The Tastemakers (46 page)

Back at Barrow Street Elementary Suzie Sweetpea and Zach Zucchini swam to the Isle of Pollution and stole a key that controlled Pompous Pollution's deep fryer, saving the day once again. Agrawal ran out to the thunderous applause of a hundred tiny hands and grabbed the microphone again. “Okay, who wants to meet the Super Sprowtz?” she asked, and on cue dozens of squealing kids sprung from the floor to rush the stage. Their little hands tore at the felt puppets, desperately trying to touch Colby Carrot while Agrawal and her small staff frantically tried to keep the company's projector and laptop from falling victim to this pint-sized Altamont. Her goal of a broccoli in every lunch box was a lofty dream, of course. One
child's nutrition expert referred to the Super Sprowtz as a “drop in the ocean” of addressing child obesity, but that was the thing about food trends: As much as the professional forecasters felt they could guess which ones were coming next, the big ones almost always hit the world by surprise. The Super Sprowtz had as good a chance as any at initiating a trend, and as I watched dozens of little children run into the arms of their parents, begging them, with tears in their eyes, for broccoli and zucchini, you could see a glimmer of hope for a new trend, small but still visible in the afternoon light.

T
he Tastemakers
was brought to life by dozens of wonderful, talented people who encouraged me and took chances with this project over the past few years and deserve no end of gratitude in these pages. Please call me anytime to collect a complimentary reward of a food trend item from within these pages, be it a fondue dinner or a tube of bacon lube.

First, I have to thank my stellar agent, Robert Guinsler at Sterling Lord Literistic. Robert has been a tireless and enthusiastic advocate of this project since the beginning and demonstrated the patience of a saint countless times, as this proposal (and others before it) was sent out into the rough waters of publishing with his wisdom and guidance.

The reward for all of Robert's stellar work was this book landing in the hands of Benjamin Adams, one of the smartest, sweetest editors I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Benjamin took a chance on a somewhat vague idea for a book about taste, carried it over to PublicAffairs, and transformed it into something even greater than I could have ever imagined. He put the Magnolia swirl on this humble red velvet base.

The other two publishing talents whom I forever remain indebted to are Doug Pepper and Jenny Bradshaw from McClelland
& Stewart in Toronto, who I have now worked with for close to a decade. Your vision has guided this book from a crumb of an idea to the final product, and I cannot express enough gratitude for everything you've done to make that happen.

At both PublicAffairs and McClelland & Stewart there are countless people who worked long and hard to bring this book to readers, from copy editors and designers to salespeople and publicists. Some, like Ashley Dunn, I have worked with closely for years. In other cases I am working with a whole new team: thanks to Clive Priddle, Susan Weinberg, Peter Osnos, Jaime Leifer, Alex Christopher, Melissa Raymond, Melissa Veronesi, Lisa Kaufman, Lindsay Fradkoff, and Matty Goldberg. A deep bow to each and every one of you.

The idea for
The Tastemakers
started out as a series of articles in
Bloomberg Businessweek
commissioned by the great editors Jonathan Kelly and Julian Sancton with the keen oversight of Brad Wieners. Thanks to all three of you for the opportunity to look at the food business in a way I could never have imagined. I'm also indebted to Laas Turnbull and Lianne George at the awesome Toronto newsmagazine
The Grid
, as they let me run wild with whatever idea I had, several of which found their way into these pages.

A particular thanks to those in the industry who went out of their way to explain the complicated world of food trends, including Kara Nielsen, Barb Stuckey, Suzy Badaracco, Darren Tristano, and Professor Josee Johnston. I also owe a great debt to friends and peerless food authorities Mitchell Davis of the James Beard Foundation, and Steve Dolinsky (a.k.a. The Hungry Hound) for advice, contacts, and suggestions along the way.

Over the course of my research I spoke to hundreds of people from around the world who spent countless hours detailing their work and thoughts and, in many cases, showing me around their little corners of the food business. A very special thanks to the Malhotra family and Hemant Bhagwani, the folks at Dole, the lovely people at the Specialty Food Association, Glenn Roberts, Shane Schaibly, the Baconfest folks, Che Ruddell-Tabisola and the
DCFTA, Radha Agrawal, Ricardo Zarate, Virginia Zimm, and the Botden family.

Wendy Litner, my research assistant, really made this book possible. A talented writer whose own books will one day top the best-seller lists, Wendy spent a year compiling arcane facts about fondue history, chasing down futile leads about chia seeds, and fearlessly tackled a gargantuan topic with surgical precision. Wendy, I cannot thank you enough for everything you've done.

Finally, I owe the biggest debt to Lauren, my darling wife, who coached me through the roller coaster of emotions any book will bring out in an author, especially when it coincides with buying and renovating our first house, immediately followed by pregnancy, a termite infestation, and the arrival of our daughter, which quickly led to three intense months of colic. Lauren, you were by my side the entire time, enduring sacrifices that were utterly humbling as you nurtured Noa, my shrieking muse, into the most beautiful creature in the world. I love both of you to no end.

I
nterviews were either conducted in person, over the phone, or, in a few instances, by e-mail. Portions of
Chapters 5
,
6
, and
8
originally appeared as articles in
Bloomberg Businessweek
and
The Grid Toronto
.