Apr
08

5 Surprising Food Trends

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Ash Bennett

There is always a new trend in food, the latest place, a brave new chef. Yet I have been noticing a leaning, a slowing down. It seemed we ran as far as we could from the meat and three veg and ever since food trends have been moving and shifting. In such short time there have been untold evolutions; from the sparse white plate where the meal was so delicately made it could have been art; to impossible food combinations. Think, salt and caramel, bacon with dessert, even a donut mixed with a croissant. Perhaps Australia, in particular, felt the need to shrug off the images of plain, mostly British food, but lately I get the feeling there is a hankering for a time when of when the meals were real. Perhaps it is a reaction to life’s furious pace; or the bombardment of electric devices, but I get the feeling the new foodie is ready to look back and mine the wisdom of the past. It’s OK. It’s not their parents they looking to, they can still comfortably rebel. They want to go back further. They have a suspicion that their parents may have missed something that they are now ready to rediscover. With so much fake, they want food that is  real.

No. 1: Eastern European Flavours

Proud of our warm weather Australians took easily Mediterranean and Asian cuisine, but it seems we have been in denial. It’s okay. We don’t always have to feel like it’s Summer and sometimes we can crave flavours that warm the heart and the bones.  Imagine hot roast bread filled with cheese and butter; a cracked raw egg is still cooking even as presented; Khachapuri is heaven on a plate, even if you can’t pronounce the name. Kasha, smoked meat, root vegetables, dumplings, pumpernickel bread; all peasant food, but lately they are remerging in eating place all over, albeit in new and ingenious forms.

No. 2: Fermented Food

Sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, beet kvass. You will soon see this grandma food being served up as condiments and sides everywhere. Not only do they enhance the flavour of the main meal, fermented foods are fast gaining a miracle reputation for curing all kinds of ailments.

No. 3: Sweetbreads or Offal

Our parents were wimps and they rejected this delicacy with a pretty name. To give them a little credit, offal was poverty food and as such, was usually served up quite bland. Think; tripe boiled in milk. But offal is is making a come back. For one thing it is extremely nutrient dense, and if at first you have to act a little brave, you’ll soon be hooked.  You can start off slow with a homestyle Steak and Kidney pie or a good duck liver pate and soon you will be graduating to BBQ Beef tongue sliders, Blood Sausage with pine nuts and raisins or fluffy crumbed brains served horseradish mayonnaise.

No. 4: Fried chicken

Who isn’t sick of being good. Take a sip of your (now considered healthy) craft beer and sink your teeth into the still deliciously illegal deep fried, cayenne pepper and hot smoked paprika crumbed chicken.

No. 5: The Genuine Hippy Carrot Cake

This spice and carrot cake comes complete with with sultanas and chunks of tinned pineapple. There is so much walnut studded cream cheese that every moist mouthful get’s it’s fair share of icing. Hail the return of the Genuine Hippy Carrot Cake.

Oh… Is it still not fashionable. Really, do I really have to wait another 40 years. Please all you foodies out there, Bring it back!