Every year, culinary trends stir up controversy, whether you like them or prefer to ignore them. We had a few surprises on our list of culinary trends for 2022, and 2023 won't be any different.
Following the newest culinary trends is a lot of fun, whether it's a chef's inventive new dish, a social media baking trick, or a delectable new way to eat bread and butter.
It may be challenging to keep track of the finest culinary trends to explore because it seems like a new one emerges every week. While certain cuisine trends come and go, many others continue to appear on menus and in party planning.
We anticipate that some of the major trends in food and drink in 2023 will be heavily influenced by travel, environmentally responsible dining, and healthy eating and drinking. With that we present you with the top 10 food trends you might be seeing this year.
1. Chaos Cooking
With dining out virtually back to pre-pandemic levels, consumers continue to desire novelty in their meals as well as video-friendly items to show off to their friends. And that is how the concept of chaotic cooking was born.
When viewed in this light, chaotic cooking openly challenges conventional notions of what constitutes delicious food and how to prepare it in a way that is both amusing and clever.
The objective of any enthusiastic cook is to create great cuisine, and to cook chaotically means to incorporate the difficulties and opportunities of daily life into your meals. Chaotic cooking has led to the creation of charcuterie boards, fancy bar snacks, and loaded fries that have flavors like ghost pepper and spicy honey.
2. Soft Drinks
Although the zero-alcohol trend is by no means new, drinking soft drinks is expected to get more appealing with time.
Drink menus might be dominated by upscale non-alcoholic beverages that combine distinctive flavors and top-quality ingredients in the next year.
3. Seafood Veggies Snack
The year 2023 will see the debut of sea veggies including kelp and seaweed. And there are several delectable ways to enjoy the salty nibbles. Large food corporations have already stocked up on kelp items that are already created, such as kelp noodles and puffed kelp chips.
People have also been looking for home-made seaweed snacks, green algae, and nori dishes on Pinterest. There isn't much cooking involved. So, if you want to sample some of the ocean's most wonderful veggies, just head to a nearby grocery shop and fill up on all the seafood snacks you can find.
4. Pickling
2023 may be the year that everything is pickled, from the very ordinary (pickle-flavoured dips, chips, crackers, and the like) to the rather dubious (pickle-infused sweets).
That means pickle-flavored frozen ice popsicles will coexist with more conventional flavors in stores, pickle-flavored soft serve will become widely available, pickle popcorn will surpass Cheetos in popularity, and pickle brine in cans will become a non-alcoholic beverage craze.
5. Plateless Feasting
We've seen plates go out of style over the past year as inventive TikTokers have served meals on anything from cutting boards to tablecloths. This dish-free approach has definitely drawn attention. However, it has also brought about its fair share of blessings.
First off, we've all learned that a plate isn't always the right tool for the task. Plus, having fewer dishes usually makes cleanup easier. S0, get ready for a year of creative plate alternatives and be open-minded. After all, two of 2022's greatest inventions, the butter board, and the nacho table, were the result of this movement.
6. Floral cakes
You're going to love this trend if you enjoy both baking and botany. It seems like everyone has been practicing their baking talents over the past several years.
The "bouqake" is the embodiment of this movement's emphasis on producing edible and aesthetically pleasing objects. The visually appealing flower cakes and pastries are how Gen X and millennials are expressing themselves.
7. Making Eating Experiential
Delicious meal + excellent service used to always equal a wonderful experience. Currently, foodies yearn for the extraordinary, such as dining on a cliff, drinking milk tea while snuggling with cats at cat cafés, or slowly eating their way through an entire city.
Experiential eating has had the largest spike in searches on Yelp and will keep leading the way in 2023, from hidden menus to throwback dinner theater.
8. Solo Dining
With an emphasis on wellbeing and pampering oneself, eating alone is no longer frowned upon; both common people and famous people appear to have discovered the pleasures of doing so, whether at home or when out and about.
Restaurants all around the country are currently looking for ways to enhance the eating experiences for lone diners in places like NYC, Atlanta, and Los Angeles.
9. Culture Fusion with Food
2023 is probably going to see a successful marriage of eating and culture, especially when it involves a market or food hall.
Cultural food halls or hubs best represent the spirit of the food market by bringing together a carefully curated group of artisans, restaurateurs, chefs, baristas, and mixologists in one location, as well as offering a side of live music and DJs, workshops, games, performances, film screenings, or comedy.
The outcome is a community eating experience that offers gastronomic diversity and cultural amplification.
10. Mood Food
Mood food, which is just a fancy way of saying "regular food with cannabis-infused," has been gaining popularity on social media for a while. What began with gummies and brownies has developed into a completely new culinary area for cannabis.
Chefs are roasting marijuana with vegetables, churning it with butter, and adding it to stock. Even ice cream and drinks have been boosted with CBD, assuring that 2023 will see a new high for mood food.