What will we eat at restaurants in the coming months?? TheFork, the world’s leading app for finding and booking restaurants online, has analyzed the trends emerging globally on its platform and more generally on the web, utilizing the expertise of trend hunters from NellyRodi, a consulting firm specialized in trend forecasting and innovation.
1 Soul Food
At home or at a restaurant, nourishment no longer means just satisfying the palate. Consumers are seeking true “soul food” — dishes capable of satisfying the body, soul, and mind by combining the benefits of functional ingredients with moments of pleasure and relaxation. Restaurants will increasingly consider human moods in their recipes so they can offer dishes suited to their diners’ moods. This means going far beyond detox foods, smart foods, and comfort foods. New frontiers might also lead to experiments like that of the Serotonin Eatery restaurant in Australia, whose menu contains only serotonin-based dishes, or the American chain Dr Smood, whose claim “food is the new healthcare” speaks for itself. There are many examples also in Italy, such as the unique Cannabistro in Naples, the first Bistrò & Cocktail Bar in Europe Hemp Based. Its menu aligns with the concept of a modern eatery: few dishes but concise, clean and without waste, where hemp is always present in a different form.
2 Wow Effect
It has been years since we understood that restaurant customers do not just look for good food, but want to live an experience. Based on an analysis conducted with Baba by TheFork on its current and potential community, those who go to a restaurant do so either with an intention of discovery or with a social purpose. It is clear that to satisfy these needs, food quality alone is not enough; service and atmosphere are essential too. And it is precisely on these levels that the challenge lies to “engage” all the senses of the diners. Some recent openings are significant examples. Omakase in Shanghai, offers a selection focused on discovering new and surprising ingredients combined to the chef’s liking, while the environment recreates colors and emotions inspired by cherry blossom. In Italy, an example is Piano 35 in Turin, the highest restaurant in Italy surrounded by a biodynamic greenhouse, inside the Intesa Sanpaolo skyscraper. In the kitchen, Marco Sacco delivers a unique culinary experience.
3 Ristoceutica
The nutraceuticals become an integral part of nutrition and thus of catering. To bring to the table dishes able to promote well-being for body and mind, ingredients with positive effects for health, prevention, and treatment of diseases are increasingly finding a place also in catering. From the “cannabidiol craze” already exploded some years ago overseas to the emergence of new ingredients with which we may become more and more familiar, such as Reishi mushrooms, lotus seeds, starfruit, kombucha, jackfruit. Many examples also in Italy, one of the most peculiar being Etto in Naples which has an innovative formula where you pay by weight with options suitable for all diets (raw, indulgent, tasty, protein-rich, healthy, and vegan).
4 The three Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle)
The fight against waste and more generally a greater commitment to environmental sustainability, transparency, and traceability are not new concepts in the catering world. They will continue in 2020 to meet the demands of an increasingly aware consumer, impacting the choice of raw materials, their preparation, but also the dining spaces. Think of edible packaging in some fast food or experiments like Zero Waste Bistro, a pop-up restaurant built for the WantedDesign Manhattan fair at the NYCxDesign Festival, made with recycled cardboard panels for beverages and surface material in recycled and recyclable plastic. A very particular example in Italy is Unforgettable, a social table with only ten seats. Chef Christian Mandura offers a tasting menu of about ten courses that puts “the vegetable at the center,” respecting criteria of dietary balance and sustainability. The restaurant Natura in Adro – on the other hand – bases its philosophy on sustainability, using local raw materials and memory, with dishes inspired by flavors of the past.
