Publication of the AFBF Public Relations Department Volume 2 Number 11 November 2009

Insider Adventurous Foodies Tuck Into

on Trends
Turducken at Thanksgiving
2
Seafood to Schools
Healthy fare for The poultry dish known dinner.” does not inject its turkeys
Florida kids features as Turducken continues Turducken—a partially with seasonings or mari-
local catch to grow in popularity for deboned turkey stuffed nades. Instead, the delect-
holiday meals, particularly with boneless duck and able flavor of each Tur-

3 Barton Seaver Thanksgiving, Christmas
Esquire’s ‘Chef of and Easter.
the Year’ supports Hebert’s Specialty Meats
sustainable seafood in Maurice, La., has been
making Turduckens since
chicken, with layers of
various types of stuffing
added—certainly seems to
fit the bill.
At Hebert’s, specially sea-
ducken is dependent ex-
clusively on the seasonings
of the stuffing within it.
The majority of the Turk-
duckens produced by He-

4 Pike Place Market 1984 when a local farmer soned pork stuffing pre- bert’s are ordered online
The place for food in brought in his own birds and shipped frozen on dry
Seattle and requested custom ice in coolers to customers
processing for them in although some are sold

5 SweeTango Apples the style that appears fresh locally.

New early season to be a growing foodie “People love to
variety expected to trend. have something
rival Honeycrisp in Chris Catlett, own- that’s already pre-
popularity er of the Houston pared. When you
franchise of Hebert’s order one of our

6 Wings Take Off (pronounced “A Bears”), Turduckens, all

Chicken wings are a attributes the rising pop- pared at the you have to do is
“cheap luxury” ularity of Turducken in store is the most popular let it thaw, then stick it
the culinary world to con- choice for layering between into the oven,” Catlett

