Culinary experts weigh in on top 10 food and restaurant trends for the Seat 1A Foot Trend List.
Andrew Bender of Forbes reports that the recently released Seat 1A Food Trend List featured new refinements to American classics (fried chicken, ice cream sandwiches), new, accessible foods from the Mediterranean and Hawaii, and tweaks on the cuisine of India. Plus, new technology is enabling restaurants get into businesses that would have been unthinkable even 5 years ago, when this list started.
It’s always enlightening to see which trends have lasted from the 2011-2014 editions of the Food Trend List. Among them: kale, Brussels sprouts, beer-based cocktails, copper mug cocktails, customizable fast food, avocado toast, upscale vegan cooking, lobster rolls, deviled eggs, Korean flavors, Mexican tortas, mini-desserts and restaurants filtering and bottling water on-site.
Forbes recently listed the ten top food trends of 2015 from the Seat 1A Food Trend List, as decided by culinary experts and chefs: Christine Couvelier, Mike Thelin, Bret Thorn, Jason Kessler and Robin Selden.
All-Day Breakfast
“The traditional meal periods have been gradually disintegrating over the past decade,” said Bret Thorn, “as fewer people eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and more people graze as their whims and schedules permit.” He calls meals at alternative times of day “simultaneously subversive and comforting.”
But it’s not just fast food: all-day breakfast is advantageous for fancier restaurants too. “Food costs (eggs, flour, milk) are very low and satisfaction level is high,” Thorn explained to Forbes, though he notes that restaurants doing all-day breakfast will benefit from a liquor license. “People like mimosas and bloody Marys with breakfast.”
Rice Bowls
“Rice bowls have been a staple in Asia for decades, and they fit into the way Americans eat perfectly,” says Jason Kessler of FlyandDine.com. “Lots of flavors mixed together in a convenient format.”
“I don’t know why, but people seem to think food is better for you if you put it in a bowl,” explained Thorn to Forbes. “I guess it does limit how much food you can eat in one sitting. There’s also something comforting about a meal in a bowl, and possibly an antidote for all those shared plates.”
Fried chicken/fried chicken sandwiches
The lowly fried chicken has become the new object of everyone’s affection. “Fried chicken is the new pork belly!” proclaimed Christine Couvelier of Culinary Concierge.
“Americans love fried chicken,” said Thorn, “and especially boneless fried chicken in the form of fried breast in a sandwich or faux wings.” Apart from the taste factor, “Beef prices are at or near record highs,” which for the restaurant industry “makes chicken a more desirable thing to sell.”
Poke
This Hawaiian specialty may be the next in a long history of trend-making with raw fish (think sushi, ceviche and fish tartare). Poke (also spelled “poki”) features diced raw fish and/or seafood, often seasoned with soy sauce and/or sesame oil and tossed with anything from sea salt to minced green onion, seaweed, sesame seeds and diced jalapeno.
“Our clients travel all over the world and always look to us to give them new and exciting foods that are clean and healthy too,” says Robin Selden of Marcia Selden catering, which offers a make-your-own poke bar.
In restaurants, poke seems to be more an emerging trend than an established one. Thorn noted that it’s really strongest in Los Angeles, where “lots of national trends start.” But, he said to Forbes, “I think we still need to see a catalyst that will get poki exposed to the rest of the county.”
Chef-Driven Food Delivery Services
“In the past, most of the food delivery services were more about delivery infrastructure than food quality,” Mike Thelin explained to Forbes.
“Speedy and streamlined delivery technology is giving chefs new markets for their food,” said Thorn, especially for millennials and professionals.
Examples of chef-driving food delivery systems include: Think of Munchery (the San Francisco-based, app-based food delivery startup), Uber Food (which delivers meals from well known restaurants by Uber cars) or Maple (the new delivery service spearheaded by New York-based celebrity chef David Chang, of Momofuku, etc.).
Case in point: Robin Selden herself. “While I cook the most incredible foods for my clients, I never have time to worry about myself. Most times I’m eating a bowl of Cheerios when I get home from work at 1am.” She has been getting meals delivered from her “friend and fellow chef,” Rocco DiSpirito, from his Pound a Day Diet meal plan.
