What will you be filling your plate with in 2016? It looks like veggies will be all the rage this year, with more and more diners opting for healthier options. While food trends might appear to come out of nowhere, the truth is that they trickle down from tastemakers in the biz. At the end of every year, legions of food professionals – consultants, chefs, writers and research firms – race to predict the trends that will influence foodies in the year ahead.
According to the National Restaurant Association’s “What’s Hot in 2016” forecast, we will continue to see healthful kids’ menus, locally sourced meats and seafood, locally grown produce and an increased focus on environmental sustainability.
But there are plenty of other hot menu trends to keep an eye on in the coming year. Get ahead of the craze and try some of these out for yourself:
1. Veggie-centric: Move over meat! Vegetables have begun to take on the starring role on many restaurant menus. At restaurants such as Al’s Place in San Francisco (recently named Bon Appétit’s Best New Restaurant in America) meat is primarily listed as a side dish, and even when included in the dish, the veggies are still the main attraction.
2. Exotic Condiments: Could Sriracha be the new ketchup? It was not that long ago that only Thai enthusiasts were familiar with the red sauce in the green-topped bottle. Now it’s hard to find a restaurant that doesn’t carry this spicy sauce. But in 2016, spice is the name of the game, and nothing quite brings the heat like the sauces of Africa, Asia and the Middle East: Korean gochujang, Indonesian sambal oelek, South African peri peri and Middle Eastern za’atar – applied to anything and everything.
3. African Flavors: While Asian and Latin American restaurants have become much more commonplace is recent years, African food is still relatively unchartered territory. But perhaps for not much longer, as chefs are looking to add more African cuisine to their menus – in particular, Nigerian and Ethiopian foods and flavors. Keep an eye out for berbere, harissa, dukkah, ras el hanout, tsire and other spice mixes.
4. Ethnic-Inspired Breakfast: While authentic ethnic cuisine has been a popular choice for many years now, ethnic-inspired breakfasts are just beginning to rise in popularity. And why not? These unique flavor options are a great way to start the day!
