Food and drink trends – what’s in store for 2017?
Most of last year’s Saucy Dressings predictions came true.
And here is what trend-spotters, The Food People and Pop-up Cookspace, think might be in store for 2017.
- Macho hamburger-style ‘dude food’ which used to be meat-heavy is increasingly generous with the vegetables. Bigger salads (try the Saucy Dressings’ Gladiator Salad) will be served with your hot dog. That can’t be bad ….BUT
- Chefs are, apparently, being encouraged to make fake meat. Tofu dressed as lamb. Yuk.
- Carbohydrates are out of the doghouse and back onto our plates (and maybe our waistlines). I’m not sure they were ever really seriously spurned, but if you look back to last year’s trends the predictions were that their days were numbered.
-
Dry-aged beef… and dry-aged other things It’s an increasingly dry world when it comes to alcohol… The challenge for today’s barmen is to conceive of virgin cocktails which have an interesting and nice taste nice. Nine things to add to water to give it an interesting taste might be helpful.
- We know about dry-aged beef (post on that already scheduled)…. but chefs will experiment with poultry and fish… and anything else they can think of.
- The fascination with chilli remains. But some (like Saucy Dressings) will be investigating the warming rather than burning varieties, as well as other sources of softer spiciness…wasabi, ginger, pepper, horseradish, mustard. Already on Saucy Dressings you can find posts on:
- Aleppo pepper
- Guide to pepper – by Guest Contributor, Tom Alcott
- Horseradish
And scheduled for this year are posts on ginger and byadgi chilli.
- Health concerns are focusing on the brain and the gut. Consumers are looking for food for intelligent thought as well as for dynamic digestions. Probiotic and fermented food.
Intelligent food, according to this Vitamonk post, includes:
- Wholegrains
- Oily fish (see 100 days of lunch)
- Tomatoes lightly cooked with olive oil
- Blackcurrants and blueberries
- Broccoli…. or broccolini
- Nuts
- Pumpkin seeds
Probiotic and fermented food – supposedly good for digestion was also a subject for last year’s trends. Live yoghurt – fine; kombucha – disgusting!
- Last year we said ‘‘Alternative’ – vegetarian… celiac…. may become mainstream.” This year vegans are on the increase apparently…yet more pulses and seeds.
- There’ll also be a focus on ‘super’ fruits and vegetables:
-
Elephants have always loved jackfruit…now humans will too acai berries
- custard apples
- jackfruit – post scheduled for 2017
- mamey sapote
- miracle fruit
- African horned cucumber
as well as:
- ordinary cucumber – did you know you can serve them hot?
- common-or-garden cauliflower
10. Boutique beer and gentrified gin…. It’s onwards and upwards for the craft movement…with a special focus on vodka.
11. Food waste is not clever – recycling leftovers remains cool. Very often they also taste better too. See leftovers for some creative ideas.
12. Uncertainty will turn restaurant-frequenters into home lovers. Consumers will be looking for ways to replicate a cosseted luxury dinner in their own homes – delivery services will boom, elegant dining rooms or spaces will make a comeback. You might want to hire a chef…or become chef-standard yourself.
13. According to Noble Rot, Argentinian Malbec has had its day.
“One of the most banal wines in the universe, it’s a bluson leather jacket with high waist jeans; it’s a man who doesn’t know a lot, but he knows what he likes and orders it very confidently. It is liquid Jeremy Clarkson.”
They obviously haven’t tried the Trapezio ++. The same publication tells us the Greek wine, volcanic wine, and wine from Cahors is on the up.
It’s also interesting to look at what happened in the restaurant world in 2016.
- By far the largest percentage (26%) of London restaurant openings of the last 32 months are offering ‘Modern British’ cuisine. Niche cuisines such as Mexican also did well (as predicted last year) with 2%.
-
More interesting meat… Beef isn’t boring, but there’s a move to ring the changes with venison, wild boar, chorizo, ostrich and veal.
- Fish on the rise are mackerel, octopus, sardines, and eel
- Ice cream remains the most popular pud. Chocolate mousse also retains its appeal, especially, of course, when salted in some way. Tiramisu and fruit crumbles are doing increasingly well.
- 27% of Michelin-starred restaurants included morels in their menus. The top pairings for morels were crab, lobster, foie gras, asparagus, turbot, chicken, veal; the most unusual were Earl Grey, lime, mole sauce, blueberries. Post to get you well and truly drooling scheduled on that one!
