It’s time for our usual Food Trends report…but, of course, there is nothing usual about how we look at food.
The Food Channel keeps an eye on trends throughout the year, using a mix of data analysis, industry knowledge, analysis of consumer behavior, scientific advances, and global travel experience. We watch with the best as consumers order, prepare, eat and share their personal food tidbits.
If you’ve followed our reports, you know that we work hard to define the behavior that comes out of an observation. It’s not so much the food or the flavor as it is what is driving people to talk about it, buy it, interact with it. With all that said, here’s a look at what we see ahead.
1. Fresh Spices. 2024 is the year you’ll clean out your spice rack. The past decade has brought us a plethora of new spices—flavors and combinations that were never really accessible before. Black Truffle Parmesan Seasoning. Ceylon Cacao Chili Powder. Umami spice, and the flavor of the year from McCormick, Tamarind & Pasilla Chile Naturally Flavored Seasoning. Then there are the staples that 25 years ago weren’t common in most American kitchens, like cumin and cardamom. And if we start talking about salts, we may never end!
Part of this trend is the movement toward using spices such as cinnamon for their potential health benefits. The rest of it is simply a way to move flavor forward. So, make room for some new staples, and—while you are at it—clean out expired spices. While many hold their flavor, if they no longer smell like they should, are cakey, or they aren’t properly sealed, toss them and treat yourself to new ones.
Along with this will come new understanding about how to season food properly—watch for some self-help videos talking specifically about this. People are asking for it.
2. Heritage Recipes. Old Recipes are making a comeback. It’s funny how those secret family recipes have a way of popping up every decade or so. We’re seeing SO much on social media where people are sharing recipes from old cookbooks, or letting loose of their grandmother’s secret sauce recipe. TikTok has contributed to this trend, perhaps because old recipes offer an unending source of new content. No matter the cause, this is bringing some good recipes back to the forefront, particularly as home cooks add their own flair as they update the ingredient list and simplify the instructions.
3. How and When We Eat. There is a burgeoning afternoon evolution of coffee shop-like opportunities for remote workers. We’re seeing life extend beyond the coffee shop into charcuterie and cheese shops, and small plates that don’t require a happy hour to go along with them. Undoubtedly, this is a natural move as we incorporate the lessons of the Covid pandemic into the new realities of worklife. Buffets went out during the Covid pandemic, but are back in a smaller scale. One of the latest adaptations is the “carousel” approach, with a mix of made-to-order items and table service. Mirabella’s Table in Arkansas, where Walmart’s headquarters mean new ideas hit the area quickly, used this approach for its Christmas Eve menu. A fresh omelet station was set up where you could order what you wanted; same with a prime rib station where you could select an end cut or rarer slice. Meanwhile, offerings included baramundi, salmon, shrimp scampi, lemon ricotta pancakes, bobka French toast, seasonal tarts (pictured above) and a whole lot more. All the fun of a buffet with shareable portions brought to the table in all-you-can-eat style.
4. Playing With Our Coffee. Speaking of coffee shops, it seems something new with coffee comes up every year. Cold brew, pour over, you name it. This year it’s the addition of lemonade. Coffee Lemonade is now a thing, perhaps because citrus is being lauded for its own health benefits—but maybe just because it’s a flavor combo that seems a bit out there. Try it, though, particularly with an iced version like our Starbucks-inspired recipe, here. And, while we’re on the subject of lemonade-style beverages, we’ve become a fan of Freckleberry Teahouse in Galveston, Tx. They offer a Butterfly Pea Tea that is smooth going down, and presumably loaded with the antioxidant benefits of the peaberry. It’s also fun and insta-worthy, since the tea changes color when mixed with lemon. Oh, and First Watch has a seasonal drink called a Purple Haze, with lemon, sugar, butterfly pea flower tea and lavender. Thankfully, having a little fun with your food is always on trend.
If you want to know a little more about the peaberry, we found a good primer, here:
And, if you want to try making Coffee Lemonade at home, check out this Starbuck’s recipe.
