Top food trends in 2020: From going 'glocal' to sustainability

 From the revival of traditional cuisine to the growing popularity of some international ones, sustainability to going 'glocal', experiential dining over fine dinning; the Indian food and beverage industry will see these trends in 2020, say experts.

IANSlife spoke to veterans of the field who share major food trends that might make wave in the year ahead.

1. Chef Zoravar Kalra
Traditional v/s modern cuisine: Diners globally, today, have become quite adventurous and have allowed their curiosity to get the better of them. This curiosity to try new dishes/cuisines has given space for fusion variations to come up. There is enough demand for authentic as well as contemporary Indian cuisine in their respective spaces. Modern Indian cuisine is only set to take centrestage in times to come.

Going ‘glocal': Glocal (globally local) is the new wave. The times to come will witness use of many international ingredients in Indian dishes and many Indian spices/ingredients in international favourites, not just within the culinary boundary of India, but overseas as well. The newer generation is ready to experiment in order to find newer and finer flavours.

International cuisines: After Japanese and Teppanyaki, other international cuisines like Vietnamese, Cambodian, Mexican and Lebanese will see a surge in popularity in India in the coming years.

2. Chef Vineet Manocha
Experiential dining: It is becoming trendy. More and more chef led establishments with open interactive kitchens, customised food offerings are getting popular. The guests are getting more and more inquisitive to know the details or story behind the food and the reason why chef has brought a particular item on the menu.

The gut health: Health especially the gut health is a big trend. Fermented food, fermented non-alcoholic drinks are getting popular.

Sustainability and hyper local produce: These are already trending and will continue. Veganism is getting popular and so is organic food. Guests are taking more and more interest in local farm raised produce. Getting to know the source (traceability) satisfies the guests immensely.

Zero-waste movement: Chefs are becoming adventurous in using the peels, scales and presenting all the wastage as blissful food.

Delivery and take-out is increasing: The restaurants have to become more and more delivery and take-away friendly.

3. Chef Qu Xue Wen
Cook-your-own-dish: Not to be mistaken as a meal kit, the do it yourself Chinese cuisine is an amalgamation of ingredients, spices and hot sauces which gives you the liberty of cooking your own dish, according to your palate, quite similar to the Chinese steamboat.

Faux meat for the pescatarian: Food consumers today are quite evidently getting ready for plant-based meat. Producers of meal alternatives consider this as a unique opportunity to introduce their products into the food market. This is a game-changer for the nascent imitation-meat market, which accounts for about only one per cent of the global meat consumption.

Open hearth cooking: One of the biggest trends of 2020 is the live fire/wood fire cooking. It is gaining popularity every day and diners seem to love the idea of getting to interact with and watch their meals being prepared. Even though the wood fire oven for pizza is quite common, the open hearth gives you a lot more options.

4. Chef Osama Jalali
Regional food: A lot of regional foods will make come back. The modern cooking techniques like molecular gastronomy will fade away.

Modern plating: Modern ways of plating will play a major part in 2020. The idea of community table will grow.


5. Chef Vicky Ratnani
Farm to table concept: I think more vegetarian food, more plant-based food, the concept of directly from the farm to table basically healthier eating.

6. Chef Tarun Sibal
Collaborative cuisine: It will be the biggest trend in the year 2020. Collaborative cuisine is about combined ingredients, native cuisines, cooking techniques and flavour combinations and dish out magic on plates.

Mushrooming: You will be seeing a lot of use of mushroom in the year 2020. There will be the use of Mushroom Coffee, Mushroom Chocolate and Mushroom Pickle, etc. are the things that you will get acquainted within 2020.

Grazing tables: Family style grazing table is a feast for the eye and an open invitation for everyone. One can lay the buffet of breads, dips, fresh or dried fruits, nuts, bite-sized sandwiches, as long as it can be picked up with the hands and will save time and space. Chefs will use the grazing table for community-style feasts in restaurants.

7. Chef Manoj Rawat
Less fine dinning: As hotels, special tables or fine dining will be less frequent as whole mind-set of get together is changing. Now days, its semi-professional not much of hype and different venues.

Special menus/foods: As food allergy and intolerance is more and more common (thanks for medical science for exploring), hence, a requirement for more menus and varieties for celiac, keto diet, vegan foods and more. This will also affect food packaging or companies as well.

Hotels preferred destinations: However, there would be more and more options for food and beverages, but I still feel that hotels would still be preferred place for events, brunches, parties and more.

8. Chef Sidharth Sharma
Eco-conscious eating: It will gain momentum, things like where and how your food is being produced.

African cuisine: In terms of culinary trends, African food seems to be getting a lot of attention globally.IANS