For more than 15 years, the magazine Flavor & The Menu has been the trusted authority on flavor trends for food and beverage menu developers. Here’s their list of 10 items from around the world that are “primed for carrying a new wave of global flavors” in 2015.

You don’t have to wait for your local restaurants to feature these foods. You can find recipes online and be the trendsetter in your area.

Bobo Chicken From China

Like food on a stick? Not to be confused with the Brazilian dish, Chicken Bobó, this spicy snack and street food comprises skewers of chicken, often with vegetables, are marinated in sauces teeming with Sichuan peppers, grilled, then served at room temperature. It can be plated at home without the skewers, with rice or noodle. Here’s more.
 
Causa From Peru

Love potatoes? This popular potato dish, served cold or room temperature, is composed of mashed potatoes, sometimes seasoned with lime, onion and chiles, stuffed with various ingredients, then formed into cakes or terrines. Here’s a recipe from PeruDelights.com.

This torta from Puebla, Mexico, is a sandwich on a brioche-like roll that is also called cemita. The sandwich is filled with avocado, meat (carnitas, beef Milanesa and pulled pork are popular) plus a fresh white cheese like panela. Here’s a recipe.

Feijoada From Brazil

If there’s a Brazilian restaurant in your area, it most likely serves feijoada, pronounced fay-ZHWAH-dah. The national dish of Brazil is a rich, smoky stew of black beans, salted pork, bacon, smoked pork ribs, sausage and jerked beef. It’s a one-bowl, comfort-food meal. You can make it at home and serve with sides like fried plantains, hot pepper sauce, pork rinds and stewed greens. Here’s a recipe.
 
Medianoche From Cuba

A variation of the popular Cubano pork sandwich, the Medianoche (which means “midnight,” as it was a snack that followed a night of dancing) switches out the crusty French bread for a soft, sweet, yellow egg dough bread. It’s often smaller than the typical Cuban sandwich. It’s easy to make: Just combine roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, sliced pickles and mustard on sweet Cuban bread (no lettuce, no tomato, no mayo!). Here’s the recipe.

These savory pancakes are typically made with white flour, grated yam and dashi. Toppings and batters can vary but generally stay on the savory side. Examples include shrimp, green onion and pickled vegetables. The name is a combination of okonomi, “what you like” or “what you want” and yaki, meaning grilled or cooked. Here’s a recipe.
 
Paratha From India

Available at any Indian restaurant, this unleavened flatbread from India is traditionally pan-fried. It can be eaten plain, like any flatbread; but it is popularly turned into the Indian version of a knish, filled with boiled potatoes, vegetables, radishes or paneer cheese. Crisp, flaky and endlessly customizable, here’s a recipe.
 
Piada From Italy

Also called piadina, this Italian street food, originally from the Emilia-Romagna region, is a thin flatbread that serves as a wrap for fillings: cheeses, cold cuts and vegetables as well as with sweet fillings such as jam or Nutella. Here’s a recipe.

Popiah From Malaysia

Malaysia’s answer to the fresh spring roll, the popiah has a thin wrapping, often made with tapioca flour and egg, that is rolled around a variety fillings (shrimp, jicama and fried shallots are popular). Dipping sauces range from sweet to spicy to savory. In mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan there are home-based popiah parties, where the ingredients are laid out and guests roll their own popiah to their own personal liking. Spring roll lovers: This one’s for you. Here’s a recipe.
 
Simit From Turkey

A kind of Turkish sesame bagel—but so much more intensely sesame—the simit is a ring of chewy dough that’s perfect for breakfast. In Turkey, it’s purchased as a street food on the way to work or during the day as a snack bread. In the U.S., it’s been turned into a base for sandwiches (see our simit article and the difference between simits and bagels). Here’s a recipe.

Here’s the full article, with many more ideas on how to enjoy these global delights.
  

