I’ve been watching 2017 food and foodservice trend predictions, and here’s a fireworks display of what we can likely expect:
- Global flavors. We’ve always had them, but they are becoming more unpronounceable. Global flavors will be on trend lists for years to come (until it becomes too boring to mention), fueled by the vastly multicultural GenZ (age 5 to 20 right now).
- Fermented foods. Spare me.
- Using underutilized cuts of meat. That’s been on lists for awhile. With a morphing sustainability mindset, this will go beyond trend and become normal.
- Seaweed as the new kale. Asians are all about this, so let’s give them credit for bringing this to us.
- Flavor trends favor items we can’t pronounce, but for the next Sriracha, I’m hearing sambal from Southeast Asia. Also watch for avocado oil to arise.
- Edible cannabis, anyone? Not for me.
- Sustainability leads to zero-waste kitchens. Here’s a shout out to Chef Sean Telo at 21 Greenpoint in Brooklyn who wants all chefs to get on board with this one. On Sunday evenings, he feature the 21 Sunday Dinner in which guests receive a six or seven course tasting menu for $21 made from all the ingredients left in the kitchen. For an upcoming article I wrote, he told me, “It’s a great way to go through the inventory so there is no waste. We send a selection of creative and mindful dishes created from overlooked edibles.”
- Let’s see, where was I? Trendy ingredients. Watch for more sorghum, cucumber and jackfruit. That last one… I don’t know how we’re going to see that fresh. I don’t think it can be shipped mainland without irradiation, but I could be wrong. At any rate, maybe we’ll see it processed.
What I didn’t see on any trend list is quick-serve restaurants offering more healthful food. I guess that’s not sexy enough to write about, but I see it starting to happen—with Chick-fil-A as an emerging posterchild for this, which I discussed a few blog posts ago. I also addressed it in my Nov/Dec 2016 article (to the right) “Quick-Serve Gets Healthy” in The National Culinary Review.
Let me predict that more bowl-meals will come to fast food—a little something from the fast-casual play book. Bowls provide the opportunity for a healthy foundation (brown rice or lettuce) and a flavorful combo of nearly anything with a sauce that can borrow from any global cuisine.
I’m not going to let fast-food get by with cage-free, hormone-free, anti-biotic free, free-range, etc., as their effort toward a healthy menu. Yes, Millennials think that’s what healthy means. But let’s start speaking in terms of whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, minimally processed, low-no sodium and less fat.
Tell me what you think.
Jody
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