Shakshuka
The popularity of shakshuka, a deceptively simple but impressive looking and deeply satisfying dish of North African origin is still in the beginning stages. The dish is eggs poached over a compote of stewed bell pepper and tomato, with cumin, parsley and other herbs and spices. From its home countries of Libya and Tunisia, it’s made its way stateside largely by way of Israel, where it’s popular for breakfast and lunch.
“It’s a somewhat exotic menu item, but it’s eggs, so it’s also approachable,” Thorn shared with Forbes. “Although an increasing number of consumers seek culinary adventure, very few want to be scared by their food. Eggs are not scary.”
Although the dish can be found mostly at restaurants, shakshuka “also is possible for consumers to create at home.”
Tweaked Ice Cream Sandwiches
Thorn credited the Los Angeles food truck turned brick-and-mortar shop (and now retail supplier) Coolhaus with starting the trend of unconventional ice cream between unconventional ingredients.
“Cookies are great and all, but churros and donuts are even better,” shared Kessler with Forbes.
Couvelier advised: “Look for ice cream between waffles, snickerdoodles, brownies, Whoopie Pies, grilled cheese, Rice Krispies squares made into cookies and more. Watch for more savory artisan ice cream as well: sweet potato ice cream, popcorn ice cream…”
“Our most popular sandwich is the coconut macaroon with chocolate almond ice cream,” shared Selden. “We also do a very popular salted caramel French macaron with caramel popcorn & bacon ice cream.”
Quick Service Outlets by Famous Chefs
More and more fine-dining chefs are getting into the multiple location, quick-service restaurant business. Thelin called this “the future of food.”
Although this trend seems to have broken out in the last year or two, it’s not exactly new. Thorn put its origin back in 2003, “when Tom Colicchio [of Craft] opened ’wichcraft, a sandwich chain using the same ingredients he was sourcing for his fine dining restaurant.” Whenever it started, the expansion activity’s gone into hyperdrive since 2014.
What’s behind this trend? “The farm-to-table chef movement introduced diners to an entirely new vocabulary, cast of ingredients, creativity and ideals toward quality and sourcing,” Thelin told Forbes. “That changed everything we thought we knew about food. Diners now want great chef-driven food three meals a day, seven days a week, and even at fast food restaurants.”
Not to mention that it’s profitable. Thorn noted that selling quality casual meals to the masses can make chefs “a lot more money than if they sell $250 tasting menus to a few people.”
The End of Tipping?
The restaurant industry’s biggest bombshell of the season, if not the year, came when New York’s Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG), run by Danny Meyer, announced that it would end tipping and raise menu prices to compensate waitstaff for the foregone income.
“Danny Meyer didn’t start the trend,” said Thelin to Forbes, “but USHG’s scrapping of tipping is a huge moment in the evolution and a validation and sign of the times.”
“It’s about time we moved to a more European model,” said Kessler, “where servers make a living wage and don’t just treat serving jobs like a way to make cash in between acting gigs.”
It’s not just consumers and restaurant geeks who are demanding a change to tipping policy. “With labor costs going up, particularly in the form of minimum wage, restaurants are facing financial challenges that threaten to upset restaurants’ economic models,” said Thorn.
Couvelier called Meyer’s move “a very important statement about the value that should be placed on the craft of hospitality.” Naysayers fear that without the motivation of a tip, restaurant staff will feel less obligated to provide good service. Couvelier warned that as prices rise to adjust to the no-tipping policy, “The ‘value’ has to be there,” from the greeting, to the service to the taste.
On the Horizon: Indian Flavors
“The flavors of India are so rich and varied that chefs should be salivating to incorporate them into their arsenal,” explained Kessler.
“I do think that more regional specific Indian cuisine is showing up as consumers are becoming more familiar with Indian spices and dishes,” Couvelier shared with Forbes.
However, Thorn cautioned, “I’ve been in my job for 16 years and people have been swearing that whole time that Indian cuisine was about to be the next big thing. We’re still waiting for Indian cuisine, in any form, to do something like what Korean food has done in recent years.”
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