FoodWire offers a monthly update on what’s cooking on
The Food Channel®, as well as a quick preview of what’s coming soon to our menu. The latest recipes, the hottest trends—it’s a quick and tasty buffet you can scan at a glance.

Top Ten Beverage Trends for 2011

Our Food Channel trend trackers, working in concert with CultureWaves®, the International Food Futurists® and Mintel International, have released our Beverage Trends mid-year report. Here’s a sip of what you’ll find in it.

D.I.Y. Flavor. While grocers’ shelves continue to be well-stocked with flavored and fortified bottled waters, many consumers have started to add their own personal touches to H2O. They’re adding a bit of citrus, a slice of watermelon or a touch of floral; and experimenting with new add-ons like the new liquid flavor enhancer MiO.

Iced Coffee Is Scalding Hot. Sales of the cold caffeinated beverage are up 20 percent in the last five years. Premium beans and high-tech cold brewing breakthroughs have made iced coffee the hot beverage for hot weather drinking.

Chocolate Milk is making news with kids and grownups. Some school districts are banning it from cafeterias (Los Angeles) after pressure from parents (and Jamie Oliver). On the other side of the issue, adults have learned that it’s one of the best things to drink after a workout—and that you can now get a buzz from a 40-proof vodka-spiked version called, appropriately, Adult Chocolate Milk.

Drinking Ourselves Thin. Low-calorie versions of popular alcoholic beverages are hot-hot-hot in this sweltering summer. Seems you can’t turn around in a crowded bar without someone ordering a cocktail called “Skinny”-something. And light beers are battling it out to see who can go the lowest in calorie counts.

Be sure to view the full Top Ten to get the complete picture of what Americans are pouring—and are going to be pouring–in 2011.

Debating User Reviews: Yelp vs. the Restaurateur

One of the hot topics at this year’s National Restaurant Show was restaurant reviews, not the ones written by professional food critics, but those posted on sites like Yelp by ordinary folk who want to spread the word, good or bad, to friends and followers.

There was a rather animated debate staged at the show between Luther Lowe, Manager of Local Business Outreach for the popular ratings powerhouse, Yelp, and Stefan Richter, renowned Finnish chef and owner of several restaurants.

The Food Channel was there to cover the face-off and you can read the blow-by-blow here. Suffice it to say, Chef Richter is not a big proponent of the “everybody’s a critic” concept spearheaded by sites like Yelp. He’d like a chance to make things right before the patron walks out the door and begins trashing the place to everybody and their brother who’s wired with a computer or smart phone. Lowe, of course, argues that Yelp and its ilk provide real power to the people.

It’s a fascinating debate that will undoubtedly rage on for some time to come. Be sure to check out our report—and see how we scored the fight, er, discussion.

Wedding Food: Celebratory Cuisine on Martha’s Vineyard

Planning a “destination wedding” takes a lot of, well, planning. Our Island Wedding feature offers a wealth of beautiful photography of a romantic wedding recently celebrated on Martha’s Vineyard—with a focus on food, of course. (We are The Food Channel, after all.)

An accompanying blog by our editor-in-chief Kay Logsdon offers a peek behind the scenes at the wedding, and includes the complete menu and links to a Wedding Checklist with general tips and ideas, plus a Wedding Destination Packing Checklist and Wedding Budget checklist. Take a look, especially if there’s a wedding in your family’s near future.

Recipes: Cool and Trendy Beverages
		It’s been a long, hot summer (with more to come), so we’ve shaken and stirred up some refreshing—and trendy–drinks to chill things down, starting with an Iced Coffee Carmelatte. Be your own barista!
Watermelon-Infused Water Our spa-inspired Watermelon-Infused Water will quench thirsts quickly—and it’s sugar free.	Fresh Raspberry Caipirinha Cocktail Fresh Raspberry Caipirinha Cocktail. Try this on-trend Brazilian cocktail made with cachaca, raspberries and lime.	Classic Manhattan Unwind after the workday with a Classic Manhattan, garnished with fresh cherries.
Get the very latest on what’s happening and what’s going to happen. • To Eat Less, Use a Bigger Fork. • Pittsburgh Area Restaurant Bans Kids Under 6. • Bringing the Supermarket to the Subway.
Surfing The Channel
	Milk vs. PMS ad campaign: Too Hot for the Internet. Take a look at some of the ads by the “Got Milk?” folks that were so controversial, they were pulled amid the furor.
	An Interview with Chef Hubert Keller. We had a chance to visit with one of America’s most celebrated chefs. Chef Keller showed us how to turn a hamburger into something truly spectacular.
	Wild Turkey Flips the Bird. Can you give someone “the finger” on TV? Well, no, not on regular TV, but evidently you can on the Web. Check out this cheeky Web video commercial from those crazy birds behind the marketing of Wild Turkey bourbon.
	Feeding Your Facebook Appetite Network with fellow foodies from around the world. Check out the Food Channel’s Facebook fan page.