How we’ll eat in 2024
you prefer a Thai beef salad drink from the Savory Project, in Hong Kong, or an Everything Everywhere cocktail with smoked salmon-infused gin, vermouth and caper brine accented with everything bagel spice from the Anvil Pub and Grill, in Birmingham, Alabama?
Got to be real
Concern over what it takes to create food from elaborate processing methods will explode. “Ultra-processed” will continue its rise as a toxic food phrase, according to a Mintel’s 2024 global food and drink trends report. Natural fermentation, cold-pressed oils, burgers from nuts and legumes and good, old-fashioned ingredients like butter and cream will have cache. Corollary: Ingredient descriptions will become more transparent and detailed (instead of “spicy citrus,” you may see “pomelo and habanero”) and include more biodiversity bona fides, but not in the precious farm-to-table way. “It doesn’t always have to be so worthy,” Lancaster said.
Complex heat
Heat will move from brain-exploding to nuanced and multidimensional, getting paired with sweet and sour flavors or being coaxed from layering flavors from different peppers from different parts of the world. “It’s not just ghost pepper coming at you,” Strange said. “It’s more about the complexity and what you can create with it.”
Technology of the year (maybe)
Artificial intelligence will be a big part of the conversation, although many in the food business have NFT-level skepticism about the hype. Some of the changes AI might bring won’t be obvious to consumers, like tighter supply chains, food waste reduction in large kitchens and precision farming techniques. But others might, like new ways to save time in the kitchen or make dining out more enjoyable.
One AI-driven system, for example, allows a server to simply converse with a guest and send the order enhanced with information about the customer’s preferences to the kitchen with voice AI and an earbud, said Simon de Montfort Walker, executive vice president and general manager of Oracle Food and Beverage & Central Industry Solutions.
Florals
Color expert Pantone declared peach fuzz the color of the year, and several food prognosticators followed and endorsed peach as flavor of the year. Others say flavors like cherry blossom and violet will dominate. Wildflowers will abound. It’s all about lightness, femininity and new metrics that include kindness, altruism and cooperation. Consider the viral appeal of hwachae, with fresh fruit, strawberry milk and Sprite over ice.
Dish of the year: Soup
Soup is bone broth’s more interesting younger sibling and the perfect vehicle for cross-cultural mashups, like menudo tonkotsu ramen. It’s also an easy way to dip into the rising popularity of food from Cambodia, Singapore and Indonesia. For cooks, it’s a low-risk, forgiving way to experiment with new flavors and ingredients. Soup uses up vegetables that might otherwise get tossed.
The Specialty Food Association’s trend spotters predict more soup and soup starter mixes on grocery shelves. And soup is yet one more way to soothe ourselves. “Honestly,” said Jenny Zegler, director of Mintel Food and Drink, “I wouldn’t be mad if 2024 was the year of soup.”