While your January better eating resolutions are still active, consider this remake of a family favorite recipe, macaroni and cheese. This mac and cheese recipe is better for you in three ways. It uses:

 
RECIPE: BETTER-FOR-YOU MAC & CHEESE

Ingredients For 10 Servings

1. COOK the pasta in large saucepan as directed on the package for al dente pasta. Drain well and return to the saucepan. Keep warm. Meanwhile…

2. MIX the milk and flour in a medium saucepan with a wire whisk. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, whisking constantly. Add the cauliflower florets; cook 12 to 15 minutes or until fork-tender, stirring occasionally.

3. PURÉE the mixture in batches in blender on high speed until smooth, with the center part of the cover removed to let steam escape. Return the puréed mixture to the saucepan. (Alternatively, purée the mixture in a saucepan with an immersion blender.)

4. STIR in the remaining ingredients; whisk until smooth. Pour the cheese mixture over the hot cooked macaroni; mix well. Let stand 2 minutes before serving.
 
Variations

You can customize the recipe with some equally good for you ingredients that add flavor and color. Mix them in or use them as a garnish.

 
Idea: Set the options out in ramekins and let everyone customize his or her own recipe.
 
  

The wild chile was domesticated about 5200 B.C.E. and tomatoes by 3000 B.C.E., both in Central America. The two ingredients were combined into a condiment, incorporating other ingredients like squash seeds and even beans (the predecessor of one of our favorites, tomato, corn and bean salsa). The Spanish conquistadors, taking over in 1529, called it “salsa,” the Spanish word for sauce.

Salsa was not used as a dip for tortilla chips, which weren’t invented until the late 1940s in Los Angeles. It was a general sauce for meat, poultry, fish and vegetables. (Here are the history of salsa and the history of tortilla chips.)
So today’s tip is: Take salsa back to its origins and use it as a sauce for fish and poultry. Here’s the easiest way, from Jillipepper, a New Mexico-based salsa maker.

 
Preparation

1. BRUSH the fish liberally with the salsa.

Salsa-coated chicken. Photo courtesy McCormick.

When you use salsa with chicken or fish, it can be traditionally savory, or sweetened with fruit. (See the different types of salsa.)
 
SWEET SALSA

If you like things sweet—and easy—McCormick has a popular Salsa Chicken recipe that combines canned tomatoes with apricot preserves, and a Montreal Salsa Chicken that combines mild salsa with peach preserves.

Both of those combine tomatoes with fruit, but you can also make a pure fruit salsa with no tomatoes.

Peach salsa is the best-selling fruit salsa flavor in the U.S., beating mango and pineapple. While most bottled peach salsa is tomato-based salsa roja, you can make fresh peach salsa without tomatoes. Wait for peach season, though; then combine 2 cups peeled, finely diced peaches, 1/4 cup finely chopped sweet onion, 2 tablespoons finely chopped red bell pepper, 1 de-seeded and finely chopped jalapeño, juice of 1 lime, 2-3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro or basil leaves and 1 clove minced garlic. Add salt to taste.

Mango pineapple salsa is also easy to whip up. Combine 1 diced mango and 2 cups of diced pineapple with ½ medium onion, diced; ½ cup cilantro, diced; the juice of one lime, and salt and pepper to taste. You can also add minced jalapeño for heat.

Cherry salsa goes nicely with chicken or fish. You can use fresh cherries in season, but frozen cherries work fine. Here’s a salmon recipe with cherry mango salsa.

And when watermelon season returns, how about a watermelon, corn and black bean salsa?

SAVORY SALSA

We prefer a largely savory salsa with grilled fish, sometimes with diced fruit—mango, peach or pineapple tossed in for balance, but never, ever with added sugar.

While you can use salsa from a jar, making your own is easy and you can customize it with your favorite ingredients. You can also create your preferred texture, from chunky hand-diced to puréed in the blender.

The possible combinations are [almost] endless”

POSSIBLE SALSA INGREDIENTS

HOMEMADE SALSA RECIPE

Ingredients