2023 Trends in food and hospitality
This is the time of year when serious food lovers check out the predictions of chefs and food gurus to learn which new ingredients, techniques, and cuisines are trending. Whether these forecasts have any longevity is another matter. This is why the world of food and hospitality is so dynamic and fascinating to watch. It’s always evolving.
Let’s have a look at just a few of the hundreds of trends I found memorable unearthed via conversations with experts, real life observations, and surfing the internet. Some are serious trends. Others are “trendlets” in areas of personal interest, such as chocolate and cheese.
Trend #1: The growing influence of AI in restaurants
Faced with the challenges of decreased staffing, supply chain issues, and rising costs, the restaurant industry has been forced to explore new ways to serve its customers. Many restaurants have placed their faith in technology, specifically artificial intelligence, or AI. Originally AI was more common among fast food chains, however, now it’s embraced by fine dining establishments as well.
Joe Guszkowski, Senior Tech Editor at Restaurant Business, explains the impact of this new trend: “They’ll have to in order to manage rising costs and smaller staffs. And that won’t just mean robots, which are still out of the question for a lot of operations. Instead, automation will happen on the margins: Think handheld server tablets, phone-answering voice bots and software that helps with scheduling and inventory.”
While the term AI may conjure up images of robots flipping burgers, in fact, its use can be more functional and versatile than you might expect. From generating new dishes to tracking staff to forecasting customer demand, AI can perform an endless array of tasks. This post-pandemic trend is a win-win situation for customers and restaurant owners as it offers faster, more consistent service not to mention cost savings.
Trend #2: Regenerative thinking expands beyond the environment
Regenerative agriculture is taking over how our food is grown. It is no longer enough to be organic or sustainable. Today’s consumers—especially the younger generations— are demanding that the people who produce their food respect our eco-systems, protect the soil, and maintain more humane animal practices. Increasingly, large corporations and artisanal farmers alike are tasked with observing these basic principles of regenerative agriculture.
But it’s no longer just about taking care of dirt and animals. Regenerative thinking spills over into labor practices for the people who grow, process, and serve our food as well. Employers in the food and industry must now respond to new workforce demands if they want to attract and retain the right talent. This involves being more aware of employee well-being in addition to offering higher wages and better work conditions. This also includes showing abusive bosses and chefs the door. Without a doubt, today’s employees are in the driver’s seat.
Trend #3: Fungi Fever
The humble mushroom—and ultimate plant-based ingredient—is having its moment in the spotlight. Chefs and even mixologists are taking advantage of this healthy, umami-rich ingredient to create new dishes and exotic cocktails. Whereas creminis, portabellas and shiitakes were favorites last year, look for trumpet and oyster mushrooms to attract attention in 2023.
Nancy Fitch, Manager of Pearl's Farmer's Market, San Antonio's leading outdoor market showcasing local artisanal farmers, has this to say about the mushroom phenomenon.
“The recent mushroom craze has been most welcomed and will continue to gain in popularity. I love all things mushrooms and have really enjoyed the exploding varieties that are now available at my local grocers and not just at farmers markets and specialty stores.”
Three-star chef Bill Telepan agrees. He’s been a fan of mushrooms and their meaty texture for years and wonders why it took so long. “I am kind of surprised why mushrooms are a trend. They been consumed and used for medicinal purposes for ages. I'm glad they are having their due as they make everything taste better!”
Mr.Telepan regularly sources the best specimens at New York City’s Union Square Market where he personally knows the farmers who cultivate them. He seeks out the freshest mushrooms in season, a tenet of his cooking style. From September and January, he looks for his favorite, the elusive matsutake mushroom. According to Mr.Telepan, the matsutake “is one of the few mushrooms which can be eaten raw. I like to serve it thinly sliced added to a bowl of rich mushroom broth.”
Trend #4: Cheese lovers rejoice
Americans love cheese and buy it for a variety of reasons: nutrition, convenience, and taste, among them. Your local supermarket—from Whole Foods to Trader Joe’s to Costco— all offer an ever-growing selection. New on the shelves are “infused” cheeses. When they first appeared, retro cheese balls came to mind. But then I discovered that even the best fromagers in Paris were making them too, artfully adding layers of dried fruits, nuts or even seasonal flowers to their iconic Camembert, Roquefort and goat’s milk cheeses! Now you can even find recipes for making your own cannabis-infused cheese!
