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trend s
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trends
2 0 17
Here are our picks for 10 food trends we think will be big in 2017. These trends aren’t only about the food we eat, but also the culture around food, from sustainability concerns to the actual act of cooking. In compiling this list, we noticed one idea that unites lots of the trends we’ve included - the individual is taking ownership of, and responsibility for, the food they consume. The focal point of food is undergoing a seismic shift, migrating away from the supermarket shelves (marked by the slowing of supermarket growth in 2016), and back into our own hands. Supper clubs, the rise of cook-from-scratch recipe kits like Gousto, the popularity of farmers markets, and amateur experimentation in everything from home brewing to cheese making are just a few examples of this. To help select our trends, we used insight from Gousto’s team of recipe developers and nutritionists, customer behaviour data and our unique knowledge of food suppliers throughout the UK and beyond. While we make no claim to predict the future, we hope our list can spark some well-intentioned debate and, if you can excuse the pun, some food for thought.
FOOD TRENDS 2017
“MEATY”
V EG eta r i a n FO O D Though most Brits eat meat - less than 10% of Gousto customers order only vegetarian recipes - we’re becoming more open-minded about incorporating a few more ‘meat-free Mondays’ into our diet (great news for environmentalists...and cows). Meals which replace the meaty main feature with a similarly ‘meaty’ vegetable or cheese are a crossover favourite with both carnivores and vegetarians alike.
The Impossible Burger An intriguing example of “meaty” vegetarian food comes from Impossible Foods, the pioneering business founded by Stanford biochemistry professor Pat Brown. Their Impossible Burger claims to look and taste just like a beef burger, but is in-fact entirely plant-based!
1 ‘Meaty’ vegetarian foods like miso-glazed aubergine, cauliflower steak, sesame feta, roasted butternut squash or halloumi steak appeal to the masses with their satisfying textures and robust heartiness.
Photo: Lemony Halloumi & Sweet Chilli Salad. See the Gousto recipe here.
FOOD TRENDS 2017
BUTCHERY C LASS ES
A surge in the popularity of butchery classes has already begun, coinciding with an increasing interest in the journey of an animal from farm to plate. We’re developing a stronger sense of conscience about our food, and with that comes a desire to understand what goes into preparing it for consumption. Butchery classes are an outcome of this change. Farms across the United Kingdom such as The Wellbeing Farm in Lancashire, Peelham Farm in Berwickshire and Maynard’s Farm in Shrewsbury offer the chance to get carving for the day (and best of all, you can keep the cuts). The appeal of butchery classes lies in the value they give customers, providing not only an unique one-off experience but skills you can take with you to use in your kitchen at home, as well as a new found appreciation for quality meat and the art of butchery.
A beast of a butcher: Ginger Pig’s hugely popular butchery classes take place in their Marylebone and Shepherd’s Bush shops. They last for 3.5 hours and include a practical butchery lesson, a two-course feast with wine and a joint or selection of sausages to take home. Price: £155 per person
Photo by: Ginger Pig Meat Book, Octopus Publishing Group
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FOOD TRENDS 2017
offal There’s no point in being squeamish about it - offal’s on the up, whether you like it or not. Sales of offal rose by nearly 20% from 2015 to 2016, motivated by both sustainability issues and an increased willingness to try new foods. The move toward public re-appreciation was pioneered by the chef Fergus Henderson, founder of London’s legendary St. John restaurant and author of ‘The Whole Beast: Nose To Tail Eating’, first published in 1994. ‘Nose to tail’ (and more recently ‘beak to claw’) eating has resonated with those concerned by the environmental impact of meat, while the more adventurous are drawn to offal for it’s novelty. However, it’s the unique textures and flavours that will bring offal back into the limelight in 2017.
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Bovine OffaL Cuts
1. TONGUE 2. BRAIN 3. SWEETBRADS 4. HEART 5. HONEYCOMB TRIPE
6. spleen 7. FLAT TRIPE 8. BIBLE TRIPE 9. LIVER 10. KIDNEY
11. LARGE INTESTINE 12. SMALL INTESTINE 13. TESTICLES 14. FOOT 15. tendon
Did you know? Offal is highly nutrient rich. It’s for this reason that when wolves make a kill the first parts of their prey they eat are offal.
Photo: chicken heart & red pepper kebabs.
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FOOD TRENDS 2017
FOOD WASTE
C O N S C I O U S N ESS Food waste is not new problem, but it’s only relatively recently that it has begun to be seen as both an environmental issue and a business opportunity. Young companies like Bio-Bean (turning waste coffee grounds into advanced biofuel energy) and Rubies In The Rubble (making condiments from unwanted fruit and vegetables) are capitalising on food waste, creating quality products while making a positive environmental impact in the process. Timo Boldt, Gousto’s CEO, has been vocal about the company’s mission to reduce food waste. Gousto offers a much less wasteful alternative to supermarket supply chains (these generate around 40% food waste), saving over 1 million kilos in potential food waste in 2016 and partnering with Love Food Hate Waste and The Oxford Food Bank.
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Did you know? 24 million slices of bread, 5.8 million potatoes, 5.9 million glasses of milk, 1.1 million eggs and 1.4 million bananas go to waste in the UK every day.
Photo: Gousto visits The Oxford Food Bank, September 2016.