5. Passive Kitchens. It’s back to the 70s with a new concentration on energy efficiency—but now it’s under the term “passive houses,” and it’s hitting the kitchen big time. New designer kitchens are all about natural light, sustainable materials, and lower utility costs. Kitchens are being re-engineered and, while most of us won’t be remodeling any time soon, homes of the future won’t just have utilitarian kitchens. They will be spaces where creativity reigns in both design and home chef-friendly functionality.
6. AI-Generated Cooking Prompts. We’re not saying that AI can replace recipe development. We’re certainly not saying that AI can take over your kitchen. At least not yet. But AI can write a recipe. We don’t know who ends up owning the copyright, or how many permutations may eventually be created…and, as far as we know, no one is out there testing the recipes. But, ask ChatGPT, as we did, to put together a few ingredients and see what you get. For years, culinary artists have asked for a way to easily review the ingredients in their pantry and come up with something to eat. Here you are, in 2024.
We gave a simple command: Write a recipe using chocolate chips and cinnamon. We can’t say it’s not similar to a hundred muffin recipes in our cookbook archives, but it was quick research and a doable recipe. See the recipe, here.
7. The Electronic Experience. The trends so far are leaning heavily toward home cooking again this year—another outcome of Covid. However, restaurants are recovering from the onslaught of having to recreate themselves for delivery and outdoor dining, and are once again paying attention to their back-end technology. They’ve discovered that the newest part of an exemplary dining experience is one that includes seamless payment and the use of the latest apps. The problem is that there are a bunch of possibilities now—Square, Toast, MyCheck, to name just a few. While Square seems to have a good share of the mom and pop market, we expect to see more of this sorted out as consumers demand a good experience from start to finish.
One additional note on this: We’re seeing a lot of frustration over customer service, so along with an evolution in electronics, we see a revolution in employee training gearing up.
8. Retirement Food. The latest wave of Baby Boomer retirements is doing what pundits have predicted for years: made senior facilities wake up to what people really want. Institutional food is being replaced by chef-created menus and on-site restaurants. These retirees are not into traditional dayparts, either. They like elevenses, high tea, extended coffeebreaks, workout menus, and—dare we say it—flavor and texture that is hard to achieve when you are serving hundreds at a time. Boomers are still a sizeable and influential category, even if it appears GenX is creating all the newest trends. It’s still Boomers who have expendable cash to travel and try new things. So, seniors and food is a category worth watching.
9. Appliance Cooking. We’re always asked about a piece of equipment when we do our trends report, so here’s one for 2024: the rice cooker. Those who want them have air fryers, but rice cookers offer a small appliance that doesn’t have to sit on the countertop. Recipe books such as “I Love My Rice Cooker” are popularizing some unexpected uses of the appliance and bringing new interest to meals. Hint: We recommend the Root Beer Beef Shortribs recipe.
10. The Olympics of Food. The 2024 Summer Olympics are in Paris starting in July, which brings a whole new level of culinary interest to the world. Combine this with the renewed interest in European travel and you have something worth paying attention to. While the focus will be on sports, we expect new interest in crepes, croissants, and escargot.
BONUS
In addition, here are some individual food items we’re watching for 2024:
- Pizza bowls will continue to innovate, as people avoid carbs but want the rest. Forget scraping and eating the top—new bowls are on the horizon. So quit arguing about the type of crust and focus on the flavor and other ingredients.
- Breakfast soups are now a thing. It’s a way to extend the dayparts, and even the seasons, since cold soups are becoming more and more popular as well.
- We did deconstructed food. Now people are doing reconstructed food: putting the cheese on the outside of the taco, for example, as pictured above.
- Mushrooms are popping up as a flavor enhancer as well as a standalone meal.
- Savory baking is growing. This is a trend that was pretty much confined to high end bakeries until lately, as home cooks are more willing to experiment with timesaving shortcuts, such as refrigerated dough or frozen puff pastry. And, since a little sweet goes a long way, pastries and popovers are showing up with all the elements of a quiche. A few years ago we predicted hand pies would become more universal, and we were right—this just moves them from a hand-held lunch into a standard breakfast item.
See a few of our previous trend reports by searching the site for “trends.”