Industry Leaders asked food connoisseurs from across the country about upcoming food trends of 2017. We were soon to find out that some of these trends had little to do with ingredients and taste, and much with high-speed delivery. From faux vegan to eat-in butcher shops, these are defining the hottest food trends in 2017.
Food trends of 2017: Tastes of the future
Vegetable-forward cuisine
Vegan charcuterie sections are displacing comfort foods like chicken soup, lasagna, and crockpot pot roast. Last year alone, comfort food searches with the word “veggies” spiked by 336 percent on Pinterest. Moreover, a lot of popular veggie-centric restaurants are now spinning out meat-free comfort food as a dinner fix.
It’s no surprise that raw vegan is punching up the next wave of the healthy-eating trend. We say, fork it!
Faux vegan
Companies like Beyond Meat are replicating the experience of eating animal meat. This vegan meat is made of plant substitutes and feels and tastes like actual meat. While some are simply creating fake meat because they actually taste better, others see it as a way to decrease animal cruelty.
There’s also an influx of vegetable ‘butcher shops’ in Toronto and Minneapolis. Here, herbivorous butchers sell vegan deli meats – meatless sausages, meatballs, ribs, and burgers. Moreover, some of the most renowned San Francisco chefs have now put a veggie burger on their menus. Looks like faux vegan is taking a delicious turn in 2017.
Morning happens, chocolate helps
Don’t be surprised when chocolate cake will show up as a bite-sized hors d’œuvre on breakfast menus in 2017. Liz Moscow, the culinary director at Sterling Rice Group, an advertising firm based in Boulder, Colorado says food-chains and restaurants will incorporate a robust breakfast dessert menu in the coming months. The ad group works like clients like Quaker, Wendy’s, Annie’s.
A study conducted by Tel Aviv University found that eating chocolate for breakfast can help reduce weight because it reduces cravings. Moreover, in a study published by the Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study (MSLS) it was noted that dark chocolate can improve cognitive function and enhance memory, abstract reasoning, and focus. So, keep your forks ready mate when chocolate cake for breakfast goes mainstream!
Virtual restaurants
Food chains are opening up commercial kitchens in cheaper locations to deliver ready-to-heat meals. Savvy entrepreneurs are establishing multiple identities online, each with their own branding. This, so-called virtual restaurants only exist online. While, the food is prepared and delivered from commissary kitchens and Seamless or Grubhub.
One big advantage with delivery-only restaurants is that they can expand at a phenomenal rate. Moreover, the deployment model is pretty much risk-free. So you can make an on-the-go adjustment on the delivery app. You do not have to wait for hundreds of franchises to get on board with the change.
Silicon Valley funded or not, these virtual, delivery-only restaurants are spreading like wildfire.
Delivery drones
Domino’s New Zealand has a pizza delivery drone. 7-Elevan has Slurpee delivery drones. Google has drones delivering Chipotle burritos on the Virginia Tech campus. Flytrex has drones delivering beer. Looks like the food delivery bicycle is no longer a weapon of choice. In the upcoming food delivery war, flying food delivery is the only way to go!
Eat-in butcher
Artisan butchers are now adding eat-in option in their shops. Parts & Labor is Baltimore now lets you pick up a cut meat of your choice, along with a board of house cured meats, pork chops and sausages, and beer. Shank Charcuterie in New Orleans serves steak and eggs at their dining counter in the butcher shop.
In 2017, be all for eat-in butcher, and let the dust on your grill hold out.
Move over, kale
We bid goodbye to kale soon as we found out how eating too much of it can poison us with heavy metals. But, we’ve replaced kale with seaweed, all thanks to umami, which is rising in popularity across America. In fact, chefs across the country are turning to greens, such as turnip, mustard greens, beet, carrot tops, and chard, to make green on green salad. Moreover, some have even turned to pickle greens and use them as condiments.
Epic milkshakes
Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer has gone crazy, over-the-top with erm…milkshakes! In fact, any day you visit this luncheonette in Soho, you’ll find yourself on the back of a 2-hour long queue. The thing about their milkshakes is that they’re limited edition, towering shakes, like the rainbow-topped St. Patrick’s Day shake, Halloween shake, or the sweet & salty.
Source: Industry Leaders Magazine
