When thumbing through cookbooks in public places, do you, quite frankly, drool?
Not cool.If you're not careful, your library card could be confiscated!
Play it safe and mentally nibble on the tantalizing food pictures in the safety of your home. That way,
there's no confusing Dewey Decimal System to deal with,
you've got instant access to your cupboards and available ingredients and,
while foraging through the pantry, you might come across some excellent recipes on boxes and cans.
Since Columbus introduced European foods to America, marketing firms have come up with creative programs to spur sales. Their motto: Give consumers quick, delicious and economical cooking ideas, then they'll buy the product.
Recipes show up on package labels or are given away at supermarkets with product samples.
It's true -- whenever we taste a new product, our interest is tweaked. We WANT to like it.
Some of the well-established, big-name food producers have increased business by sponsoring cooking contests. By requiring product purchase to enter the competition, they push sales upward.
Pillsbury's bi-annual Bake-Off has been the launching pad for a number of now-mainstream favorites. The "Tunnel of Fudge" bundt cake that originated at the 1966 Bake-Off remains a favorite. The rich creation won contestant Ella Helfrich of Houston, Texas, the $5,000 second-place award. The recipe quickly traveled from one coast to all the others. In 1966, the sale of bundt pans skyrocketed soon after the "Tunnel of Fudge" recipe was released.
The Pillsbury Company has relied on consumer input to determine what the current food trends actually are. Spokeswoman Marlene Johnson says that studies indicate "high consumer demand for practical, everyday recipes, especially main dishes."
"We asked consumers 'what kind of recipes would you most like to get from the Bake-Off?'" she said. "The quick-fix main dishes were first choice." Interestingly, the "special occasion dessert" category -- a biggie in past competitions -- fell way behind the other contest categories.
Pillsbury has long-recognized that "quick and easy" is imperative to cooks. Consequently, the company has built an empire (first prize in the Bake-Off has been bumped to $1 million) on convenience products aimed at speeding up meal preparation.
To determine winners, a panel of experts drawn from the country's food media and supermarket industry judge dishes prepared by contestants at the Bake-Off. This, however, isn't the only criterion in selecting winners.
Prior to the day of the Bake-Off, polling agents employed by the Pillsbury Company visit shopping malls and major retail areas nationwide.
Consumers are shown photographs and recipe instructions and then select what appeals to them. When people read a recipe, says Johnson, "they consider two things: Would I like to make this? and `Is it easy enough for me to do?` "
Do you feel like you're in a casserole rut? That your family has your-meal repertoire memorized? Why not wander into new product land? It's a place where you'll get swell-sounding recipes along with your purchase.
So you're shopping and you pick up a box of "X" from the grocer's shelf and notice a recipe on the side panel. A quick "pre-screening" glance will determine whether or not you'll try the product's suggested dish. If the recipe on the box requires an ingredient that sickens you at the mere sight of the printed word, you'll be rolling your shopping cart past that item -- at warp speed.
Oh yes, if the recipe is built around a specific food -- lobster, for example -- it's not culinarily wise to omit the main item. Follow the recipe the first time you prepare it. Then if you want to substitute SPAM for lobster -- go for it.
But you won't be winning any contests -- unless it's a SPAM-Off.