Remember when food brands targeted women 25 to 54? Remember when we said nobody’s cooking so we can forget promoting food with recipes? How times have changed.

Recently, I found a darling Father’s Day card crafted by my son David when he was six. It was entitled, “Why I Love Dad,” and through pages of drawings, he counted the ways. In addition to the typical, “he takes me to the park,” David also added that “he buys us food” and “he does the laundry.” I’m sure his teacher wondered what mom was doing while dad did these chores. Sharing household responsibilities was an anomaly in that time. Not today.

Stephanie Azzarone in MediaPost asks, “Are dads the new moms?” We have been seeing this trend in newspapers, magazines and on TV. Sometimes it’s because mom prefers being in the workforce and is good at it, and dad takes the supporting homemaker role by choice. With more men out of work than women, dad may have lost his job and mom has become the breadwinner. [more…]

Recently, I went to a fabulous trends conference. I had always meant to join the Association of Consumer Trends and attend the annual Consumer Trends Forum. But I belong to so many organizations and attend so many conferences that it was just one too many.

This year, the conference was held in San Francisco so there was no excuse. No hotel, no airfare, just a quick trip to the Kabuki Hotel. I was glad I made the commitment. From the upbeat, high-energy keynote speech, Unlocking Cool and Exploiting Chaos, by Jeremy Gutche of TrendHunter.com; to the thoughtful talk from Slow Food USA’s president Josh Viertel; to the data-rich presentation by Lee Boyland of DYG Inc.; and the insightful look at Gen Y by Kara Nielsen, trendologist for the Center of Culinary Development; there was a lot to mull over and process following the two-day event. [more…]

During the Great Depression, my grandfather urged his children to be farmers because everybody has to eat. Today, we might say the same about food marketing.

The difference this time around is that we have many more choices. So it’s not enough just to produce food. Marketers are battling for share of stomach. This is where niche marketing comes in.

The auto industry is suffering, but Smart Cars and Mini Cooper sales are booming. They’ve found just the right niche in this environment — small, but cool cars that are fuel-efficient at a fairly reasonable price point.

According to today’s Wall Street Journal, (subscription required) another industry looking for a niche is the $25 billion appliance industry. With the housing slump, appliance sales are declining. Consumers aren’t likely to upgrade for new features in this economy. But they just might — to accommodate a lifestyle change. [more…]

Last week was one of the first glorious summer-like weekends in San Francisco. So I spent Saturday and Sunday gardening blissfully. It was time to open the sun umbrella over the table on the deck, fire up the grill to cook up some burgers, and sit back with a cool glass of fresh-squeezed lemonade.

With the skyrocketing cost of gas and food, expect consumers to be entertaining at home in their own backyard instead of going away on vacations and dining out. And why not, with more consumers building outdoor living spaces that make staying home a summer pleasure? [more…]

December is a busy time in my household — cooking and baking for my own holiday party, for potlucks and for our family’s Christmas dinner. This month, I’ve made four types of cookies,two Christmas wreath braided yeast breads, a double recipe of Buche de Noel with meringue mushrooms, pork pate with red onion confit, gravlax (cured salmon), two kinds of chutney to serve with Kerrygold cheeses, smoked trout spread, homemade pita chips with artichoke dip…and more.

Tonight, I’m preparing roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, followed in a few days by dainty sandwiches and sweets for a post-Christmas tea party I’m hosting for my mother and her friends. Toward the end of the week, it will be time to start prepping for the New Year, with several kinds of sushi and traditional Japanese New Year food.

I could skip all the stress by eliminating these get-togethers, hiring a caterer or buying foods already prepared. But for me, the fun and satisfaction comes from the doing. Getting out the KitchenAid and the Cuisinart is as much a part of my holiday traditions as is decorating the tree and hanging the stockings. [more…]

This weekend, we decorated our Christmas tree. Twice.

Four of us put in about 2.5 hours each, for a total of ten people hours, before the tree began to list dangerously. On the tree were handblown German ornaments from Gumps, Waterford balls I had bought in Ireland this fall, and a large collection of favorites spanning more than 30 years. There were even a few priceless World War II ornaments handed down from my mom. Not a good situation.

There was nothing to do but to remove all the ornaments and lights and start over at 10:30 that night. All because of some bad advice given at the plant store where we had purchased the tree. [more…]

Awhile ago, PC Magazine waxed poetic about the glories of the wired home. Hey, I’m all for wi-fi so I can be online throughout the house. And I need my TiVo. But don’t touch my kitchen.

I love electronic toys — podcasts on my iPod, music from my smart phone, games on my pda — even little Roomba to clean my house. But few of these come without frustrations. Like when I couldn’t get into iTunes to download “Wait, Wait don’t Tell Me,” before a business trip. Or when my smartphone stopped giving me e-mail when my mom was in the hospital. The last straw was when my Palm stopped making a bluetooth connection with my cell phone after the hours I spent configuring e-mail and Internet access. (Only little Roomba performs his little heart out, all the time.)

So I began thinking. As we harness technology in the kitchen, how are we going to connect to access all the services promised and how are we going to maintain the technology? What does a service contract look like for an Internet-enabled refrigerator? [more…]

And what did you do this past Martin Luther King weekend? On the spur of the moment, we drove up last Sunday to Healdsburg, about an hour away from San Francisco. Despite its proximity to home, we decided to stay overnight at a bed & breakfast as a special treat. Just spending two days in this picturesque town felt like taking a week’s vacation. It was relaxed and just lovely, surrounded by vineyards and the natural beauty of Sonoma County.

We found ourselves in the middle of Winter Wineland. A $25 ticket bought us a wine glass, an ID bracelet, and access to more than 90 participating wineries for wine tasting. [more…]

My sons and I have been debating whether the “You!” identified as Time magazine’s person of the year includes me and other Baby Boomers or just refers to Generation Y/Millennials (those 12 to 29 years old in 2006). Unlike my sons, I don’t have a MySpace or Facebook page, I’m not in starring in a video on YouTube and I haven’t rated a seller on ebay.

But I beg to differ. I do blog (not as often as I intend to) and I have contributed to a travel wiki and I have added a book review to Amazon. So I am exhibiting a bit of personal control on the Information Age in my own modest way.

While it’s true that most of us who are computer literate aren’t taking advantage of all the ways we could imprint our opinions and personalities on the great world, we are making our thoughts, feelings and ideas known. Even in the area of food. [more…]

Terry Blonder Golson, who lives in a small town west of Boston, loves chickens. For ten years, she has kept a small flock in her backyard. The hens, of different breeds, are very individual and quite beautiful.

Terry calls them “my girls” and they have such names as Buffy, Ginger, Edwina, Eleanor and Aunt Petunia. You can take a peek at them strutting and scratching via Terry’s hen cam, but only during the day — the hen cam shuts down at night when the hens go to bed. [more…]