5 Food cross-over
Food becomes much more than just a creative pretext for fashion or beauty brands, positioning itself at the center of disruptive offerings. We are witnessing in the catering and large-scale retail sectors a growing blend of offers to engage consumers, especially with the beauty sector. On one hand, beauty research and development labs create textures for their cosmetics similar to food, such as granitas and fruit compotes, emphasizing the use of “super” ingredients (pomegranate, matcha, honey, and coconut). On the other hand, products we usually associate with face creams, like collagen, are appearing on restaurant tables. Hybridization also reaches spaces. For example, the cosmetic brandBenefit launched the Benefit Cosmetics Roller Liner Diner pop-up, a classic American Diner where you can delight your palate and buy exclusive beauty products. And in Italy? The Floret restaurant in Florence, hosted inside the Luisa Via Roma store, is a true oasis of taste to rejuvenate from the city’s frenzy. A place that is a restaurant, a café, a juice and cocktail bar, but also a co-working space. The cuisine is designed to rejuvenate the body: organic and seasonal ingredients composed with a detox perspective. Beauty preparations are not missing, such as the Collagen Inner Beauty Boost Shot, rich in probiotics, improves hair and nail growth, replaces beneficial flora, and nourishes the skin.
6 Food delirium
Visual, aesthetic, creative, sensory object: food becomes a playground where codes are overturned. The aesthetic and chromatic components of dishes become areas of artistic experimentation. Over the years we have seen various proposals alternate aimed at astonishing, especially through social media: glittered food, the unicorn effect, freakshakes, matcha mania, avocado everywhere… recently the craze for the Baby Yoda Cake has exploded. It’s hard to predict what the coming months will bring. It seems that dishes like fluffy pancakes, “nostalgic” foods like grandma’s classic apple pie, ube ice cream, multiple varieties of hummus including as dessert, and much more are gaining ground. Only time will tell which of these trends are destined to outlast passing fads. In the meantime, some restaurants have successfully drawn inspiration from the novelties, for example Humus in Rome which offers varied and colorful hummus from pumpkin and chestnut to chocolate.
7 Smart Consumption
Technology is increasingly becoming an ally in the production, preparation, and consumption of food and dining experiences outside the home. Thus, apps help simplify parts of the restaurant experience – TheFork included, of course – or technological development becomes a lever for creating new ingredients. In 2020 we will see more and more vegan alternatives to meat, for example. In Milan it is already possible to try “The Miracle Burger“, the first Burgerball made with Beyond Meat, the 100% plant-based meat from The Meatball Family. Another now widespread trend is that of robot waiters. They have been introduced some time ago, for example, by the Japanese restaurant Sushi Sun Magliana in Rome, but also Etto Sushi in Florence or even the Fujiyama restaurant in Turin. The dishes are brought to the table by some robots that deliver the plates to customers using trays, who then “release” them by pressing a button, allowing the robots to return to the kitchen.
8 (Re)mix Food
As for the types of cuisine we will see explode in 2020, Asian culinary hotspots like Hong Kong, Shanghai e Taiwan are paving the way for their ability to hybridize various types of Asian cuisines. Also, in the rest of the world this (re)mix trend will be present. A prime example in Italy is Bunker Kitchen Club in Rome, which presents itself as a space for cultural, social and gastronomic sharing and aims to pursue the path of taste at any cost, without limits or prejudices. Moving towards the Middle East, the Israeli culinary scene is attracting all the attention and collecting success, embodied by a generation of globetrotting Israeli chefs spreading their spicy flavors everywhere. In Rome, kosher specialties, Roman culinary delights, and Middle Eastern dishes are served in the three different locations of Baghetto: in Via del Portico d’Ottavia and one in Via Livorno, to which the modern Sughetto has recently been added, a young venue with a contemporary kosher dairy-free proposal. Finally, speaking of refined cuisine, Martinica has obtained its first recognition with Marcel Ravin. Another trend concerning types of cuisine will be seacuterie, which involves specialties from charcuterie, but based on fish. This is the case of Salumare – Fish Deli in Civitanova Marche.
9 Ristofamily
According to the study conducted by Baba for TheFork, current and especially potential platform customers often go out to eat with family. In fact, even globally, multiple reports confirm that consumers are looking for dining offers that meet family needs. Therefore, we will see growth in specialized proposals. An example? Pizza e Tata in Rome, where you can enjoy the best pizza combined with traditional Roman dishes. The venue has a space dedicated to children aged 3 to 12 with babysitting service, our Tata!
10 Foodastrology
Choosing dinner based on the zodiac sign? The idea may seem crazy, yet some brands – like Fluffe – are beginning to launch lines of food products with different flavors depending on zodiac signs.