7 The Food Scene
Brands and social
media, kid’s health
drinks and Star-
bucks instant coffee
The preferences of
foodies, who generally
are more discriminating
than other consumers,
continue to influence the
food grown by America’s
farmers and ranchers.
With this trend in mind,
we hope you enjoy this
edition of Foodie News.
sumer boredom with the
traditional turkey.
“A lot of our customers
we see just once each year.
A Turkducken is their spe-
cial holiday food,” Catlett
told Foodie News. “People
are looking for something
different for their special
the three types of poultry.
“We can create anything
when it comes to custom
stuffing. We put together
whatever the customer
has a taste for and layer it
between the birds as they
prefer,” said Catlett.
Considered by many
in the industry to be the
“Gold Standard” when it
comes to Turduckens, He-
bert’s uses only top-qual-
ity stuffing ingredients,
seasonings and birds; fore-
goes preservatives; and
said. It takes about 5
hours to roast, depending
on the weight. Most of
Hebert's Turduckens
weigh about 15 pounds
and cost around $70.
Hebert’s sells other
Cajun favorites including
Andouille,
Etouffee,
Crawfish
Pie.
For more
information,
visit Heberts
Houston.com.
 GUEST COLUMN
‘Seafood to Schools’ Features Local Catch
By Martin May, Management Review Specialist, Florida Bureau of Seafood and Aquaculture Marketing
The Florida “Seafood to
Schools” program is an ini-
tiative to bring nutritious
seafood from local sources
to Florida’s school lunch-
rooms. The Florida Depart-
ment of Agriculture and
Consumer Services sur-
veyed the state’s 67 school
districts to gauge the de-
mand for Florida seafood
products in elementary,
middle and high schools.
Feedback indicated there
are opportunities for Flor-
ida seafood suppliers to
provide products for Flor-
ida schools. About 60 per-
cent of schools surveyed
currently offer fresh or
frozen seafood, with proc-
essed fish, shrimp and Pol-
lack served most often.
Good eating habits can
Retail Food Prices Down 10 Percent From Year Ago
Retail food prices at the
supermarket decreased
slightly for the fourth con-
secutive quarter and are
significantly lower than
one year ago, according
to the latest American
Farm Bureau Federation
Marketbasket Survey. The
informal survey shows the
total cost of 16 food items
that can be used to pre-
pare a meal was $46.03,
down $.26 from the sec-
ond quarter of 2009 and
$4.18 lower or about 10
percent less compared to
one year ago.
Of the 16 items sur-
veyed, nine decreased and
seven increased in aver-
age price compared to
begin at school. Including
seafood early in a young
person’s diet sets the stage
for the proper nutrition
that young bodies need for
growth and development
and a healthy future. Sea-
food is a good source of
high-quality, low-fat pro-
tein as well as omega-3
fatty acids and provides a
variety of menu options.
Compared to other meats,
seafood is low in calories
and cholesterol.
Every year, Florida
the prior quarter.
“Consumers continue
to benefit from modest,
steady declines in retail
food prices at the grocery
store. From a nutritional
perspective, it’s important
to note that our volunteer
shoppers found signifi-
cantly lower retail prices
for several protein-rich
foods that are staples in
the diet of most Americans,
including milk, cheese,
eggs and ground beef,
compared to one year ago,”
said AFBF Economist Jim
Sartwelle.
The survey tracks close-
ly with the federal govern-
ment’s Aug. 2009 Consum-
er Price Index (www.bls.
schools spend millions of
dollars for school lunch
programs.
The Seafood to School
program is intended to
open the door for more of
those dollars to stay within
Florida. It will also support
Florida fishermen by pro-
moting opportunities for
schools and seafood sup-
pliers to work together to
increase the volume of lo-
cally harvested seafood
product served in school
cafeterias. Incorporating
gov/cpi) report for dairy
and related products,
which showed a slight de-
cline for the ninth conse-
local products into school
meals also supports local
economies, reduces trans-
portation costs and helps
support Florida’s seafood
industry.
Several types of shrimp
(including Rock shrimp,
pink, breaded rounds and
popcorn), crab cakes, crab
stuffing, clams and breaded
fish fillets/sticks are among
the seafood products of-
fered by Florida companies
that are interested in par-
ticipating in the program.
The Florida Department
of Agriculture and Con-
sumer Services is working
with schools and seafood
suppliers to develop oppor-
tunities through the pro-
gram. Learn more at www.
FL-Seafood.com.
cutive month. A news re-
lease with full details on
the survey is available on-
line at newsroom.fb.org.
 Esquire magazine has named Wash-
ington, D.C., chef Barton Seaver “Chef
of the Year” and his restaurant, Blue
Ridge, one of the best new restaurants
in the country. While Seaver’s restau-
rant offers diners a unique farm-to-
table experience, what makes the up-
and-coming chef so rare is his per-
sonal crusade regarding sustainable
seafood. As he told The Washington
Post earlier this year, “I’m not trying
to save the fish. I’m trying to save
dinner.”
He is a chef with a conscience, but
more importantly, he is a pragmatist.
“We’ve become slaves to words like
local, fresh and seasonal,” Seaver
said. “We all want to be Thomas Jeff-
erson’s agrarian hero, but sustainable
food is a difficult beast. You want to
save the oceans? Eat more broccoli.
Change the topography of your plate.
Sixteen ounces of shrimp on a plate
is not the best nutrition. And you
don’t have to eat farmers’ market or-
ganic broccoli or participate in some
green revolution. Just eat broccoli.
They have it at Walmart.”
Seavor has been the talk of the food
world for some time and not because
of his chicken pot pie and aged coun-
try ham—both of which receive acco-
lades at Blue Ridge. Seaver is just as
active outside the kitchen. He was
recently named a fellow with the Blue
Ocean Institute and has been praised
as a leader in sustainability by the
Seafood Choices Alliance. He also
works with the National Geographic
Society’s Ocean Now program to edu-
cate consumers about sustainable
fishing practices.
As part of his educational efforts,
Seaver makes it a mission not to
preach sustainability as a science, but
instead to make it more human so
that consumers can relate.
“Eating a farm-raised Chesapeake
oyster supports generations of water-
men and supports the most produc-
tive marine ecosystem in the world,”
he said. “When I eat a delicious oys-
ter, it’s one of the most ecologically
friendly acts a person can take. That’s
the kind of environmentalism I can
get behind.”
As for why Seaver won the coveted
Chef of the Year award, Esquire critic
John Mariani called him “a voice
of reason at a time when priggish,
competing factions—from vegans
to slow-food zealots—deal more
in polemics than real solutions.”
Mariani went further and said he
liked how Seaver’s sensible approach
to sustainability is reflected in his res-
taurant, as well as his use of quality
ingredients.
“There was a lot of emphasis on
vegetables but not on being a vege-
tarian. The chicken and pork was
cooked very well. That southern style
of cooking is not easy to find, even in
your neck of the woods. They were of
supremely good ingredients,” Mariani
said.
Look for Seaver next spring on a
PBS series titled “Turning the Tide”
that aims to explore sustainable fish-
ing while connecting consumers to
their dinner plate.