My local cheese store happens to be one of Manhattan’s finest, Ideal Cheese Shop. I stopped by the other day to “chat cheese” with owner Michael Binetti. When I asked him about the rising popularity of “infused” cheeses, Mr. Binetti retorted, “We don’t do that here.” At most, Ideal will sell cheese infused with truffles and with rinds washed with grappa, stout, and the like, he explained saying that, “Not having a kitchen facility here inhibits our ability to craft our own flavored cheeses,” adding that commercially massed produced versions were not up to the quality standards his clientele demands.
However, Mr. Binetti was eager to tell me about another trend to which he attributes his strong sales during Covid lockdown. Seems that people, with cabin fever not being able to go out to restaurants, sought escapism in his cheese shop! Even if you couldn’t travel, you could explore the world through Ideal’s excellent selection of international cheeses.
Once friends and family began gathering at home again, cheese and charcuterie boards took off, Mr. Binetti told me. Many of his customers have continued this trend post- pandemic. According to him, it’s increasingly popular to offer a “first course” of cheese and cured meats at home before going out to a restaurant. This DIY helps offset the escalating cost of eating out plus assuages our fear of an ever-looming recession.
Trend #5: White chocolate makes inroads
If you love chocolate, you’ll want to know what’s new and exciting with the world’s favorite sweet. I turned to Alexandra Leaf, culinary historian, writer, and chocolate expert for some insight.
“As a judge for international chocolate competitions, a lot of great (and sometimes not so great) bars come my way. Two trends I’ve noticed are in the white and milk chocolate categories; I know many consumers shun anything that isn’t dark, but with quality cocoa butter and fragrant vanilla pods, you can have a beautiful white chocolate bar. Lately I’ve seen makers get creative with inclusions, adding nibs and caramelized shards of sugar to their white bars. Dark milk also interests me, and I see a lot of potential there. Dark milk is not an oxymoron: it’s a milk chocolate with a high cocoa solid content-- a best of both worlds bar.”
Trend #6 The end of too-fine dining
Restaurant lovers around the world were abuzz with the recent news that Noma— Réné Redzepi’s Michelin three-star restaurant in Copenhagen—would pivot from being a full-fledged restaurant to becoming a food laboratory and pop-up. Seems that Noma was following the same demise as El Bulli, Chef Ferran Adrià’s outpost in Spain. After holding the title as the best restaurant in the world, it closed in 2011 to become El Bulli Foundation, a center for culinary creativity.
In the end, Adrià and Redzepi had created equally unsustainable establishments which required enormous funding and an insane amount of staffing. Furthermore, both chefs faced scrutiny over how they treated their employees. While using young chefs as stagières or interns to work for no pay is not new, changing attitudes in the workplace no longer finds this practice acceptable.
No doubt, both chefs performed miracles in their respective kitchens. Adrià gained fame through his molecular alchemy. Redzepi, as described by Frank Bruni in his January 12th NYT editorial piece, “began foraging, pickling and plating his way to outsized fame as a chef of extraordinary vision and exacting principles.” However, in Mr. Bruni’s opinion, El Bulli and Noma both went too far.
Mr. Bruni posed the question: “Are they about so many things beyond the fundamentals of dining—things like ingenuity, philosophy, vanity and eccentricity—that they’ve ceased to be restaurants in any conventional and sustainable sense?” Furthermore, he pondered, did either of the restaurants provide their diners with “joy, along with satiation?” For Mr. Bruni this is a restaurant’s most important mission.
NYT’s food critic, Pete Wells, agrees. Rather than sing the praises of three-star establishments, Mr. Wells recently reported on a food truck serving Puerto Rican-styled roast pork (opened only on weekends) which “packs more joy into two days than most restaurants do into a week.” As the cult of fine dining fizzles out, should we look for a simpler, more soul-satisfying way of cooking to take its place? Many people think so.
Trend # 7: Nigerian Cuisine, the hot, new immigrant food
Immigrant cuisine from unlikely places is catching our attention. As noted by Pat Cobe (Senior editor, Restaurant Business) “Chefs are showcasing ingredients, dishes and techniques that reflect theirs or their families’ culinary roots. Restaurants serving the cuisines of Nigeria, Ghana, the Philippines, the Balkan countries, and other lesser-known parts of the world will be the ones to watch in 2023. They may start out as pop-ups, but a number are getting the funds to transition into small brick-and-mortar restaurants.”
