Throughout the past year, people in and out of lockdown have been experimenting within their kitchens to kill time and make something good out of this pandemic. Although 2020 is now behind us, the pandemic still has a strong hold on our lives, and as such, the time for dalgona coffee, cloud bread, and smoking ovens still continues. But 2021 has more in stock. From already existing trends to completely new ones, from diet changes to popular kitchen appliances; we have for you a list of food trends you can expect in the year ahead!!
Look, Cook, and Serve – Pantry Edition
You heard us just right! With quarantine measures still in place and more people working from home, you are going to be looking into your pantry to use what you have and cook up some more home cooked meals. Be it a new recipe, or an attempt to perfect an old, more people will be experimenting with otherwise overlooked ingredients to turn it into something delicious!
Tik Tok Trends and Food for the Gram
Whipped coffee, homemade pizza, doughnut cereal, banana bread, and much more were incredibly trendy thanks to social media, especially Tik Tok and Instagram. However, the year ahead only allows more time, creativity, and space for these food trends to grow and take the world by storm one viral recipe at a time! Social media also has the ability to grow the food community and bring them closer. Restaurants will use these options to share behind the scenes videos as well as some easy recipes so people can enjoy restaurant quality meals within the comfort and safety of their own homes during these times. Also, small food business can highly benefit from the exposure gained via these platforms to generate additional food sales.
Flexitarian Lifestyles
For people who do not completely want to eliminate meat from their diets, and but still want to keep it under control; can switch to a flexitarian diet. The concept is to make meat consumption such as that of a “cheat day” – just once in a while or probably just the weekends! Since a lot of people do want to make a switch but are not able to do it right away or don’t want to go fully plant based, this option proves highly feasible, and we can expect it to be on the rise in the year ahead!
Baking, Caking, and More Baking
A delicious batch of cookies and cupcakes never hurt no one. With the lockdown in place, in-house chefs have been on a rise and so have in-house bakers! Readily available YouTube and Instagram tutorials are enough to make anyone a pretty decent pastry chef. The year 2021 is looking at new baking recipes, hacks, and delicious treats to create at home. One such familiar trend was the home-baked banana bread last year. This, however, is set to continue with even more people indulging in its flavour and health benefits, and most importantly, its easy-to-follow recipe.
Vegetarianism, Veganism, and Plant-based Foods
With everything that has been changing over the past year, many people have begun making efforts to be environmentally conscious. In a bid to be eco-friendly, veganism and vegetarianism are on the rise. Apart from people who have maintained a vegan friendly diet for most of their life, a lot of others have also been making a shift from meat centred diets for different reasons. In such situations, plant-based foods are becoming extremely popular. From plant-based burgers, sausages, and even deli slices, the options are limitless as restaurants continue to innovate through this pandemic making food more appetising and exciting for all the foodies out there!
Take Away and Home Delivery to the Rescue
With lockdowns being implemented on and off almost everywhere, visiting restaurants has become somewhat difficult. Also, most individuals may not actually get the time to prepare a home cooked meal with their busy schedules. The chances of this situation changing anytime soon are very slim, making this a prevalent problem in the present year as well. To tackle this, a lot of restaurants are resorting to delivery services and takeaway offers to encourage people to place orders and relax with a plate full of good food. Apart from maintaining their usual restaurant standards, both the delivery services and restaurants are ensuring strict protocol for precautionary measures against COVID. This makes food delivery not only enjoyable but safe as well!
The Use of Air-Fryers
The traditional deep fryer is a popular kitchen appliance that makes for some decadent fried food. However, the excessive oil usage and calories that come with it are not so pleasing. To save the day, we have the humble air fryer which is slowly but surely beginning to gain fame. The air fryer allows you to enjoy the same decadent meals with less wastage due to its ability to effectively fry items without the use of oil. This also allows you to cut down on calories, helping you maintain a relatively healthy eating standard, even when you want some crispy, rich, fried food!