The Renaissance of Home Cooking (Well, Kind of…)

Inevitably, some people still kicking it today can remember a time when most--if not all--food was created at, and largely eaten in, the home. Grocery stores simply provided the sundries--staples like flour, sugar, butter, salt, etc.--necessary to create the everyday foods families enjoyed. Some foodstuffs, like preserves, were typically canned or jarred at home to supplement the grocer's offerings. Restaurants--although not a new concept--were not frequented on a regular basis and mainly existed to cater to the whimsy of the rich or service the basic needs of travelers with informal, family-style faire at inns and the like.

Although interest in restaurants increased through the 1800s, it wasn't until the automotive industry's advent in the 1900s that folks had the locomotion to travel regionally and take in neighboring culture on a regular basis. Drive-ins helped set the pace for the subsequent expansion of fast-food and what we now term as fast-casual, casual and other mainstream chain restaurants that dot our American landscape.

Similarly, processed foods--largely anything packaged and preserved via freezing or canning for subsequent sale--took their first steps in the 1700s and 1800s, but didn't really hit their stride until the 1900s when technological advances (think Birdseye) and the greater dissemination of disposable income hit American consumers concurrent with the expansion of the middle class. A desire for increased convenience has since gradually grown to the point where we sit today, where convenience is atop the turtle stack and has crowned itself king of all that it sees.

Up until just recently, this convenience took the form of an increasing number and sophistication of packaged shelf-stable and frozen foods--and, to a lesser extent, fresh foods in the deli case (which we will cover in an upcoming Food Product Design article in the Nov. issue). Restaurants have also stepped-up their carry-out efforts to the point where a great percentage of meals--even in some fine-dining establishments--make their way out the door for at-home consumption.

Now, in the last couple of years, we have seen increased interest in meal-creation services--think Dream Dinners (http://www.dreamdinners.com) and Dinner by Design (http://dinnerbydesignkitchen.com), among others. These businesses take care of all recipe creation and ingredient sourcing. All the consumer has to do is show up, put the meals together in the prescribed fashion, slap on an instructions sticker, and take the ready-made meals home for storage in the freezer. They often include both a center-of-the-plate item and a side or two, even going so far as to include necessary items like tortillas, pasta, rice, etc. The meals are made at home, so it's homemade food--kind of... I've tried some of these meal services, and they have most--not all--of the kinks worked out regarding freeze/thaw stability issues. Some of the recipes really raise the bar compared to what's available in the supermarket freezer.

From what I've heard, these meal-creation services are kind of hit and miss depending on where they're located. Some units are doing swimmingly, with steady sales increases. Others are struggling--sometimes even publicizing the option of putting the meals together for the customer. They just pick 'em up and pay.

Now businesses are springing up that work this latter aspect into their modus operandi: They not only create the recipes and source the ingredients, they prepare the meals for you and deliver them to your door (here's one example: http://www.relishrelish.com/). "Home cooking" has never been more convenient--unless you have a personal chef, of course, which was one of the original drivers of this continuum when the French Revolution dissolved the aristocracy and put thousands of former servants, many of which were equipped with high culinary skills, out of work, thereby catalyzing growth of the restaurant industry.

As these meal options hit consumers with increasing frequency, the time might be ripe for considering an expanded approach to shelf-stable or frozen convenience or kit meals. Meal kits--think gyros, heat-and-eat pasta, etc.--still show up on store shelves every year. However, little activity akin to what we're seeing with these meal-creation businesses has hit the supermarket yet.

The tools and ingredients privy to product designers would likely up the quality and stability of these frozen complete meals. Some companies have also begun working with the ready-made meal companies to get their branded products into the ingredient selection, which is another approach to participation in this movement. Just seeing what these companies are doing could provide inspiration for future lines. Whatever the means, this convenience factor is not likely to drop out of the equation anytime soon, so manufacturers would be wise to closely watch this emerging ready-meal trend in the coming months.