What will we eat in 2024? Food, I’d venture to guess.
Seriously though, 2023 was the year of butter boards, ramen and poke bowls. Peas have started to replace avocado on toast, and we all frowned and booed Ultra Processed Foods, not necessarily cutting down on their consumption. Maybe this year.
So in the ‘no-no’ category, UPFs firmly sit, with unsustainable avocados and fake meat products, which makes me very happy as they really are the top of the UPF bracket. Non-dairy ‘milks’ are nudging that direction too, as they turn out to be pointless nutrition-wise lacking vitamins and nutrients that cow milk contains. Hooray. Ditch that stuff. Dairy is good.
And now, what’s going to be in the ‘yes-yes’ category for this year? Marketing forecasts mention some very bright ideas indeed like fusion dishes reflecting chefs’ diverse backgrounds. That’s very good news: rather than slurs of cultural appropriation we should embrace ethnic melanges as a way to open up our food horizons. Sure, that doesn’t mean slapping bangers on a pizza and calling it Brit-Italian fusion but rather learning to mix and match flavours. Frozen tortellini cooked like gyoza? Yes please. Filipino bacon, tocino, made with beetroot juice instead of annatto fruit? It makes perfect sense.
Another prediction concerns mushrooms and I’m equally pleased to hear it. Mushrooms are the best meat replacement in a vegetarian diet, at least texture and taste-wise. Bog standard champignons can be cooked in a myriad different ways: give me mushroom ragu for my pasta any time instead of meaty Bolognese, and I’ll have fried mushrooms for breakfast every day, happily.
But there are more interesting varieties of cultivated mushrooms available these days, like king oyster or Asian enoki and shiitake. And there are ultra-fragrant dried wild porcini which can be rehydrated almost to a fresh ingredient.
More trends mention bowls – it started with poke and continues with Buddha and Buddha-style bowls, like salads but more. Mostly plant-based but not a given, like my cabbage and prawn or smoked fish salad bowl. I’m looking forward to bowling a lot this year!
Some suggestions I’ve read are not so inspiring. Snacks! We should actually do that less seeing as snacking is a huge obesity booster. We have TikTok to thank (not!) for calorie-stuffed frozen yoghurt bark, whipped coffee and pizza fries. Now Taco Bell strawberry truffles and mustard Skittles are looming. Please spare us!
There is also a great trend amongst young millennials and gen Z-ers to ditch booze – I just wish they didn't swap it for sugary non-alcoholic drinks. However funky they might be, I’ll stick to my old school glass of Chablis. Cheers! Happy New Year!