“What else don’t I know that was right under my nose this whole time?” ~ Cristie Mather

I don’t subscribe to the idea that some people are curious eaters while others just aren’t.

I think we may have a baseline of food curiosity, but I also think that baseline can shift.

And I imagine that’s what caught my attention when I spotted The 2024 Consumer Curiosity Report – findings from a survey of 850+ early food adopters, conducted by Curious Plot, a marketing, communications and consulting agency that represents clients in the food, agriculture and companion animal care sectors.

It seemed like the curiosity intersection of our appetites, opportunities and influences, and I wanted to know more.

I was delighted to have Cristie Mather, Curious Plot’s VP of Food, join me. We explored everything from food trends to curiosity marketing, pickling watermelon rind and going all around the globe from home with just our plate and curiosity to guide us.

“The one thing we don’t know is what future trends are going to be. And so that’s where we focused our research, on that curious shopper — that curious person that is always the first to take on a trend, the first person to really do something new with cucumbers — those explorers. It’s their curiosity that really helps identify what those future trends are.

Listen to Choose to Be Curious #258: Food Curious: Appetites, Opportunities & Influences, with Cristie Mather

Check out The 2024 Consumer Curiosity Report, from Curious Plot.

Fannie Farmer revolutionized cooking with the first formal cookbook, published in 1896. Talk about an early food adopter!

I promised these family-favorite recipes. I remember my grandmother making the watermelon rind pickle and my mother thinks she remembers her grandmother making it as well. The spicy cucumber salad is a staple in my home.

WATERMELON PICKLE

Pickling Syrup: Put 1 quart vinegar, 1 cup water, 2 pounds sugar in deep sauce pan. Put 1 TBSP of whole cloves and 1 stick of cinnamon broken up into cheese cloth and tie closed. Add spices to syrup. Simmer until sugar is dissolved. Makes enough for about 2 pounds (or 1 1/2- 2 quarts) of fruit. For a spicier mix, add 1 TBSP of allspice and/or pieces of ginger to the cheese cloth ingredients.

Cut watermelon rind in 5- or 6-inch pieces. Cover with boiling water. Boil 5 minutes, drain and cool. Cut off the tough green skin and most of the remaining pink pulp. Cut the rind in small squares or wedges (or fancy shapes using a small cookie cutter). Cover with salted water (1/2 cup of salt for each quart of water). Let stand 6 hours. Drain, rinse, and cover with fresh water. Simmer until tender. Drain. Add to Pickling Syrup. Simmer until the rind is clear and the syrup thick, adding water if necessary. Remove the spice bag. Pack in jars and seal.

(Adapted from The Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Fannie Farmer, edition in family dispute…)

SPICY CUCUMBER SALAD

• 1 large cucumber, or 2 small ones
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 TBSP soy sauce
• 1/2 TBSP vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsps chopped garlic
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp chili oil or Tabasco sauce (we go easy on this, it can get hot!)
• 1 TBSP sesame oil

Peel cucumber, slice in two long sections and remove seeds. Cut into bite-sized sections. Put cucumber slices into bowl with salt, toss thoroughly, let stand for an hour.

Rinse cucumber well in cold water, drain, and pat dry with paper towels. Combine cucumber with soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, garlic, chili oil and sesame oil and mix thoroughly. Marinate cucumbers for 2+ hours. They will get spicier the longer they sit…

(Adapted from Chinese Meatless Cooking, by Stella Lau Fessler, 1983)

Bon Appetit!

If this curiosity conversation whet your appetite, you might enjoy these C2BC Classics: Cultivating a Curious Palate with Jack Zhang; Curiosity on the Menu, with Noobstaa Vang; Cultivating Cultural Intelligence, with Asma Ahmad; and Curiosity & the Farmers Market.

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Fig Tree” by Desert Orchard, via Blue Dot Sessions.

You can subscribe to Choose to Be Curious on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.