois's next great food company?

Flatbreads and geometry

At the Fancy Food show in Chicago last month, along with Lithuanian liquors, Japanese pine needle juice and all manner of "healthy" dark chocolate, were homely flatbreads.

Why are they popular these days?

The answer offered by an enthusiastic flatbread puveyer was that they're "not the circles and squares that everyone's so tired of." I wondered if rectangles could possibly be so much more appealing a form. He said, "No, they get broken up--into sharp angles and uneven shapes. That's what makes them interesting."

I thought of Cheetos, which get their appeal from weird shapes--and that was the only thing that made me keep from raising a skeptical eyebrow.

Ian's Natural Foods

Keep your eye on this dynamic, young company. They have switched their focus to kids. With antibiotic-free, gluten-free nuggets and chocolate chip buttons, they're poised to meet a big need. Their bright yellow packages and a new character (why an otter?) should convince kids that they provide "for me" food. And parents will show little price resistance.

Even their marketing director, Claire, is a human dynamo. She was a fellow-speaker at the Kids Marketing Mega Event.

I put my chips on this square.

Slice of Pie

This week, a new product caught my eye. A freezer package containing two slices of key lime pie. Nice!

Hot pie, no leftovers. A novel interpretation of the portion-pack trend.

Have yourself a merry little endive

Where's all this endive coming from suddenly? I've been to three schmantzy holiday parties and all three served spreads on endive rather than on crackers or breads. Endive leaves provide nifty little canoes for food: they variously carried a chicken salad, a nut concoction and a seafoody mix. They're perfectly engineered for the task and make everything taste fresh. Bring on the endives and stuffing!

Where you will eat next Black Friday

In Chico, California this Thanksgiving weekend, the streets seemed empty until Friday evening. Then, suddenly, crowds formed outside a small restaurant whose food was the antithesis of turkey, stuffing and pie. Sushi, what else? You had to wait an hour to get into the Rawbar on Main St.. How do I know? I had the same idea.

What became the substitute we could all agree on? Why, tapas at a wine bar. That filled up, too, but later--probably after sushi hopefuls had given up on getting in.

Eating goose liver pate in Chicago

My favorite hideaway, Café Bernard has sold paté for decades. Now they don't because it's outlawed in Chicago--but that doesn't mean you can't eat it. Now you order the cornichons and they GIVE your the paté.

A perfect French solution, no laws are broken but neither are they followed.