Oct 29, 2009, 14:21 GMT
Cologne, Germany - The concept is quite simple for Konrad Geiger, a chef who considers his baked chickpea and squash salad as regional a dish as it is international.
The squash is a local product in Germany and while the chickpeas originally came from Asia, they are now grown in Austria. Geiger, who specializes in cooking with organic foods, served his salad recently in Cologne at Anuga, a nutrition trade show which claims to be the largest of its type in the world.
Geiger added smoked chicken breast that had been marinated in soy sauce and honey before being steamed over a boiling pot of green tea to his baked chickpea and squash salad. He calls it ethnic food or fusion cuisine.
Those terms refer to a trend that Jeanette Huber, a specialist at a German institute that studies trends, and other researchers have long observed. Glocalization is the term she and her colleagues use to describe it. Authentic, domestically grown or raised, products are combined in surprising ways with foreign elements.
Until now, this trend has been observed primarily in the fashion and health industries. This is responsible for the boom in integrated medicine, an example of which is the combination of acupuncture and conventional medical approaches. Global knowledge merges with local.
A similar situation is occurring in cuisine: 'Soy sauce is catching up with Maggi seasoning and wasabi is the new horseradish,' said Huber, citing two examples. At Anuga Huber explained the term glocalization on the basis of a study of trends that are shaping drinks.
She said the study showed that the trend comprises both the growth in the strength of regional providers and the renewed faith in the value of locally grown products. Locally produced, however, doesn't mean the cuisine of yesterday. The foods of the world are becoming more intertwined.
People rushing about the Cologne trade show were able to relax with an anti-stress drink mixture made of nettles grown in Germany and ingredients from the Far East such as ginkgo, ginseng and aloe vera. Those who didn't want to forego the tastes of the orient while visiting the trade show could pour hot water over an old favourite: the five-minute couscous snack.
The wide world of molecular cuisine also could be brought home in a kit for beginners. Cooks can use it to make tasty treats based on algae which is otherwise available only from celebrity cooks or natural scientists.
The trend institute says the internet will play a decisive role in glocalization. Producers can not only communicate directly and individually with customers, they also are location independent. The internet makes possible the entire spectrum, from narrowly defined local sales to global communications, said Huber.
'And it evens out big differences, making it an excellent springboard for small and medium-size producers,' she said.
Internet marketplaces such as lokalgold.de based in Hamburg are useful to consumers looking for products from small manufacturers such as jams, mustards and baked goods that could only be distributed in their regions without the assistance of the internet. And customers know the origin of the goods they order. Trust in the makers of the product and the knowledge that deals are fair and honest are more important than some unknown quality certificate, said Bjoern Schaefer, who runs the website.
The internet also is playing a role in tracking the origin of products. A German company called fish & more, for example, offers what it says is the first worldwide online tracking system for frozen fish. A code on the package allows consumers to look at a website to find out exactly where the fish they bought came from. A similar system has been put in place at the fruit and vegetable company Dole. Each of its organic bananas has an individual product code that can be used on the internet to find out the farm where the banana was grown.
Complete transparency will become a competitive advantage in times of growing mistrust on the part of consumers, said Huber.
'Glocalization is precisely about the combination of the traditional and the modern,' she added. The consumers of the future will be globally patriotic: open to the world and grounded at the same time, she predicts. Frankfurt's apple wine will be refined, fermented like champagne and drunk at parties celebrating the fruit, she said, summarizing the trend.
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