Look Out For These Major Food Trends Of 2017

Source: FoodBeast.com

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2016 was a wild year for tons of great food. The explosion of poke onto the scene, tons of spicy foods in fast food and challenge forms, the massive growth of ramen, and many more trends were huge throughout this past year.

As the year comes to a close, several reports from Whole Foods, Forbes, Specialty Foods, and more have surfaced and sites have published their opinions on what trends in food will be big for the coming year. After taking a look at several of these lists, and based on what we've seen here at Foodbeast, we've compiled our own list of predictions for what trends will surface, grow, or explode in the coming year.

In 2016, bowls were a big trend, but relegated mainly to the realms of acai and poke. Expect more bowls of various kinds to come out in the new year, with bibimbap, breakfast bowls, and more rising up in popularity as we head into 2017. Rice won't be the starch vehicle of choice as well, with french fries and other starchy ingredients becoming the bases to several new bowls.

This past year hosted tons of trends related around spicy food, from the Nashville hot craze going around fast food restaurants to spicy ramen challenges and everything in between. Don't expect this trend to cool down, because spicy food is getting increasingly popular across the United States.

With the price of eggs recovering nicely, eggs have been popping up everywhere in restaurants. The huge trend that comes up with that is what has to be characterized as yolk porn - tons of oozing dishes topped with that perfectly cooked egg with the runny yolk that adds so much flavor. Yolks have been huge in 2016, and will continue to be in 2017.

Global authenticity isn't just a desire anymore - it's a demand

As we become more educated, more understanding of each other, and more invested in traditional culture, we've begun to demand more authenticity in our food. Gone are the days where "American Chinese" or "American Italian" was the accepted norm. People want authentic chefs to bring in traditional food, and chefs have been responding. With authentic Filipino breakfasts, restaurants like Tim Ho Wan bringing genuine dim sum, and a huge increase in demand for authentic Japanese food like Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki, we are moving away from "Americanizing" dishes and looking for traditional food more often.

Plant-based meat is just getting started

We've seen how popular the Beyond Burger and Impossible Burger have become with their releases and how close they can get to real meat. As those two products continue to grow and sell, it makes room for other plant-based replicas to enter the market - and there are a ton. From New Wave Foods' plant-based shrimp to Follow Your Heart's vegan cheese and eggs, the market for plant-based protein is still on its meteoric rise and will continue to penetrate stores and restaurants across the country.

America's favorite food color is now purple

Purple is one of the most attractive new colors consumers want to see on their plates. While purple cabbage has always been a staple and acai has been big for a while, other pieces of purple produce like radishes, purple sweet potatoes, and purple corn are gaining popularity on plates and in stores. Expect this color to find its way into more places in the coming year.

Source: Food Beast.Com
January 12, 2017