Passion For Foods

Cocooning - A 1980’s Trend That Continues Today

In the 1980’s, celebrated futurist, Faith Popcorn, coined the word “cocooning” in her now famous book, The Popcorn Report, to describe the widespread trend of people spending more time in their homes.  She correctly predicted that with the changing demographics and the uncertain economic times experienced in that tumultuous decade, many people would curtail their restaurant dining, exotic holidaying and other outside-the-home activities in favor of family activities that could be conducted at home.

There were many implications of this far-reaching trend, including a new housing and home renovation boom (that lasted until only recently, when the most recent economic recession took hold.)  As well, home entertainment, with wide-screen televisions and surround-sound, became a central part of many households and remains very popular today.  The home renovation boom gave rise to the “weekend warrior”, that brave breed of men (and, increasingly,  women) who wanted to complete at least some of their home improvements themselves.  The Garden Center and Landscaping industries also thrived, as legions of suburbanites wanted to increase their quality of life both inside and outside their homes by improving its aesthetics.

There were many other examples of shifts in consumer demand that also contributed to this trend.  The result, however, is that people across North America have become much more interested in improving the quality of their home lives.  Most futurists and demographers feel that there is no credible reason to believe that this trend will end anytime soon.

Gourmet Home Cooking Grew Rapidly in Popularity

In addition to the industries and past-times noted above, gourmet cooking began to grow in popularity during this time, with the advent of television celebrity chefs such as Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay, Rachael Ray, Martha Stewart and many others.  Increasingly, both men and women were anxious to use their newly renovated designer kitchens and to employ the cooking techniques that they had seen on the Food Channel. For many people, gourmet food became a central part of their daily lives, their social network and their hobbies.  (This cocooning trend continues today and in fact, appears to be growing even faster, with the recent severe downturn in the world economy.)  Stated simply, people are searching for ways to reduce costs, but simultaneously, return to more traditional family values.  By cooking more gourmet foods at home, both of these goals can be achieved.

Gourmet Doesn’t Need to be Difficult!

One of the most common questions about the 1,000’s of gourmet foods that we offer our customers at www.epicureanfoods.com is simply “How can I prepare gourmet foods without spending hours in the kitchen?”  We’ve learned over the past 16 years of working in the gourmet food industry that while people increasingly love to cook and they are definitely searching for a simpler lifestyle (i.e. they are “cocooning”), they also want simple solutions to achieve these goals.  Most people (especially busy Moms!) are not interested in simply replacing the stresses of the “outside world” with new stresses of working for several hours in the kitchen preparing “gourmet meals” for their families and / or friends!  In essence, they don’t want just gourmet, they want “gourmet solutions.”

Even Pasta Can Become “Gourmet” With Almost No Extra Effort

One of the simplest examples that I can provide to illustrate this point of how people today want “gourmet solutions” is a line of pastas and pasta sauces that we’ve created called pasta culinario. (There are four pasta sauces that we have created that turn the everyday into gourmet.  The sauces are all wine-based.  That is, we use different types of wine in each sauce to “marry” with the other more traditional ingredients.)

One of the most popular of these pasta sauces is our Roasted Portobello Mushroom Pasta Sauce With Pinot Noir Wine. The French have an interesting expression for describing how a wine’s taste is indicative of where it was produced.  They call it “le gout de terroir” or literally translated, “the taste of the land“.  Pinot Noir is a wine that enthusiasts will often describe as “having a barn-yard nose”.  (This simply means that the wine itself has an “earthy” aroma and bouquet, reminiscent of freshly turned topsoil.)  Similarly, portobello mushrooms have an earthy aroma.  When the “earthy” taste of the Pinot Noir wine is combined with the “earthy” taste of the portobello mushrooms. a wonderfully unique taste is created.  By simply using a “ready-to-heat-and-serve” jar of gourmet pasta sauce, everyday pasta meals can instantly be enhanced.  When combined with one of our gourmet pastas, a restaurant quality meal can be created in just a few minutes, with almost no “muss and fuss”.  It’s an ideal solution for today’s busy lifestyle that more people are discovering every day.

