Weird, wacky and wonderful food trends fuelled by social media

LUTHO PASIYA

SINCE the onset of Covid-19, people started thinking more about how they consume food.

2020 was the year of weird and crazy food trends fuelled by social media.

If you’re wondering which new trends came from lockdown cooking and how they changed our relationship with food, we have some answers from the experts.

Chef and restaurateur Nick Liberato shares his picks. Bread and desserts Baking things like banana bread and focaccia have not only been interactive food activities with the family but also, ways to burn some time, relieve stress and make use of things going bad, preventing food waste. Home gardens People had more time on their hands and home gardens, in and outdoor, were not only therapeutic but took advantage of underutilised space and cut down on costs of what was needed from the shop.

Mixology at home With bars being closed for so long, people were mixing it up at home making their own syrups and using what was in the fridge to build the perfect cocktail or at least something that works at home. Live cooking demos Social media was more popular and interactive than ever. Most chefs were cooking online but there was a big boom of home cooks sharing their secrets and creating platforms of their own. Cocktails to-go I’m not sure why most bars were not doing this before, but it’s a great way for someone to take the restaurant experience home and have a proper cocktail without the labour and long waits.

According to BBC Good Food, these trends also continued to shape the way we think about food.

Celebrating seasonality

There once was a time when people only ate food that was in season. A time before people could access any ingredient, at any time of year. For many, this way of eating, as nature intended, made a comeback thanks to the lockdown.

Baking the internet

Throughout 2020, people’s social media feeds were flooded with images of beautiful banana bread, flapjacks, cookies, cakes, cinnamon buns, scones and homemade bread.

For many, it was down to having more time on their hands to get stuck into a new (or in some cases, old but forgotten) hobby.

Some baked to give back to others, whipping up treats for key workers and vulnerable family members, others turned to baking as a means of therapy and stress-relief – nothing calms the mind like the mixing, kneading, and rolling of dough.

Recipe freestyling

So, you didn’t have the vinegar a recipe called for and used the brine from a jar of pickles instead – and it worked!

Even the purists learnt to relax and go with what they had, happily swopping and substituting when ingredients were hard to come by, and making some pretty good discoveries along the way.