Upcoming Food Trends for 2010

By: Andrew Coppolino

Even though there is always a bit of crystal-balling involved, keeping an eye on upcoming trends for a new year may be beneficial to keeping your restaurant current and interesting—and perhaps slightly ahead of the curve. That’s especially important as we move into what can be the traditionally slower, post-holiday winter months.

The flavours and cuisines of Vietnam and Korea have been steadily growing in popularity. Restaurants are not necessarily overhauling menus to represent these dishes, but they are drawing more and more on items like kimchi, the spicy Korean condiment that’s historically used in the pickling of vegetables, especially cabbage.

Another hot item is banh mi: Saigonese subs. It’s a dish that is touted to become a growing trend as well. Incidentally, that’s where Waterloo Region has been slightly ahead of the proverbial curve: there’s been a small banh mi shop tucked into a concourse in Kitchener’s east end for the last several years.

Perhaps part of the trick is knowing what’s a trend and what’s a fad. Items you see on menus today have worked their way through the industry and from other places over several years. It takes a bit of analytic study and research to determine what’s on the horizon and if it will stick around.

Companies like the Centre for Culinary Development (CCD) in San Francisco have full-time trendologists on staff looking for and tracking trends with a methodology called “trend-mapping.” Are trends indeed going to be around for a while, or are they merely passing fads perhaps like the recent cupcake craze?

Marc Halperin of the CCD notes that their research attempts to distinguish between fads, which will not have a lasting influence, and trends which will hold on for five years or so.

“We look at trends in a couple of ways. One of them is the macro-trends, which are larger areas where products will be developed and micro-trends which are specific examples of those macro-trends,” said Halperin.

One fairly solid group of trends that got rolling in the middle of 2009 and will continue to grow this year are what Halperin describes as the areas of nostalgia, health, and comfort.

“These will play a role this year and probably for the next five years to come. We are in fact seeing that today,” according to Halperin.

The literature, explains Halperin, shows that in more difficult economic times consumers are notoriously conservative and downright regressive falling back to familiar products, memorable experiences, and the “safe” emotional connections to food that they’ve had in sunnier economic times.

The New York Times recently reported that early-bird specials have been making something of a comeback, and that the revival is not reserved just for seniors. Since the economic slow-down, a younger demographic as well as families have been making their way to restaurants to take advantage of discounts and special pricing.

Keeping abreast of international flavours in the trend analysis, organizations like CCD identify flavours such as those that usually characterize Vietnamese and Cambodian cuisines as well as regional Chinese that moves away from more popular Cantonese and Szechuan tastes and cooking styles.

“South American flavours are going to be playing a large role and particularly those from Peru and Brazil. The cuisines of both of those countries are beginning to get very interesting.

“We will see the exploitation of three particular areas in food-product development and in restaurants: health, authenticity, and the premium quality of ingredients in the food and beverages that are being offered,” Halperin said.

There is nothing particularly earth-shattering in some of these pronouncements, but they are wise words—and potentially interesting and beneficial trends—to follow as 2010 gets fully underway.

Some long-term trends to watch:

• Basic flavours and ingredients are part of a scaled-back economy; so will restaurants focus on basic, fresh home-style comfort food but with big flavour?
• Going along with home-style foods is an added emphasis on family dining that’s relaxed and fun;
• More and more restaurants are offering healthy, inexpensive breakfasts including a possible renaissance of oatmeal;
• If people do dine out just a little bit less than they did before the R-word, it could mean they will demand a wider range of unique products in their supermarkets which they will bring home to prepare;
• Latin and Cuban flavour profiles will continue and move through Central American to South America;
• People will focus on making sure they are getting what they need for themselves. They will care about what they’re eating and where it comes from, as well as if it is good for them (gluten-free, Omega-3 for example).