North European cuisine catches on

Move over Thai, Mediterranean and all you exotic foods, there’s a new culinary trend in town: Northern European.

According to a new report from Packaged Facts and the Center for Culinary Development (CCD), dishes from the colder parts of Europe–Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Austria and Belgium–are catching on with North American palates.

Northern European cuisine includes food combinations such as beer and bratwurst, smoked fish with dark breads and, of course, schnitzel and spaetzle (photo above).

“From schnitzel food trucks to the wave of craft beer gardens popping up in city after city, we are clearly embracing the culture and traditions of these old world nations and refreshing them as our own," Kimberly Egan, chief executive at CCD, said.

Northern European food has never been considered trendy or sophisticated CCD admits.

But as consumers explore the world for new dishes, they are now looking back to the Old World, home in many cases to their ancestors who arrived in North America as pioneers a hundred or more years ago.

"It's thrilling to witness the rise of these long under-heralded Old World cuisines," Egan said in Packaged Facts.