The document discusses various food trends for 2018 including a focus on funky flavors like pickles and kimchi, bitter greens, smoky flavors, tangy flavors, and complex sugars. Ingredient trends include using vegetable stalks, spices like ras el hanout, seaweed, popping seeds, and vegetable peelings. Chef trends highlight the fusion styles of Louis Tikaram and cultural influences of Victoria Eliasdottir. Dish trends include smaller half plates, dramatic plating styles, empowering diners to plate, and finding perfection in nature. Dining trends include home dining with strangers, on-demand recipe kits, and watching mukbang videos of people eating large quantities of food.

1. Trending 2018
What, where, how, with whom & why we’re cooking & eating.
A man (wiser than me) once said: “Never make predictions, especially about the future.”
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2. FLAVOUR TRENDS
1. We will keep demanding FUNKY from our food. We
want pickles not cucumbers, kimchi not cabbage,
and miso with everything. Props to David Chang for
making umami about more than just cheese.
2. There will never be enough BITTER GREENS to
absorb unctuous fatty cuts of meat and sweet
sticky fruit macerates and weeds will be king.
3. We will all agree on getting SMOKY in the kitchen,
beyond salmon and Action Bronson.
4. The TANG that you taste at the back of a good
sauce will only get stronger and we’ll all be partying
in acid land with citrus and vinegar.
5. We’ll still have a SWEET TOOTH, but it will be
complicated. Because not all sugar is white; think
woody maple syrup, intense black molasses, or the
tropical coconut sugar.

3. INGREDIENT TRENDS
1. Forget the leaves, it’s all about the STALKS. Sweet white
stalks of chard, the bitter green of kale, and earthy purple
stalks the come from beetroot.
2. HOT is still hot, but less about searing chill and more about
the warmer more complex heat of Moroccan Ras El
Hanout, Peruvian Aji Amarillo, Iraqi yellow Amba, Syria’s
aleppo pepper and Korean Gochujang.
3. Not just for wrapping sushi, SEAWEED is trending. We all
know Nori, but what about Kombu’s salty umami, deep
fresh Wakame and Arame’s savoury sweetness.
4. Long relegated to granola and healthy blogger grams,
SEEDS are popping. Toasted linseed, ground black
sesame, liquefied poppy & pumpkin’s dessert-like crunch.
5. You know mise en place will never be the same when
PEELINGS become garnish. Charred beetroot skins
blended with yogurt, roasted onion skins ground with
coriander seeds and peppercorns, and hunks of pumpkin
skin confit with orange peel and thyme.

4. CHEF TRENDS
1. Fijian-Chinese-Indian, raised in Australia and now
cooking delicious ‘Asian’ in LA, LOUIS TIKARAM and
his food is what you get from this mad cultural fusion.
2. Hailing from Iceland, VICTORIA ELIASDÓTTIR is all
Nordic class. Pure flavours combined with plays to her
heritage are trademark at her uber-cool Dóttir.
3. KEIICHI TERADA wants to make us feel simple and
warm with his rebooted Japanese/French - a challenge
for the prodigy that earned a Michelin star within 2
months of opening.
4. Take Root by ELISE KORNACK is Brooklyn defined.
Modern and authentic with a real swagger, she uses her
artistic chops to make tasting menus sensorial.
5. MARTIN BENN followed the convict route from England
to Australia but brought with him a resume filled with
names like Marco Pierre White. At Sepia he creates food
that is at the same time gutsy and elegant.

5. DISH TRENDS
1. Heaving fully-loaded plates are for the buffet, but
more chefs are showing half the restraint and double
the style serving on the ½ PLATE.
2. There is no evolutionary need for dessert, so it
should at least be fun! Forget the plates, set the
table with a fresh tablecloth or mirror and then start
throwing down a SWEET CLIMAX.
3. Dining should be dramatic and by handing out
knives to diners, it’s only natural that chefs should
splash and slash their way to the MURDER SCENE.
4. Chefs know the pain of watching a dish go to
overcooked hell sitting on the pass. Sharing the
blame, they are EMPOWERING THE DINER to plate
up at the table (cooking stones, hot oil, mini-grater).
5. In 2007 Heston Blumenthal plated up ‘Sounds of the
Sea’ with panko sand and and clam foam and nine
years later Rene Redzepi created the ‘Vegetable
Field’ with malt soil. Find PERFECTION IN NATURE.

6. HEALTH TRENDS
1. Mushrooms are truly magical. With their amazing
immunological properties and Chinese medicine history,
GO FUNGHI with Reishi, Cloud Ear and Turkey Tail.
2. Movember and Dry January used to be calendar-limited,
but then hipsters grew year-round mustaches and 12
SOBER MONTHS wasn’t just the pain of triathletes. And
yes, mineral water goes with meat and fish.
3. No-one’s going to be fooled by zucchini spaghetti and
banana pancakes, but with SUPERFOOD MENU
TEMPLATE, we’re having spirulina pasta, turmeric waffles,
kelp pizza base & activated charcoal burger buns.
4. In a return to the teat, breast milk has been called ‘the
greatest supplement of all time’ with immunoglobins and
a superior whey to casein protein ratio. GOT MILK?
5. Essential oils aren’t just for THE TANTRICS amongst us.
Anise oil for arthritis, peppercorn oil for digestion,
mandarin oil for circulation and rosemary oil for beauty.

7. DINING TRENDS
1. Home dining apps are gaining fans amongst hobby
cooks moonlighting as chefs and curious or bored diners
inviting themselves to DINNER WITH STRANGERS.
2. Street food isn’t about festivals CRAMPING CREATIVITY
INTO A CAR PARK, but random encounters like the ones
we used to have with the beloved ice cream truck.
3. Everyone has a startup with no time to cook or chew. We
know soylent (the tube of nutritious slime) but the Silicon
Valley set continues to find new ways to make eating as
EFFICIENT AND JOYLESS as possible.
4. ON-DEMAND recipe kits combine the rush of takeaway
convenience and the self-satisfaction of actually using
your fully-loaded kitchen.
5. When (if) you’re ever done eating, you can now watch
someone else CHEW AND CHOMP their way to online
stardom. Mukbang is the latest trend where you watch
people on YouTube eat. Props to South Korea.

8. NO MORE TRENDS
1. From sucking green juices through straws, filling them
with salads, or turning them into dessert vessels, let’s
leave MASON JARS TO JAM.
2. Slates are sexy and coconut shells are aloha, but PLATE
CULTURE DESERVES RESPECT. Artists paint on white
canvasses and so should chefs. - white plates that let
sauces run and garnishes bling.
3. On Instagram we’re all NARCISSISTIC FOODIES, but by
giving food its own selfie (via the burger, donut or gelato
in an outstretched hand), there is surely no hope.
4. Rainbows went from natural perfection to modern
self-loathing. From Snapchat’s vomiting rainbow filter to
rainbow grilled cheese, i’ve given up on POTS OF GOLD.
5. There is a recipe for paella and you shouldn’t stray far.
Don’t CONFUSE INNOVATION WITH AUTHENTICITY like
Jamie Oliver did mixing chorizo in with a pan of Spanish
pride. Respect the classics.

9. FOOD IS NOT WHAT YOU COOK, BUT ABOUT WHAT YOU MAKE OTHERS TASTE.