Gourmet Business - October 2015

For as far back as I can remember my mother had a big solid Sunbeam stand mixer that was a workhorse of our kitchen. It was heavy, probably made of cast iron with an enamel exterior, and it ran for many years. It finally gave out long after I was no longer living at home, and since she likely got it as a wedding gift, I calculate that it probably lasted for more 30 years. My mother mixed countless sweet and savory treats for us on that machine and I learned to bake using it. In other words it got no end of use in those 30 years. Of course, that old Sunbeam mixer was the very definition of low tech. It probably had 2 or 3 speeds and had only the one pair of beaters, but I swear, one could have mixed a batch of cement in it as sturdy as it was. Fortunately, my dad refrained from doing that.

My mother never had a food processor when I grew up – I’m not sure they existed – but I remember how exciting it was when my folks brought home a 10-speed blender in the late 1960s. Of all the speeds, it was the “frappe” button that fascinated us all the most. It too got quite a workout over the years, but made a couple of decades after the Sunbeam, it didn’t have near the lifespan as the mixer. The 60s introduced the era of making products that would have to be replaced. Manufacturers didn’t want consumers to buy their appliance once every 30 years and so corners were necessarily cut and plastic became the material of choice. I know I’m dating myself but I don’t care, first of all because I don’t care, and secondly because I remember it all so fondly.  The tide has turned as far as kitchen appliances go, and the machines being made today are once again sturdy, well-built and handsome workhorses that can perform tasks in a way that no one would have dreamed possible in the not-so-distant past. We take a look at the industry this month in “Blending In” (page 00).

We also have reports on Holiday Confections, two trade shows, and much more as we hope to help everyone gear up for the fourth quarter. As I write this, on the second day of autumn, with the big holidays suddenly right around the corner, my colleagues and I are preparing to go to Cologne, Germany for Anuga, the world’s largest trade show dedicated to food. You’ll be hearing plenty about it afterwards throughout our family of magazines as we report on some of the trends and new products that we see and taste (it’s a dirty job but somebody’s got to do it!). In the meantime, happy fall and best of luck to everyone for a healthy and prosperous season.