Many “Gourmet Solutions” Are Available & More Are Coming Every Day!

In my upcoming blog entries, I plan to expand further upon this concept of “gourmet solutions“.  There are so many wonderful gourmet foods that are now available that can make dining a simple, yet elegant and thoroughly enjoyable affair.  More fabulous specialty and gourmet food products are being added every day by producers around the world and it is Phyllis’ and my challenge to continue to discover them and to bring them to our discerning customers!

Greg Sprout,

Co-Founder, www.epicureanfoods.com

In some of our my earlier blog entries, I’ve talked about having a natural passion for foods. Fortunately, for as long as I can remember, I’ve always had this passion, largely as a result of my own upbringing, where food was always such an important part of our daily family life. I have also been very fortunate in that I have worked in the fine wine and fine food industries for over 20 years and have seen, first hand, the passion that other people in our industry have. I find it truly inspiring to witness, firsthand, their commitment to excellence in the production and marketing of their gourmet products. Occasionally, in my blog, I plan to share some of my experiences in dealing with other professionals who are also blessed with this same passion.

Kim & Peter Reid, Cobblestone Kitchens

We have known Kim & Peter Reid since 1995. We had started our business www.epicureanfoods.com, a few years earlier, and they had opened their company, Cobblestone Kitchens, at about the same time. They began producing gingerbread houses for the specialty market and enjoyed almost immediate success. (Peter had been working as a Product Manager for a multi-national company that had begun offering some gingerbread house products to the “Mass Market”. Regretfully, the gingerbread house kits that they were offering were rather mediocre quality and the company seemed uncommitted to them.) Together, Kim & Peter saw an opportunity to start their own business creating high-quality, reasonably priced gingerbread house kits to the specialty market and literally “jumped on the opportunity”. They have never looked back…

Complementary Products Soon Followed:

It didn’t take long for Kim & Peter to realize that there was great market demand for other similar items to their unique premium quality gingerbread house kits. They soon added gourmet hot chocolates, scone mixes, cocktail mixes, and rimming salts & sugars and some fabulous gourmet gift sets. They worked incredibly hard to develop excellent product packaging and taste profiles. They had a true passion for their products and for their vision of where they wanted to take their company. We saw their passion and in 2008 began offering their wonderful gourmet specialties to our customers.

Uncompromising Quality:

During a recent tour / inspection of their plant, I was again impressed with the meticulous attention to every detail of their products. Kim & Peter personally select and approve all of the raw materials that they use in each of their products. It struck me how they have selected raw materials based on their quality, not their cost. For example, they use only the very best cocoa available for their base of their hot chocolate mixes. They also use natural sweeteners (and other natural products) whenever possible. This requirement of using only the highest quality components is reflected in the tastes of their products.

Their commitment to product quality and food safety is also extremely impressive. They operate from a HACCP Certified facility. (HACCP is an anachronism for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point quality control system unique to the food industry. It is the equivalent of the now widespread and highly regarded ISO (International Standards Organization) that documents and regulates quality controls in companies worldwide. Only food companies that have made a very serious commitment to excellence in every aspect of their business are able to achieve HACCP Certification.) Since food safety is so critically important to everyone these days, we were pleased to see their unconditional commitment to quality in this area.

Their Passion Is Evident

Peter & Kim are much like Phyllis and I are in many ways. They both have their comparative strengths and weaknesses, but together, make a wonderful team. In areas that Peter is not as strong, Kim more than compensates and vice versa. However, they both have an uncompromising commitment to develop and offer only the highest quality gourmet and specialty foods with excellent taste profiles. Despite this commitment to the highest quality, their products also represent excellent value to even the most discerning customers.

We Share Their Passion for Excellence

Since the first days of our company, we have always been passionate about the quality of all of the foods that we produce. (Like everyone else, however, there are days when this commitment could easily be challenged!) It would be easy for us and our Associates to simply say ” Oh, it’s good enough - just ship it“, when production and quality problems arise. In working with people like Kim & Peter, and seeing the passion that they have for creating nothing but excellent quality gourmet foods, it helps us to keep our passion for food alive and well…

Greg Sprout,

Co-Founder, www.epicureanfoods.com

What Does “Passion for Food” Mean?

