I’m always excited
about the start of a brand New Year, new resolutions, new opportunities, new
challenges, lots of fun. So what might be coming down the line in 2019, what do
we think is hot and what’s not?
Trends are
notoriously volatile but in any business, it’s super important to keep an eye
on the indications relevant to your area, analyse them but beware of following
them slavishly.
In my business,
keeping an eye on what’s happening on the food, farming and beverage scene is
essential to staying on the cutting edge and attracting both customers and students
from all around the world to Ballymaloe and Ireland.
I travel quite a bit. In 2018 I travelled to China and the US…New York, Florida, Portland, San
Francisco, Los Angeles... Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Paris, Turin, London... Food is
my subject and so I consider travel to be a vital element in my research.
Everywhere I go, I meet artisan producers, farmers, fishermen, cheesemakers,
visit Farmers Markets, seek out food trucks, taste street food and eat in a wide
variety of cafes, neighbourhood restaurants, and fine dining establishments. I
keep my eyes and ears open, ask lots of questions, take lots of photos and lots
of notes.
So, here are some
of my predictions for food trends in 2019 based on my observations …
The ‘clean eating fad’ it seems, is waning but has been partly subsumed into the vegan food movement. The number of
people choosing a plant based or vegan diet continues to grow exponentially.
Countless others are becoming flexitarians and are choosing to eat less meat and
are actively seeking meat and poultry that has been ethically and humanely
reared. Meat-free days are on the increase and multiple restaurants are now offering an optional Meat-Free Monday menu. Believe me this ‘meat-free movement’, now linked to climate change, is
no ‘flash in the pan’. Pasture-raised is the buzz word here, rotating animals
through lush grasslands can dramatically improve their health, the health of
the soil, trapping CO2 in the soil where it belongs, helping with water
reduction and reducing erosion – good news for Ireland.
We are edging ever closer to lab-grown meats becoming mainstream. Jaw-dropping amounts of money have been invested in ‘motherless meat’ in the past couple of decades. The Impossible Burger is now a reality, it can even bleed like a real burger if carefully cooked, however the jury is still out on the flavour. I’ve tasted three different versions of what are described as ‘insanely delicious’ plant based burgers and I’m here to tell you that ‘insanely delicious’ they are not, despite the considerable hype to the contrary. Look out for sushi grade ‘not tuna’- made from tomatoes… It’ll be interesting to watch this space, a phenomenal investment has already been sunk into this plant-based burger…
Expect to see more
shopper support and shopping brands committed to good animal welfare practices
and environmental stewardship. Businesses and farms that support programs to
relieve poverty throughout the world are also influencing consumers and have become a definite global trend. Mindful choices, ‘waste not want not’, is a
growing preoccupation, consequently some supermarkets are now selling ugly and
misshapen but perfectly delicious and nutritious fruit and vegetables at a
lower price point.
There’s a growing
annoyance among consumers about the excess
packaging they are forced to accept. There is a definite awareness of the
damage that plastic is doing to our
oceans and planet and that it is gradually leaching into our food. We will see
an increase in more eco conscious packaging, single use plastic is being
replaced by multi-use and compostable. We are all addicted to plastic so it
will be a difficult habit to break. B.Y.O.V.B (bring
your own vegetable bag) and coffee cup are becoming the norm. Waxed canvas or
silicone alternatives for sandwiches and snacks is a significant growth area
for manufacturers.
A growing body of
research confirms that all disease starts in the gut… The realisation that both
our physical and mental wellbeing depend on the health of our gut biome has prompted a huge increase
in the number of probiotic foods
that contain gut friendly bacteria to improve the immune system. Even granola
bars, nut butters and soups are fortified but my advice is to eat real food, seek out raw milk, raw
butter, good natural yoghurt, original cheeses, organic vegetables….and ditch
ultra-processed food altogether.
Gut awareness
continues to drive the interest in fermentation. Cool restaurants and hotels
are serving house made kefirs, kombucha, kvass, drinking vinegars, sauerkraut,
kimchi and other fermented foods. Bone broths are also having a tremendous revival, a very welcome trend.
Nootropics –
brain food is coming to the fore, Crickets and other insects, (a ‘new’
inexpensive source of protein) are being added to processed foods.