‘Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food’ Kicks Off

“Every family needs a
farmer. Do you know yours?”
So proclaims the Web site
of the Agriculture Depart-
ment’s recently launched
“Know Your
Farmer,
Know
Your
Food” ini-
tiative.
USDA launched the pro-
gram to emphasize the need
for a fundamental and cri-
tical reconnection between
producers and consumers.
The Web site (www.usda.
gov/knowyourfarmer)
features social media tools
created to help focus the
public conversation about
farming
and
food,
while
engag-
ing American agri-
culturalists and linking pro-
ducers to customers.
The primary focus of
Know Your Farmer, Know
Your Food is to promote
local foods to consumers,
according to USDA.
Consumer demand for
locally grown food in the
U.S. is expected to rise
from an estimated $4 bil-
lion in 2002 to as much
as $7 billion by 2012. Agri-
culture Secretary Tom
Vilsack is optimistic that
the program will help
consumers make healthier
food choices and gain a
better appreciation of the
role of American agricul-
ture in food production
from the farm to the table.
“Because more than 80
percent of our population
lives in suburban and me-
tropolitan areas, when we
think of food, we more
often think of the grocery
store than the farm,” Vil-
sack said.
“There is a disconnect
between the farmer and
the food that consumers
buy and we want to recon-
nect these long-standing
ties between the people
who produce the food and
those who purchase and
prepare it. These new
online tools will help do
that.”
Foodies Flock to Seattle’s Pike Place Farmers’ Market
Whether you’re a visitor of all kinds, Seattleites have
ready to make reservations always turned to the market
for a memorable dinner out and its 240 commercial
or a local shopping for the businesses during the
finest ingredients for a fam- holidays to find
ily meal or party, you’ll find unusual hand-crafted and