I think that it’s entirely appropriate that one of the first posts to my blog is to share what exactly it is when I talk about “passion for food“.  I suppose that this phrase could mean many different things to different people.  I also think it’s important that I outline exactly what it means to me (and my wife and business partner Phyllis), as it is so much a part of our lives, both personally and professionally.

Began At An Early Age

I’m not entirely sure where my passion for foods began exactly.  I just know that for as long as I can remember, I’ve had it.  Even as a kid growing up, I have memories of being “very particular” about what we ate for our family meals and, just as importantly, how these meals were “presented”.  It was always very important in our family that what we were eating was extremely good quality and that, when the preparation was at last completed, the food looked fabulous on the plate when it was served.  (”Presentation is everything!” was the standard line, used jokingly on a daily basis.)  My parents and my siblings all felt this way as well.  The unspoken consensus always seemed to be that “we all needed to eat to survive, so we may as well take the time to do it well.” If eating and food are such an important part of our very existence,  why would we not take a keen daily interest in what we ingest every day?  It seems obvious that since food is so critical to life itself, we would want to make it as enjoyable as possible…

This Passion Is Contagious!

When I first began my business career and had the opportunity to meet and do business with people over lunch or dinner, I was very fortunate that I met many people who shared this passion for fine food and fine wine.  Particularly when I was in the fine wine industry, I did business with many people who had traveled the world extensively and who, in the course of their own business and personal lives, had experienced the opportunity to enjoy some of the world’s best foods and wines.  They had eaten in the best restaurants, had savored the world’s best wines and appreciated the best foods.  While admittedly, there were a few who were quite pretentious their experiences, they were, thankfully, a tiny minority.  Most of these people also sincerely and genuinely loved what they were doing with their careers.  They enjoyed “the finer things in life“, without being arrogant or ostentatious.  They had a passion for food…

We Carry That Passion Today

It’s been few more years than I ‘d like to admit since I first began my career in the fine food and wine business, but, fortunately, this passion that I first discovered as a kid is still burning strong.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog, there are few things that Phyllis and I (and now, our kids) enjoy more than preparing and eating a good meal with family and friends.  (Good food, good wine, good friends…what more could we possibly ask for ??!!)

We are also very fortunate that we are able to earn a living sharing our passion for fine foods with so many of our customers. (Through our business, www.epicureanfoods.com, we produce and distribute some of the world’s finest gourmet and specialty foods.)  Interestingly, many of our gourmet food suppliers are also owned and operated by people who share our passion for fine foods. (Also interestingly, many of these owners are husband and wife teams as well.)   On a daily basis, we see their dedication to excellence.  We see how they work so incredibly hard to produce their own truly superb truffles or coffees or chocolates or pastas or scone mixes or wine jellies or teas or gourmet spice rubs or a whole host of other fabulous foods.  Their passion for their life’s work (i.e. the creation of their own wonderfully unique, superb quality gourmet and specialty foods) is contagious.  It makes us realize that we are very lucky that we’re in such a fun business…

Greg Sprout,

Co-Founder, www.epicureanfoods.com

How Do You Match the Food  and the Wine?

One of the things that people often tell me that they find a little intimidating is how to match a wine to a particular food dish that they are planning.  They say that they really have no idea to try to find a wine that will match the food(s) and fret that they will perhaps ruin the food and /or the wine by pairing them together.  While they may have some legitimate concerns in this area, they can largely solve this small problem by following a few simple guidelines:

The Wine & The Food Should Never “Compete”

Probably the single-most most important thing to remember when you’re trying to marry a food and a wine is to ensure that the style of the wine is similar to the style of the food.  Wine is a food - it is meant to complement the other foods that are being eaten at the time.  The wine in your glass should never “compete” with the foods on your plate.

Match The “Style” of The Food To The “Style” of The Wine:

If you’re serving a pasta dish with a spicy pasta sauce, consider serving a “spicy” wine, like a Zinfandel from California or a Chateau Neuf du Pape from France.  These wines have what some wine drinkers describe as having a “big, full-bodied” taste.  Similarly, the taste of the thick, rich pasta sauce will likely be full bodied and perhaps, a little spicy.  These are perfect matches.

