Inspiration and Information for your Tabletop

The German Design Award is selected by an international jury, honoring only the most innovative and groundbreaking designs. This year Coffee Tasting was a recipient of this prestigious award for Excellent Product Design in Tabletop.

From baked clay goblets to titanium reinforced crystal glass, the modern wine glass has come a long way. According to a study published in the 2017 British Medical Journal, wine glasses between 1700 and 2017 have gotten 7 times bigger. That contributes to the vast variety of glasses we have today. 

The exact origin of ramen is disputed, but most historians believe the dish we know and love today is a Japanese adaptation of a Chinese dish. Ramen noodle shops became popular in both Japan and China in the early 20^th century and were popularized in America in the 1970s with Momofuku Ando’s invention of the instant noodle. Since then, this comfort food has become a staple in American cities.

Sustainability: the buzzword that seems to be everywhere. Not only is it more important than ever, it's also deemed a rising food trend in 2020. Restaurants and chefs are committing to transparency and sustainable practices. It’s a step in the right direction, and being environmentally aware is crucial for the long term health and success of the food and beverage industry. 

It’s the start of a new decade, and the year ended as it has for the past 20 years, with Pantone Color Institute declaring its Color of The Year. The chosen hue is “Classic Blue,” a cool shade reminiscent of the wide-open twilit sky.

Yury Krasilovsky, Executive Chef with Barilla Foodservice is no stranger to the heat of the kitchen, or of competition. Currently he’s competing in Riverence’s Gold Rush Cooking Competition and we’ve been blown away by his entries so far. This dish, which he’s named “24 Carat Gold” caught our eye, with Riverence’s Gold trout on a bed of creamy polenta and saffron beurre blanc, garnished by golden tomatoes, grapes, trout roe, and chervil. We asked him a few questions about his long history with cooking and how he decides to compose his dishes.

One of our top food trends to watch in 2020 is the increasing popularity of low to no-alcohol beverages and the restaurants that make them.

Let's start with the specifics:

Physical vapor deposition, or PVD, is a method of coating in which intense vacuum pressure is used to vaporize solid metal into a thin film.

The tabletop has become a place of exploration. Between the chefs who are more creative than ever and the dinnerware that is bolder than ever, an explosion of patterns, shapes, textures, colors, and materials are becoming commonplace.

When we think about dinner service in Western culture, it typically involves sitting down to rolled cutlery, maybe a bread plate, a water glass, possibly a candle, or even a salt and pepper shaker. What you typically don’t see is an empty plate, as plates are most often brought from the back-of-the-house with food on them.