The hot new flavour…is vadouvan, apparently. Nope, I’d never heard of it neither, but according to Iconoculture’s eminently knowledgeable food editor Charlotte Beal, this Franco-Indian spice blend is so hot right now. Pun totally intended. It’s not dissimilar to a masala spice mix, but with added onion and garlic for that French élan. Icono’s lovely Indian editor gave us some at our recent meeting in Minneapolis (so international, right?!) and now I’m determined to try it…
Vadouvan is already the darling of the food-blogosphere, but will it spread like samphire? (geddit?) The signs look good – it’s been featured in Gourmet magazine, and on the highly influential Top Chef TV show in the US. And of course, people bloody love a food fad, especially if it’s a bit foreign (remember when sun-dried tomatoes were the thing? Gross). Although it saddens me to say, wasabi seems to have rather jumped the shark (I blame Pringles), while the Moroccan charm of pomegranate has caught up with the All-American cranberry and become rather vieux chapeau.
Instead, local specialties for local people have filled the gap in recent months as part of the British food renaissance, with scotch eggs and pickles getting chic make-overs. (I should point out, I’m way ahead of the curve on this one- my favourite store-cupboard snack used to be a pickled onion, eaten off a fork, straight out of the jar. You cannot buy class like that, I tells ya). Recent research suggests more people are getting into making their own pickles, which is ace. I’m getting into it myself (living the trend, innit). I’m particularly obsessed with recreating Koya’s pickled rhubarb, which is srsly brill…
Anyway, I digress. I’m going to follow Charlotte’s lead with a mac ‘n’ cheese scented with vadouvan, then maybe a vadouvan-spiced soup. Test subjects welcome. Any ideas for what else to do with it, do let me know!
How Things Are Done 