Conversely, if you are serving a delicately flavored dish with subtle tastes, a full bodied wine will simply overpower them.  A simple shrimp cocktail appetizer would be dominated completely by a big, oak-aged Chardonnay.  A lighter, dry Riesling from Canada’s Niagara Region or Pinot Gris from Italy would be a much better pairing.

You Have To Serve Red Wine With Red Meats & White Wine With White Meats NOT!)

If there ever was an oversimplification, this is likely it.  Again, bearing in mind what we just talked about, this old rule is just too general to be of much help.  (In fact, a few years ago, there was a best-selling book dedicated to this very topic.  It was aptly named “Red Wine With Fish“.)  Don’t limit your selections using this outdated rule-of-thumb.

If All Else Fails, Serve a Sparkling Wine:

Not that drinking champagne (or sparkling wine) should ever be considered a hardship, if you’re  in “a bit of a pinch”, it’s almost impossible to go wrong by serving a glass of bubbly.  If nothing else, the festive nature of champagne adds an incomparable charm to virtually any table and any dish!

Bon appetit

Greg Sprout

Co-Founder, www.epicureanfoods.com

Welcome!

I’d like to welcome you to my personal blog.  I’m glad and thankful that you’re taking a minute to visit.  I hope that you find my opinions, insights, experiences and my passion for fine wine and fine food to be helpful, entertaining, occasionally somewhat provocative but most importantly interesting.  I will be discussing a wide range of topics related to my life’s passion (and for the past 20+ years) my work: namely fine foods and fine wines.

Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself:

First, by way of personal background:

Since 1989, I have been married to my wife, Phyllis.  Together, we have been blessed with six beautiful, healthy children, currently aged from 17 to 5 years old.  (We brag that we really did some “excellent planning”, as we have three girls and three boys.  We apparently perfectly planned their arrivals, as they alternate between male and female with each successive child.)  As of today’s date, they range in age from 17 to 5.  They are all actively involved in sports of every kind and regularly help us in our family business, Epicurean Foods.  They take up much of our so-called “leisure” time.

Business Background

The remainder of most of our days is spent running our business that we started in 1992.  At Epicurean Foods, we produce and distribute several hundred of our own gourmet foods and distribute over 1,000 more.  We wholesale them to specialty retailers (such as gourmet food stores, gift stores and gift basket packers) across North America.  We also have a thriving retail business, where consumers can purchase these wonderful foods direct, for their own consumption.  This is done through our website, www.epicureanfoods.com and through our retail store at the front of our warehouse.

A Brief History

Phyllis and I have always been keenly interested in fine food and fine wines.  (Before we were married, entertainment for a Saturday often included scouring through numerous cookbooks to find interesting recipes.  Much of the rest of the day would then be spent at several specialty stores sourcing all of the ingredients required to make the  3 or 4 (or 5 or 6!) course dinner that we had planned.  Much time and care was always taken to ensure that the wines that we had chosen for each course were “perfect marriages” with the food.  The actual preparation of the food would often take hours, but it was all part of the fun and the ritual.  Only after several hours of “hustle and bustle” and many hours after we had decided what the “bill of fare” would be for that evening would we actually sit down to eat and drink.

It was then that the serious critiquing of what we had done well and what we would do better next time seriously began.  (I think that often, some of our family and friends who were eating with us, truly believed that we had lost all sense of reality by this point.)  No aspect of the meal went “un-analyzed”…nothing was ever so good that it could have been done slightly better the next time…

Despite being our own harshest critics, we always loved the entire process (that could easily take 15 hours from planning to shopping to preparation to actually eating and critiquing).  We truly adored creating a lovely meal for our family and friends and our selves, as this was our hobby and our passion…

Turn A Hobby Into A Business

In a nutshell, that is exactly what we did we started Epicurean Foods.  After a five year stint in the Ontario fine wine industry, it was time for a change.   We channelled our passion for fine food and fine wines into our start-up company.