2Sustain

Sustainability, local sourcing, and nutrition will be the hottest menu trends in 2010, according to the National Restaurant Association’s annual survey of more than 1,800 professional chefs.

The chefs – all members of the American Culinary Federation – ranked nearly 215 food and beverage items, preparation methods, and culinary themes. The resulting top five trends were:

• locally grown produce

• locally sourced meats and seafood

• sustainability as a culinary theme

• mini-desserts, and

• locally produced wine and beer.

(I was also particularly pleased to see that this year sustainable seafood made it into the top 10 trends–at number 10.)

In another tip of the toque towards sustainability, the chefs rated environmentally friendly equipment as the top kitchen equipment trend and restaurants with gardens as the number one  restaurant concept in 2010.

“No one has a better view of restaurant menu trends than the chefs of the nation’s nearly one million restaurants, and that is why we survey these culinary professionals on what hot, new trends we’ll see in the coming year. The top trends this year — local sourcing, sustainability and nutrition — reflect wider societal trends and consumers’ growing awareness of and interest in these issues,” says Dawn Sweeney, National Restaurant Association President and CEO. “Many restaurants are sourcing some of their ingredients locally, and you often see chefs shopping at farmer’s markets to create a host of better-for-you options that today’s diners want.”

The complete “Chef Survey: What’s Hot in 2010” is available here.