Monday, December 13, 2010

Congratulations, Kon Tiki: You're Ahead of the Curve

Posted By on Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 3:53 PM

A blog at the food website Epicurious has speculated on what food trends will be big in 2011—and fortunately for Scorpion-selling stalwart Kon Tiki, tiki-bar cocktails made the list:

What's old is new again, not just in fashion but also in cocktails. Polynesian-style drinks, those multi-ingredient fruit juice and rum concoctions adorned with flowers and umbrellas, will be the quaffs of choice in 2011. Though you may be tempted to think this trend is yet another stylish symptom of the current craze for anything '60s-retro or Mad Men-inspired, the "new" tiki cocktails' roots go back even farther. Dale DeGroff, author of The Essential Cocktail and The Craft of the Cocktail and founding president of the Museum of the American Cocktail, told Epicurious, "the revival of the tiki trend, ironically, is closer to the classic tropical period right after Prohibition pioneered by Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt (a.k.a. Don the Beachcomber). The tiki movement today is coming from the craft bartending community, using fresh ingredients and attempting to find the original recipes. Julie Reiner's sophisticated take on tropical cocktails at Lani Kai in New York City is a perfect example."

The rest of the list? Food halls, Korean cuisine, macarons (not to be confused with macaroons), "meatless Mondays," foraging, pop-up restaurants, sweet potatoes, urban wineries and paprika cousin "Pimentón de La Vera."

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