At my old day job, I survived on food trends. 2006 was the year of burrata, 2007 the year of the gastropub, and 2008 the year of the fro-yo wars. 2009’s fascination with burgers and cupcakes gave way to 2010’s meatless Mondays and gluten-free everything.
My fellow staffers and I witnessed curbside pick-up become eclipsed by food-truck mania, deck ovens replaced by wood-fired ovens, and tablecloths exchanged for bare surfaces.
All the while, the drumbeat of local and artisanal grew louder, spurring at least one figs-on-a-plate battle. Now that was fun.
Every year, we competed with just about everyone else in making predictions about the most important restaurant trends in the coming year. This game is inevitably flawed. I can’t remember how many times I thought that Indian street food was about to have a moment. Instead, I got Korean tacos.
I don’t do trend forecasting anymore. Instead, I look a few years down the road to see if a book I’m writing will still be relevant when it finally hits the shelves. So I leave au courant restaurant trendspotting to the pros.
Every year, Andrew Freeman & Co., a San Francisco-based hospitality consultancy, comes out with a list of trends (covering food, service, and overall experience) to expect in 2012. Some of the items on the 2012 list caught me off-guard, but others seem completely on point.
I’ve included 10 trend predictions below. (My comments are in italics.) The full list is available here. Let me know which ones you’d put money on:
Potatoes any way you like them: customized mashed potatoes & chips and French fry menus. Depends on how attached we remain to burgers. Because burger love = potato love.
Grilled cheese eclipses burgers. That answers my question!
Creative Thai. I’m all for this as long as “creative” doesn’t mean “fusion.” We walked down that road before, and it left a lot of Thai sushi restaurants in its wake.
Veggies in dessert. Taking this kind of risk on the dessert menu must mean that the economy is improving. Here’s a similar idea.
Indian street food. I really want to believe this one this time. Really.
Stripped-down service. Pouring your own water, setting your own silverware, tearing/cutting your own bread. DIY continues into the dining room.
Breakfast, the new dinner. It certainly seems to be so in Chicago.
Chefs making edible landscapes. Call it the Noma effect. It involves bringing out a ceramic slab and making that beet salad look like it’s growing from the ground.
Eastern Europe is having a moment. Who doesn’t like dumplings, no matter the culture?
Okay, okay, I couldn’t resit: here’s my trend prediction for 2012 (and beyond): the return of New American cuisine, whether it’s southern, Midwestern, Californian, or New England in nature. It’s always been with us, but in the last decade it’s been overshadowed by deference to regional European cooking. With chefs like Sean Brock getting profiles in the New Yorker, the New World is primed for a comeback.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes on the potatoes and lots of grilled cheese (though they’ll never eclipse burgers!). Yes also on the breakfast. Heck no on setting our own silverware. And yes please on Indian street food!
I agree on silverware. enough is enough!
I’m lighting the votive candles for your prediction about New American cuisine…I’m so comfortable cooking things I remember from my grandparents farm kitchen in Illinois…also eggs rock…seriously they are so perfect as long as you don’t screw up that delicate protein… I prefer my dessert buttery, creamy and fruity …fun to see what will come about in the food trend industry…and please no art work at the table…grandkids take care of that…Beck
Glad you have the candles going for American cooking, Becky. We’ll see what happens!
Et tu, Leahy?
Scott, you know I don’t really think that grilled cheese will eclipse burgers!
Is Pumpkin Erissery really as hot as it sounds?
Depends, Dave. It’s spicy, but it’s not gonna be the next burrata