Food trends are ever changing. With new ingredients, combinations and cuisines cropping up everyday, it can be hard to keep up!
Most such trends are fleeting, but some are here to stay (at least for a few months!) and are worth learning more about. We’ve looked at current popular foodie trends and at what you, our readers and subscribers, are talking about. Here are our predictions for what 2018 has in store and what we’ll be cooking for you at The Devilled Egg.

Vegetables

Vegetables are the heroes with meatless restaurants cropping up everywhere and regular restaurants offering scrumptious alternative vegetarian and vegan tasting menus with national ad campaigns urging us to go vegan for a month. Even French Michelin starred chef Alain Passard is offering vegetarian and vegan tasting menu in his Paris restaurant, L’Arpège.

Meat substitutes

Speaking of vegetarian and vegan food, 2018 will see the rise in sales of meat substitutes, such as tofu, seitan and tempeh. We will certainly be offering plenty of tutorials and recipes including these through out the year. We are also looking forward to trying out heme (from the Greek word for ‘blood’). It is not available yet, but is at the cutting edge of food science and should open the door to environmentally sustainable meat alternatives. The beauty of this meat substitute is the fact that it imitates meat in colour, texture and even the fact that it ‘bleeds’ when cooked rare.

Food waste

Sustainable and local food is turning from a trend to a point of pride for a lot of foodie establishments. More chefs and home cooks are working with leftovers and becoming more environmentally conscious. We will be cooking with leftovers and providing lots of useful tips.

Bugs

Bugs will be creeping into food as a sustainable source of protein. Meat rearing for consumption is a big problem for our planet, with the vast amounts of greenhouse gasses and ammonia emitted, not to mention huge lands taken up by animals. 2 billions of people on the planet already consume insects, as they are a readily available and cheap source of protein. We will be incorporating them into some delectable dishes.

Filipino cuisine

Filipino food is an exciting international cuisine gaining in popularity around the world. We will be cooking up exciting dishes like Lumpia (whole prawn and pork spring rolls), Sinigang (sweet and sour soup flavoured with tamarind), Chicharron (spiced pork rind) and Ube ice-cream made out of purple sweet potato and coconut.

Japanese

We will also explore Japanese cuisine. Both Kaiseki – which is popular for its clean look and deceptive simplicity, focusing on local and seasonal produce and Japanese bar snacks – vegetarian, vegan as well as nose to tail cooking.

Hawaiian

Hawaiian poke bowls have become staples in many restaurants, especially around the US. We have been making an ahi poke (tuna) for a few years now, but they are being upgraded with different varieties of fish and even becoming vegetarian and vegan.

Extra helping

What else can you look forward to exploring this year:

• International street food is still gaining in popularity with more and more countries being added to the mix
• Cooking on fire
• Floral flavours – in sweet and savoury cooking (rose, lavender, etc…)
• Coffee
• Mushroom coffee
• Fusion cuisine and hybrid dishes
• Fermentation
• Real bread
• Seaweed – it’s health benefits are numerous and it is also a great seasoning
• Non-alcoholic drinks and cocktails are becoming the norm with 0% beer, ale, wine, even gin, as well as cold pressed juices (several restaurants even serve a ‘juice flight’ with their tasting menus) and charcoal activated water