As long as humankind can stop and look backwards and forwards and establish a comparison, we will see evolution. If we look back at the world of cooking, we can see how it has changed over the years. Not only cooking techniques and methods have changed, but also the combination of different foods and even the most popular ingredients in the kitchen.
The passing of time brings new information that influences how we cook our food, how we mix it and eat it, and it also influences which options are available at markets.
Let’s see a few cooking trends for the next decade:
Private veggie gardens
A growing trend is to grow vegetables, fruits and herbs in the back garden of your own house in order to consume fresh produce. There are people who also choose to raise chickens and pigs, if they have enough space.
According to data from the National Gardening Association of the United States, home farming has grown by 24% since 2007.
Exotic foods
We used to watch with some revulsion documentaries about foreign lands where they would usually eat live octopus, dogs, raw or fried insects, human placenta, snakes, pig’s ears and more. Nowadays, it could be said that things have changed. The world of food has gone global and every day more people choose to try these exotic foods that would have been hated in the past.
Among Americans it is becoming normal to have some of these exotic foods. In fact, there are a few companies such as Bizarre Foods that promote their consumption.
Exquisite vegetables
Another growing trend in the last years is vegetarianism. And it appears this will continue to grow in the future.
In the United States, about 12% of women under the age of 35 do not consume meat, and 3% of the total adult population are strict vegetarians, which means that they do not eat meat, fish or poultry.
Fine-dining vending machines
In Asia, Europe and the United States, it is common to see vending machines that offer food such as sushi, noodles, lobsters, ice creams and cakes.
This trend will evolve further, and in the future vending machines will offer delicious food anytime, anywhere.
Fewer artificial preservatives
Many companies have decided to modify their products and stop the excessive use of preservatives, colouring and flavouring additives, and sugar substitutes. The trendsetter was Häagen-Dazs and many other companies such as Frito-Lay, Kraft, Campbell, Beech Nut and Starbucks have followed suit.
Unbreakable pairs
Another growing trend is producing a certain food that is conceived to be eaten together with a specific ingredient. For example, Daelia’s biscuits for cheese or Brix Chocolate’s bars for wine. This makes us wonder if it just about combinations for refined palates or associations between food categories.
Street food
Freedom of movement has also reached the world of cooking. Another growing trend is street food, meaning food that can be eaten on the street thanks to mobile food trucks that offer tacos, candy, ice cream, burgers and more.