As 2016 comes to a close, we will see plenty of emerging trends in the food and beverage industry ranging from the nearly normal to the truly bizarre. Here are a few worth mentioning especially when these may well find their way into your favorite casual dining and gourmet restaurants.
Virtual Restaurants
Few truly gourmet restaurants deliver their food and drinks in the same way as fast-food joints. But there’s a new class of gourmet restaurants that deliver but with a twist – they only deliver food to residential and commercial customers.
Michael White and David Chang are among the top chefs at the forefront of delivery-only brands. But if their fare isn’t in your budget, you can also find apps offering affordable home-cooked meals for delivery.
And the craving for great dishes, drinks and desserts in a place with elegant ambiance strikes, you can still go the old-fashioned way. Your favorite steakhouses, such as Morton’s and Peter Luger, await your presence.
Franken-creams
Yes, you read that right – desserts given the Frankenstein treatment although with more appealing results. Franken-creams are actually hybrids of ice cream, which are as delicious on Instagram as they are on the tongue. But you have to have a serious sweet tooth to finish off an entire bowl or cone.
Franken-creams can be almost anything your sweet tooth desires. Think of freak-shakes and fairy floss – or if you’re feeling more adventurous, ice cream ramen.
Faux Foods
No, these aren’t non-edible things made to appear like food. Faux foods are edible food made mainly from fruits, vegetables and nuts, among other ingredients, which mimic the appearance of meat.
These food products are obviously geared toward vegetarians and vegans although even meat lovers are starting to see their appeal. In the near future, you may even be able to buy them in supermarkets, thanks to the investment of food companies in meat-free technologies.
Seaweed
Perhaps the closest thing you have eaten of seaweed is nori, the black seaweed wrap used in Japanese dishes. With the increasing popularity of seaweed in the West, thanks partly to a stronger ramen-based cuisine in the United States, you can enjoy a wider variety of the so-called vegetables of the sea. You may even find that seaweed has displaced kale as the next big thing in food.
Keep an eye out for the food and drink trends in 2017. You may just be the first of your family and friends to enjoy them and introduce them to the joys of new food crazes.