PHOTOS BY ANNA BURKHOLDER

everything you need at the exotic gifts in the Down-
Pike Place Market in Seattle. Under (located one level
First-time visitors to Seat- beneath the Main Arcade
tle are immediately drawn along Pike Place). It is a
to the sights and sounds three-level maze of unique
of the market. At mid-day shops and retailers. The
the market buzzes with DownUnder is home to
local shoppers and camera- artisans, a magic shop,
toting tourists admiring clothing purveyors, a pen
the beautiful produce and and ink artist … even the
flowers at bargain prices. world’s biggest shoe (you
The artistry the produce The Pike Place Market in Seattle bustles with people and must pay a quarter to see it
vendors put into their dis- activity nearly every day of the year. and you can’t buy it).
plays, with the use of colors Pike Place Market also is
and patterns, is truly breath- at Pike Place most days. Business is good but a little where some of the most tal-
taking. The smell of fresh The specialty fish, salmon, off because of the economy, ented artists in the Pacific
mini doughnuts, locally shellfish and Alaskan king but they are still able to pro- Northwest do business. The
roasted coffee, roasted nuts, crab legs are as fresh as you vide great produce and keep Arcade on the west side of
dried fruits and every kind can get and can be packed a full staff in the summer. Pike Place is an open-air
of pastry imaginable make and shipped anywhere in “We are very lucky, any- assembly of creative people
visitors feel like they have the U.S. in leak-proof, 48- time the economy is bad; of all backgrounds selling
died and gone to foodie hour ice packs. people still want good food their handmade jewelry,
heaven. Most vendors can Many of the vendors have at great prices. That is the paintings, sculptures, wood-
pack and ship these items been part of the market for reason many regulars come work, ceramics and other
including Washington state generations. Sosio Manzo, back, because the quality of arts and crafts.
wines, craft beers, meat, an Italian immigrant, be- the produce surpasses any- Visit the Pike Place Mar-
pasta and Artisan hand- gan a produce stand at Pike thing that the big brand ket online at www.pike
made cheeses. Place 102 years ago. A cou- names sell. You know you placemarket.org.
A wide-mouthed sharp- ple of generations later the are getting
toothed monkfish, buried Manzo Brothers and Sosio's beautiful
in crushed ice, greets Fruit & Produce are still tree-ripened
visitors at the fish market family-run businesses. fruit,” Green
grocer Mark
Eskenazi told
Foodie News.
The benefit
for shoppers
at Pike Place
Market is
they feel good
that they are
supporting
local farmers
and businesses
and are able to
develop long-
standing rela-
tion ships.
In addition to
fresh produce
Garrett Fongeyne, green grocer at Sosio’s Produce & and locally Crab legs on ice sell out quickly at the
Fruit, enjoys giving fruit samples to customers. grown foods Pike Place Fish Market.
SweeTango Apples: The Next Big Trend
In recent decades, Red
and Golden Delicious
apple varieties have been
predominant at local
orchards and in grocery
stores. Today, many
U.S. growers plant Gala,
Fuji and Granny Smith
apples, which remain
popular with consumers.
In just the past few years,
Cameo, Honeycrisp and
Pink Lady apple varieties
have been introduced.
When developing a new
variety, breeders strive for
an apple with superior
eating quality that is firm,
crisp and juicy with a bal-
anced sweet-tart flavor.
It must also be attractive
with good color, size
and appearance. To be
considered a good variety,
an apple must bear fruit
early, produce well, not
be prone to sunburn and
be disease-resistant. It
should also store well and
taste great when it comes
out of cold storage.
Sound like a tall order?
Not for the SweeTango,
one of the newest apple
varieties. Those who
have sampled it say it is
the best eating apple
they have ever tasted and
it also is great for pies.
SweeTango apples have
been hitting the market-
place in a few big cities, in-
cluding Seattle. Research-
ers at the University of
Minnesota breeding pro-
gram spent more than 20
years developing it.
“A lot of people are ask-
ing for SweeTango apples.
Like Honeycrisp, when you
bite into it you get a burst of
juice and a crispy texture. It
has a very nice sugar/acid
balance with a very complex
flavor,” Alison DeMarree
of DeMarree Fruit Farm in
Williamson, N.Y., located on
the shores of Lake Ontario,
told Foodie News.
“SweeTango is an early-
season producer, about 10
days ahead of Honeycrisp,
around the first week of
September. Few premium
apples come out around
that time, when produce
managers are eager for
something new to start the
fall season,” DeMarree
explained.
SweeTango is a closed
release managed variety
which means growers are
required to develop a plan
for how much they will
plant and how it will be
packed and marketed.
With open release apple
varieties, anyone can buy
a tree, plant it and market
the fruit as they choose.
Because SweeTango is
a managed variety, the
breeders who developed
it get a production royal-
ty for every tree pro-
duced. In addition, for
every bushel marketed,
a few cents go back to
the breeders to maintain
a viable breeding pro-
gram. Consumers bene-
fit too, as one retail price
is set across the country.
SweeTango was devel-
oped by the same breed-
ers that developed the
Honeycrisp. It was cre-
ated by combining Hon-
eycrisp with Zestar.
According to DeMar-
ree, the advantage for
growers when investing
in a closed release man-
aged variety is that they
control the amount of
fruit so that the market
is not oversupplied, which
would drive the price
down. When growers
control the quality and
quantity this way, they
are much more likely to
be able to recoup their
investment.
By 2012 more Swee-
Tango trees will come
into production and the
fruit will become available
nationwide. The most
popular fruit in America,
apples are nutritious, ver-
satile, portable and avail-
able year-round. To learn
more, go to:
•  SweeTango site: http:
//www.sweetango.com
•  SweeTango Facebook
page: http://www.face
book.com/sweetango
•  U.S. Apple Associa-
tion: Apple Guide, http:
//www.usapple.org/
consumers/appleguide/
index.cfm
Wings Outshine Breasts in Tough Economy
In today’s tough economy, it’s diffi-
cult to predict the next big restaurant
trend since folks are eating out less,
which makes it particularly challeng-
ing for the poultry industry to plan for
the future.
In the early 1990s, steakhouses such
as Outback were the hottest trend,
while later that decade, casual dining
spots such as Chili’s, Applebee’s and
Ruby Tuesday’s were the trend setters.
This bodes well for poultry producers
since chicken is often the meat of choice
for patrons of casual dining. For most
of this decade, ethnic eateries were the
hot trend, although steakhouses and
casual dining spots still fared well.
Since the economic downturn, all
foodservice establishments have
seen declines, but casual dining has
suffered the most, which has put a
real crimp on sales of chicken breasts,
a longtime restaurant staple.
“These days it’s a major challenge
to forecast the real growth area in the
restaurant business. It really is hard
to pinpoint what the next big thing
is,” said Scott Brown, a livestock and
dairy economist with the Food and
Agricultural Policy Research Institute
at the University of Missouri.
Brown was on the program of Farm
Bureau’s commodity outlook confer-
ence held in Albuquerque, N.M., in
October. He said the big drop in food-
service demand has been particularly
hard on poultry producers.
The recent news of restaurants
shifting from chicken
wings to “bone-
less” wings due to the
big fall in chicken
prices illustrates the
tough times facing the
poultry industry today.
In seven of the last
11 months, wholesale
wing prices have been
higher than breast prices,
a reversal in the market
where breasts usually reign
supreme. In September, the
average wholesale price for
whole chicken wings was $1.48 a
pound, according to the Agriculture
Department, while skinless boneless
breasts were $1.21 a pound.
Demand has been stronger for chick-
en wings because people often look at
them as a cheap luxury. The New
York Times recently reported that the
recession has been a boon for many
wing restaurants because people per-
ceive them to be an affordable luxury.
Wing prices are expected to remain
strong for the rest of football season
until the Super Bowl in February when
most wings are sold and prices peak.
Demand is expected to remain strong
for wings over the long haul.
One big boost was the decision by
Pizza Hut to expand the availability of
its wings menu, called “WingStreet,”
from 3,000 stores today to 5,000
stores in the near future.
“Demand is pretty strong for wings.
You can’t get more than two wings
out of birds, so there’s not much
change in supply,” Brown said.
All things considered, Brown is rea-
sonably optimistic for the long-term
future of the poultry market. “The
supply side is not the issue, when the
economy improves, we should see an
uptick in demand. I see opportunity
for higher prices for the next two to
three years for poultry producers, but
I don’t expect we will see record-high
prices.”

