Food Trends 2017

For this year’s look at food trends we looked to Food Business News to find out their top 10 cutting edge food trends. With nutrition, sustainability and authenticity top of mind, consumers are seeking to rediscover traditional cooking methods and explore global cuisines, and restaurants and packaged food companies are taking note, said Liz Moskow, culinary director at Sterling-Rice Group. To compile the trends, the group identifies shifts in the consumer landscape. “We look at what’s happening in the economy, what’s happening in the digital space, what’s happening in the greater world, and then come up with what we call culinary shifts, anything from sustainability to food as medicine,” Ms. Moskow told Food Business News. “The more touchpoints a trend has, the more ability to ‘go viral,’ the way that we see it as trending in the real world and not on-line.”

1. Wake and Cake – Recent studies linking dark chocolate consumption to positive health benefits may encourage more consumers to indulge in the a.m.

2. Dosha Dining – Turmeric has really been picking up steam and trending over the past couple years… People have widely accepted turmeric is this magic food. And that’s really the holy grail of Ayurveda; for every dosha, turmeric is a good balancing additive for food.

3. Plant butchery – Plant butchery really focuses in on the fact that meat eaters are exploring plantbased options. There is a growing number of people who don’t want to eliminate meat from their diet but might want to eat it less often

4. Food Waste Frenzy – Creatively reducing food waste by repurposing typically tossed-out stems, skins and rinds. For example, watermelon rinds being made into pickles, or making cauliflower rice using the stem, something that ordinarily would end up in the garbage.

5. Snackin’ Sardines – Sardines have gotten a bad rap, but present-day trends support a move to the protein-rich fish.

6. Noodle on This – The fresh preparation method of hand pulled noodles offers showmanship, authenticity and an artisanal craft way of eating focusing on technique.

7. Mocktail Mixology – Mocktails are getting a modern makeover, with such offerings featuring fresh-pressed juices, flavored teas, sipping vinegars and muddled herbs and spices. They are certainly a fav in our cooking classes

8. “Goat” Get It – the next hot protein to hit plates, goat has much less fat than most other forms of meat, and there is a rise in goat’s milk products. Also, the bone broth craze is really sweeping the nation for the collagen in the bone broth, which is said to have magical properties for your joints and your brain and your gut. Goat actually has the highest level of interstitial collagen.

9. Cook and Connect – Whether its apps like EatWith that connect cooks with hungry strangers or fleet-farming, a movement allowing gardeners to farm another’s lawn in exchange for a cut of the produce sales. It’s a way to bring people together through the desire to create their own local agriculture.

10. Migratory meals – Refugee populations are planting culinary flags in their new home countries, inspiring unique fusions of flavor and heritage. We’re not just talking about hummus and kebabs but the more delicate flavours of pomegranate, sour cherries, sumac, fenugreek, orange blossom. To read the full article, click on Ten Cutting Edge Food Trends.

For more on trends in the food world for the year ahead, check out our collection on our Pinterest Board. Whether you are trying out the new trends or sticking with the “tried and true”, may there be many delicious meals in your future filled with love and fulfillment.

Bon Apetit!