Eat Out America!

By Derrek J. Hull, Blogger-in-Chief

Why cook when you can eat out and make every moment special? With more than 945,000 locations across America to eat, there's something for everyone...so, get a move on, you've got a lot of ground to cover! After all, enjoying food never goes out of style.

Here are Web sites to help you savor the moment or simply just make the routine a little more interesting:

Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food: A new site developed by the USDA launched this week to better connect consumers with local producers. Search here to find a Farmer’s Market near you.

Healthy Dining: The National Restaurant Association has teamed up with Healthy Dining online to help consumers source healthy options on menus nationwide. You can search for restaurants by zip code and price range. Now that’s healthy made easy!

Dining Guides: A menu of national dining guides is only a keystroke away from your next dine-out experience.

Eating Smart: Practical tips to help you watch your calories during a night out on the town.

Whet your appetite with these top 10 food and beverage trends from the 2009 National Restaurant Association What’s Hot Chef’s Survey: 1 Locally grown produce 89%; 2 Bite-size/mini desserts 83%; 3 Organic produce 82%; 4 Nutritionally balanced children’s dishes 81%; 5 New/fabricated cuts of meat 78%; 6 Fruit/vegetable children’s side items 74%; 7 Superfruits 73 (e.g. acai, goji berry, mangosteen); 8 Small plates/tapas/mezze/dim sum 73%; 9 Micro-distilled/artisan liquor 73%, and 10 Sustainable seafood 71%.

Taste the future at NRA Show 2010, May 22-25! Industry pros from all 50 states and more than 100 countries attend the NRA Show annually seeking new products, innovative ideas and solutions, including ways to improve menu options for guests.