Food By The Numbers

89
Percent of consumers who
said they are most likely to
do their grocery shopping
at supermarkets.
78
Percent of consumers
who are happy to switch
among food brands if
one is a better deal than
Consumers are seeing relief at the grocery store. Market another.
research conducted by Synovate and reported by Morning
NewsBeat, a daily food blog, shows nearly 40 percent of 65
consumers are paying less at the grocery store compared to a Percent of consumers who
year ago. Consumers do still have some concerns about retail think grocery items are
food prices, as shown by the Synovate analysis. overpriced.
58
Percent of shoppers who
make bulk food purchases.
49
Percent of consumers who
find shopping for groceries
so unpleasant they want to
“get in and get out” of the
store.
10
Percent of Americans who
do their grocery shopping
at super centers or
superstores that typically
offer lower prices.
 The Food Scene
•  Brands Capitalize on Social Media to Sell Products
More and more, brands are utilizing social media to interact with customers and sell
more products. Adweek recently looked at eight brands to contrast and compare which
companies were taking full advantage of social media, particularly Facebook. Within the
food arena, Starbucks wins top honors for promoting itself on Facebook. The company’s
fan page is growing more than 3 percent weekly. The magazine
lists Burger King as having the biggest missed opportunity
saying the company “is curiously absent from the social
networking platform.”
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/
agency/e3id3d058ba458918f0fc8ec4548c7fbb4b?imw=Y

•  Forecasted Growth for Kid’s Health Drinks

A new report shows that the market for nutritious drinks tailor-made for kids will grow by
as much as 50 percent in the next several years. According to the report, by New Nutrition
Business, “There are a number of factors that give fruit drinks for kids a competitive
advantage over other categories. For one thing the ‘naturally healthy’ image of fruit drinks
makes them a suitable vehicle for health benefits—as does children’s love of fruit-flavored,
sweet drinks. They are also convenient to carry and pack in lunch boxes.”
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Financial-Industry/Big-growth-forecast-for-US-
children-s-healthy-drinks-market

•  Chefs, too, Look to Social Media for Business

Brands aren’t the only ones capitalizing on social media. Chefs, too, have taken to the Internet to
promote themselves and restaurants. Rick Bayless, recent winner on Top Chef Masters, is one of the
media-savvy chefs who uses socials media to his and his customers’ advantage. “Ninety percent
of what we do goes on behind closed doors and I wanted to give fans a glimpse behind the
scenes,” said Bayless. “Twitter seemed like the simplest route to do that.”
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/food/1796827,FOO-News-media30.article

•  Starbucks Does Coffee in an Instant

Starbucks, which recently rolled out instant coffee,
is now adding a decaffeinated version to its Via
line this month. According to The New York
Times, “The Via Ready Brew Decaf
Italian Roast will be sold in all of its
U.S. company-run and licensed shops
beginning on Nov. 17. The coffee will
be available in pre-portioned, single-
serve packets and will be sold as three-
packs for $2.95 or as a 12-pack box for
$10.95.”
http://www.nytimes.com/
aponline/2009/10/12/business/AP-
US-Starbucks-Via-Decaf.html?_r=2
http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/29/
news/companies/Starbucks_Via/
index.htm?postversion=2009092909
 November 2009 Vol. 2 No. 11
Published monthly by the American Farm Bureau Federation,
600 Maryland Ave., SW, Suite 1000W, Washington, DC 20024
Phone: 202-406-3600 — E-mail: foodienews@fb.org
Editors: Cyndie Sirekis, cyndies@fb.org
John Hart, johnh@fb.org
We hope you enjoyed reading this issue of Foodie News. You may distribute or re-
Contributing Editor: publish the articles in this edition of Foodie News, except where noted otherwise.
Tracy Grondine, tracyg@fb.org
Contributing Writer:
Anna Burkholder, anna@fb.org