Food Trends in 2016: A Look at New Trends and Oldies

Just as fashion trends come and go, so do food trends. Food fads fade away over time as people begin tiring of them. Every restaurant, regardless of sizes, has to adjust its menu every couple of years: new items are added, unpopular items are taken away, and some items get a new name or ingredient tweaking. Anyone involved in event catering knows the importance of keeping up with the latest fads.

What is popular right now? Here is a list of some foods that are taking 2016 by storm:

Poke

These days, fresh, raw foods are becoming increasingly popular, and Poke is perhaps the most popular of them all. This raw fish salad originated in Hawaiian cuisine and featured chunks of tuna marinated with sesame and soy. Now, it’s everywhere and available in a variety of recipes. Adaptations may feature various shellfish or raw salmon as the main ingredient served raw with traditional poke seasonings, such as soy sauce, sesame oil, green onions, and dried seaweed.

All types of bread

During the Atkins diet fad, bread got a bad name. Now, it’s making its comeback in a variety of forms: Artisan breads, flatbreads, focaccia, ciabatta, and so on. A lot of health food enthusiasts prefer gluten-free bread, which can be used as pizza crust and hamburger buns. Whole-grain and multi-grain breads are proliferating due to their health benefits and depth of flavour and textures. More and more restaurants are offering whole-grain bread menu items.

Acai bowls

After going away from the spotlight for a couple of years, the superfruit Acai is coming back in spoonable bowls. Think of it as a really thick smoothie that is topped with fruit, oatmeal, or even peanut butter. It’s an excellent, healthy breakfast item that tastes just as yummy as less-healthy items like donuts or pop tarts. If your catering Toronto event is to be held in the morning, you might want to consider offering Acai bowls to your guests.

th beets, squash, or carrots.

Spam

Whoever thought that Spam of all things would make a hot menu item? It’s come a long way from its days as a canned pantry staple, much in part due to the rise in Hawaiian-style cuisine. Chefs are coming up with unique ways of incorporating Spam in their dishes. Musubi and Spam Ramen burgers are just two of examples of the increasingly popular Spam dishes.

Seaweed

Seaweed is becoming a really hot food craze. It is sustainable, healthy, and tasty. This versatile sea vegetable can be used in just about anything. Some are even calling it the “go-to green”. Why eat unhealthy potato chips when you can eat seaweed chips? It’s also a healthy alternative to popcorn.

Foreign condiments

Expect to see exotic condiments replacing the typical ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, etc. Spice is really popular right now – especially pepper-packed pastes. Sriracha isn’t going away anytime soon. Other fads to look forward to are Korean gochujang, Indonesian sambal oelek, Latin American sofrito, and Chinese black bean sauce. Now you have some ideas for event catering over the next several months. For wine catering, expect both American sparkling wines and New World wines to grow in popularity. People are also interested in ingredients based labeling.