Several years ago, food authority Dr. Jessica Harris predicted the rise of African cooking. The cuisine from this continent has been underrated and misrepresented for years. Just as we used to lump all Italian regional cuisines into one pasta bowl, now we are learning to differentiate the regional styles of West African cooking.
Nigerian cuisine is one of this year’s breakout stars. Lincoln Center’s new restaurant, Tatiana, has become the hottest ticket in town. Chef Kwame Onwuachi is teaching us about his country’s food with dishes such as Egusi Dumplings which is described on his menu as Nigerian red stew with crab and pickled pearl onions. Onwuachi uses exotic Nigerian ingredients such as berbere spice, habanero “peppa sauce” and ground melon seeds to prepare his authentic dishes.
Onwuachi is not alone. Other Nigerian chefs are introducing us to fonio, an African heritage grain that suggests a cross between couscous and quinoa. Nigerian touches are even part of the current “trendlet” where multiple ethnic cuisines merge together to create, as the old adage says, a “whole greater than the sum of its parts.”
For example, from the NYT we’ve read about Nigerian-American chef Rasheed Amedu who serves West African flavors through a Mexican lens at Naija Boy Taco, his restaurant in Sacramento. Here he presents his customers with curry goat on plantain cassava tortillas and seasons chicken with the same smoking spice as used for beef “suya,” a popular Nigerian street food.
Trend # 8: Countertop appliances: the answer to the gas stove debate
The debate on gas stoves has been front page news of late. Is there a trend in-the-making in response to this controversial issue? Deri Reed, cookbook editor (and mine, too, for my first book!) certainly thinks so.
Here are her predictions: “The move away from gas stoves because of the growing awareness of the health issues (e.g., links to childhood asthma) and the environmental impact of fossil fuels may also be driving people toward relying more on countertop appliances.”
Deri talks about the expanding popularity of cookbooks devoted to countertop appliances like the Instant Pot, air fryer, and even the trusty old slow cooker. She elaborates, “Of course, this could mean the appliances have hit their peak (especially the air fryer), but more likely I think it means that more people are buying appliances, and more importantly, both new and old appliance users are really embracing them—and buying books to learn how to better utilize them. And I see no end to the countless mix-and-match iterations of category cookbooks. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a vegetarian, gluten-free, diabetic Instant Pot holiday cookbook in the coming year! “
Trend #9: TikTok takes over
Even if you don’t have young kids, it’s impossible to miss the TikTok rage. It’s Gen Z’s answer to Google and newest way to communicate. Given that the younger generation takes more stock of what influencers say than to the wise words of traditional food experts and restaurant critics, it’s no surprise that chefs are scrolling through TikTok’s amateur videos in search of the next viral dish. Think butter board! This is a board or plate smeared with butter with the addition of toppings—sea salt, honey, herbs, pomegranate seeds, whatever you like—which is then slathered on crackers or sliced baguette. Check this out if you don’t believe me: Tik Tok sensation
Trend #10: UK trendspotting
Because Americans don’t live in a vacuum, I thought it would be interesting to explore what’s trending in the UK. So, I reached out to several members of Dames d’Escoffier International, (top women leaders in wine, food and hospitality) as my source. Were there overlaps—yes, many— but was there anything new a-brewing that might eventually cross over the pond to us? Here’s a brief recap of what Londoners are seeing emerge in their world of food and restaurants:
· More “Groceraunts” referring to full-scale restaurants inside supermarkets
· Seaweed
· Superfoods and plant-based dishes sourced locally
· Thriving neighborhood restaurants
· Laminated bread (doubled-baked croissants)
· Frugality at home and at restaurants using more vegetables, pulses, and less expensive cuts of meat and fish
· Restaurants diversifying their use of space by adding delis and bakeries
· Cognitive eating to increase brain health
If you’ve been looking at food trends—clearly, we could only touch on a few here—you’ll recognize many similarities. However, it’s the last trend which interested me most. Afterall, who wouldn’t want to boost their brainpower and manage their stress? And, if you’re like me, you’ve already added salmon, broccoli, blueberries, and pumpkin seeds to your weekly shopping list. And, off I go to Trader Joe’s!
PS: The London Dames also predicted the demise of fine dining. Righto!