FOOD TRENDS 2017
fer men tat ion Fermentation is an age old technique for preserving produce over the Winter months; it's used to make kimchi, sauerkraut, lassi and a great many other delicacies. Fermentation has been adopted by many of the world’s best restaurants, including Faviken in Sweden and Noma in Denmark, and it’s transition from survival technique to artisan tradition explains why it’s on our 2017 trends list. Fermentation isn’t particularly challenging, meaning it can be carried out at home easily enough, but the results create something that you just won't find in most shops today. It gives us all the chance to create distinctive, timeless tasting food in our own kitchen.
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FOOD TRENDS 2017
HOME COOKING
"When we learned to cook is when we became truly human," says Michael Pollan in 'Cooked', his 2016 Netflix mini-series about the culture behind cooking. If that'ss true, then cooking isn't something we should forget about any time soon! Research from Tesco in 2015 found that 54% of British people can't cook more than 5 meals from memory, while the average time spent cooking a main meal has dropped from 60 minutes in 1993 to 32 minutes in 2013. We expect to see a reignited passion in the value of home cooking not just as a functional activity, but as a way to relax, entertain and learn. Cooking is being used to tackle depression and other mental health issues, with Culinary Art Therapy (CAT) on the rise and mindfulness apps like Headspace incorporating cookingbased sessions into their offering. Gousto, meanwhile, differentiates its service from takeaways and ready meals by emphasising the myriad benefits of cooking from scratch.
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FOOD TRENDS 2017
SHAREABLE
FOOd Without doubt, one of food's greatest strengths is its ability to bring people together. As society becomes increasingly digitised, we have seen the dissolution of the family supper in favour of individualised eating habits and schedules. A reinvention of dinneras-social-event is due; over 2017 we expect to see people rediscovering the combination of cuisine and conversation by entertaining dinner guests at home, as well as connecting over meals in restaurants. Shareable food, from tapas and mezze to fondue and raclette, paella, t-bone steaks and everything in between, further the interactive element of a shared eating experience. These food types will rise in popularity as we look to reignite the face-to-face element of eating in 2017. What's more, there's science to back up the benefits of sharing food - researchers at the University of Antwerp published a report in 2015 showing that those who shared meals more frequently in childhood have an increased likelihood of behaving altruistically.
7 CHORIZO TAPAS SUPPER Ingredients for 4 people: 2 tbsp smoky chipotle paste ________________________ 52ml mayonnaise ________________________ 200g british mini cooking chorizo ________________________ 2 garlic cloves ________________________ 4 tbsp italian balsamic vinegar ________________________ 4 green peppers ________________________ 56g honey ________________________ 2 red onions ________________________ 2 spring onions ________________________ 800g potatoes See the Gousto recipe here.
FOOD TRENDS 2017
middle eastern CuiSINE
For Gousto, our Middle Eastern dishes have been well-received in terms of both popularity and taste. Our Turkish Lamb & DillInfused Bulgur is one of our 5 highest ranked recipes for taste, with an average rating of 5 stars from 2,277 customer reviews. The success of Middle Eastern influenced dishes like this, and why we’re expecting this cuisine to flourish more than ever over 2017, comes down to a variety of reasons. We’re becoming more willing to embrace new dishes, but we’re also more eager to discover new ingredients; spices like baharat, sumac and ras-el-hanout contribute to exciting taste sensations. What’s more, there’s a good trade of time for taste with many Middle Eastern dishes, with some recipes taking as little as 20 minutes to prepare.
Red Pepper and Sumac Hummus Cut 3 Romano Peppers in half and sprinkle with 1 tbsp sumac and a big pinch of salt, then drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven at 160°C for 35-40 min. Meanwhile, drain and rinse the chickpeas and add them to a food processor with the juice of a lemon. Peel and chop one garlic clove, then add to the food processor with the roasted peppers, 2 tbsp tahini, 50ml olive oil, a splash of water and 1tsp salt. Blitz until smooth.
Photo: A typical Middle Eastern mezze.
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FOOD TRENDS 2017
new
FUSIONS The world has become a more multicultural global community than ever; this has brought with it some incredibly exciting opportunities for cultures to merge their cuisines. New fusions are the result - they offer unusual new taste sensations by taking elements of two or more diverse cultures and combining them.
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One intriguing emerging fusion is Mexican-Korean, which has been gaining popularity in both California and South Korea over the past decade. It’s blend of two cuisines results in dishes like bulgogi burritos, kimchi quesadillas and kali (short rib) sliders. Other fusions include JapaneseScandinavian, Chino-Latino and Peruvian-Japanese.
Gousto’s Moroccan Lamb Lasagne What makes this lasagne Moroccan is the addition of ras el hanout - a Morrocan spice blend made up of cumin, cinnamon, dried rose petals and more - and dried dates and sultanas to give a natural sweetness to the lamb. See the Gousto recipe here.
FOOD TRENDS 2017
local P RO D U C E
A growing public concern with food provenance has led to farmers markets enjoying a surge in popularity. Contrasting with the facelessness of packaged, standardised groceries sold in supermarkets, produce sourced from local suppliers gives it a context that's real and authentic. For a country rich in farm produce like the United Kingdom, the opportunity to enjoy locally grown food also helps us to connect with our environment, as well as the culinary history and traditions of our country. Furthermore, local produce allows us to trace food back to a point of origin, giving accountability and an assurance of quality.
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Gousto has a network of local suppliers that allows us to provide many of the benefits of locally farmed produced in our boxes. We also use seasonal and ‘wonky’ vegetables, as we believe strongly in the story behind food as something grown and nurtured, not just as what ends up on your plate.
fo o d
t rends
2017
now you're cooking
www.gousto.co.uk Words: William Godfrey | Design: Andrea Rampazzo