Mary Berg Loves These Food Trends

Why would people want to learn the food trend preferences of a former insurance broker who, according to Cade Associates Insurance Brokers Limited, named Ben Stiller as her celebrity crush and admitted wanting to be a salted caramel pretzel stick if she could become any food? Well, we are talking about Mary Berg and if you don't know who she is, Berg is the "MasterChef Canada" Season 3 winner whose love of food helped catapult her into two televised cooking shows. 

Berg is not only the host of CTV's "Mary's Kitchen Crush" and Food Network's "Mary Makes It Easy" but also has her own home cooking website, a small stove. This charismatic foodie has drawn the attention of aspiring chefs and home cooks. When asked how she develops recipes during an interview with TV, eh, Berg talked about keeping a small notebook in which she jots down her culinary ideas as she imagines what flavors may go well together.

With Berg being so creative in the kitchen, fans might wonder what food trends have won her over. One thing that probably won't make her list is anything unicorn-inspired. Speaking with The Globe and Mail in 2019, Berg explained, "I'm always wary of anything that's uber-trendy. I mean, remember when everything had to be 'unicorn'?! That was just silly." But not every Instagrammable food trend has made her feel that way.

In a 2017 interview with She Does The City, Mary Berg expressed her affection for a number of food trends. One of them was "reverse waffles" – Berg's way of describing Hong Kong-style waffles. The crispy, airy, usually sweet but sometimes savory treat became an Instagram star in 2017. In 2019, she expressed affinity for the also-Instagrammable Japanese cheesecake (via The Globe and Mail). People might also know the fluffy, jiggly dessert as cotton cheesecake or souffle-style cheesecake.

Another food trend that she has shown love for? Filipino cuisine. Berg told She Does The City that she fell hard for Filipino food while cooking on the Canadian version of "MasterChef" with fellow contestants Matthew Astorga and Jeremy Senaris. She raved about the cuisine's sweet and sour flavors. 

According to the National Post, Berg is also big on sun-dried tomatoes, which had their big moment in the 1980s. She called the shriveled fruits "kind of kitschy" and likened them to "the Jello-O mold salad of the '80s," adding, "and I love them." Sun-dried tomatoes appear in her cookbook, "Well Seasoned," forming part of a  chicken dish with kale and cream sauce.

What better way to wash down all of these delicious foods than a nice craft beer? Microbreweries, which Berg admitted may have stopped being a trend and started being mainstream, also got an affectionate shout-out during her interview with She Does The City.