Developing food for the festive periods is one of the activities product developers love.
No matter where you go in the world you will find people celebrating special days. Whether the celebrations are for religious events or for the start of a new year, a birthday or an achievement, they each have their own traditions. Some traditions are universal, like Santa Claus at Christmas, or regional like mulled wine in the north of Europe or event specific to a family. One thing though remains a constant and this is that food accompanies every single one of them and takes centre stage.
Festive celebrations can be a tremendous inspiration for a product developer. Whether they are recreating traditional recipes, introducing new twists, or designing lovely festive packaging, developers can let their imagination go wild.
I remember creating a new indulgent chocolate biscuit that was going to be the centre piece in a new biscuit selection. It was being created especially, for the new millennium. It had to really stand out in both flavour and texture. A great flavour that would go perfectly with a glass of champagne at the stroke of midnight, but also with a cup of coffee or tea in the following days . Creating a signature flavour is no mean feat. How do you get to something that is new, positive, sparkly, fragrant. Oh and did I mention that as it is always the case with food it had to also be delicious ?
Both recognisable and surprising at the same time. I was in almost daily conversation with the flavour house that was working on the project with me. We must have tried more than a hundred combinations, some fruity, some herbal, some floral. We even entered the world of perfumes, I distinctly remember presenting this “wonderful new aroma called neroli” to my marketing colleague.
Big events and festive periods are great times for inspiration and creativity. Will you go for a traditional mince pie or will you create a mincemeat filled donut. How will you infuse these flavours into a loose leaf tea? The possibilities are endless, although I would probably draw the line putting a dollop of mincemeat on spaghetti (see Elf the movie).
Then again What If (the two most powerful words) we made plain homemade pasta and filled it with some mincemeat, boil and then drizzle with cinnamon syrup, grate some lemon and sprinkle some roasted chopped nuts on top… Who says that pasta has to be savoury!
The world of product development will never be boring so long as there are festivals and celebrations, each with their own traditions and foods.
Festive celebrations can be a tremendous inspiration for a product developer. Whether they are recreating traditional recipes, introducing new twists, or designing lovely festive packaging, developers can let their imagination go wild.
#festivefood #productdevelopment #celebratoryfood #foodtraditions
"It's Only Biscuits..." 
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