In the US
dietitians are becoming celebrities as the health crisis deepens and the rise
in obesity, type 2 diabetes and autoimmune disease continue to increase at an
alarming rate. We are moving towards more personalised food experience. Once
again let's eat real, chemical-free food rather than ‘edible food-like substances’ that are unquestionably
fuelling the health crisis. In the world of
medicine, young doctors are calling for training in nutrition to equip them
with the necessary knowledge to advise their patients on diet.
At last some good
news for farmers and food producers, new routes to market have been developed
where consumers / members order their food on-line, not from the supermarket,
but directly from the farmer or food producer who gets 80% of the retail price
as opposed to 25-35% through the current retail system. Farmdrop in the UK www.farmdrop.com
is a brilliant example as is
NeighbourFood launched in Cork city in late November. It’s already
increasing membership and producers week
by week – a very welcome development, check it out on www.neighbourfood.ie
On the global
restaurant scene, molecular gastronomy appears to have peaked, top chefs are
moving away from using spheres and extreme molecular elements and are putting
down their paint brushes and tweezers and chucking out their palette knives –
I’m told smears on plates and skid marks are out… It seems like growing
numbers are annoyed by the favouritism shown by restaurant critics to avant-garde
molecular food. More diners would like to see restaurants concentrating on
flavour and not overly complicating dishes, just to make them look pretty. Apparently
we’re also over frilly foliage and limp pea shoots but lots of edible flower
petals are still in evidence. Small plates are a definite trend.
Hot Ingredients
1. Chefs
and home cooks are becoming more adventurous with chilli pepper flakes, Aleppo
Pepper or Pul Biber, Piment d’Espelette, Timut pepper from Nepal and Korean
Gochugaru.
2.
Bitter
greens of all kinds are on the best menus, Radichios, Chicory, Sorrell, Tardivo
Dandelion leaves... Amaranth is the new Kale…
3. Marine
Munchies –Seaweed and sea vegetables, all more nutritious than anything on land
and intriguingly delicious – dried seaweed sprinkles, kelp noodles, samphire, dillisk
soda bread... Dillisk
has three times the nutritional value of kale.
4. More
unusual herbs, Lovage, Claytonia, Hyssop, Shiso
Wild
and foraged, Pennywort, Purslane, Winter Cress, Tagetes, Ground Elder,
Chickweed….
5. Artisan
Bakeries - Real natural sourdough fermented for at least 24 hours, better still
48 hours, made with flour from heritage grains.
6. Specialist
Teas – Tea bars are springing up serving exquisite (and super expensive) teas
like we can’t imagine, Pu-erh tea has changed my life. Check out a little
Taiwanese tea bar in New York called Té on 10th Street. There are
even tea cocktails now.
7. Good
fats are back, not just butter but ghee from grass-fed cows, organic pork lard,
goose and duck fat…
8. Argan
oil and MCT oil
9. Organic
raw milk and raw butter ($19.99 a pound in San Francisco) much more nutrient
dense and delicious.
10. Puffed and popped snacks
- organic popcorn with many flavours, sweet and savoury.
11. Faux meat snacks, a big
trend… Yuck!
12. Alcohol-free spirits,
booze-free cocktails, flavoured whiskeys, artisan gins, beers and ciders…
13. Natural wines and organic
wines are a particularly welcome trend for those who can no longer drink the
chemical-laden cheap wines.
14. Hemp-derived products are
exploding…
15. Doughnuts are still huge
in every sense of the word, remember the excitement when Krispy Kreme opened in
Dublin…
16. We’ll see more African
flavours, in particular Ethiopian food
17. Flavours of the Pacific
Rim (Asia, Oceanica and the Western coasts of North and South America) are also
a strong trend so stock up on fish sauce, wasabi, lemongrass, star anise, pandan
leaves, black sesame, soy sauce...
18. Mushrooms, particularly
the wild varieties are naturally rich in umami flavours so are being used in ever
more creative ways to create ‘a meaty bite’.
19. Pulses (peas, beans and
lentils) are really having their moment, an important and inexpensive source of
protein, there’s a growing choice of pulse-based snacks.
20. Dried, pickled and smoked
foods are ever more evident - smoked butter, salt, chill flakes, garlic, potatoes,
carrots, black pudding – even porridge…
21. Riced and diced as a carb
substitute…cauliflower, Romanesco, broccoli…
22. Stracciatella is
everywhere, where can we get it here? – https://www.toonsbridgedairy.com/
.
23. Cold brew coffee – nitro
coffee…
That's just a taste of what's hot and what's emerging in 2019.
