If there’s one thing that never stays the same, it’s what food we are obsessing over. Except for Golden Gaytimes—those things are for life, okay. Per usual, 2018 is set to have some cracking food trends and because we consider ourselves foodie sleuths, we’ve rounded up everything you’ll be bingeing on throughout the year.
Meat-free meat? Alcohol-free alcohol? Will the madness ever end? Weeeelll, not this year. Food in 2018 is going to be mind-boggling and sometimes a little bit scary but let’s walk this journey together—one strange food trend at a time.
Alcohol-Free Alcohol
This is no time to freak out everyone, just take a few deep breaths and listen to what we have to say. With the rise of healthy people who prefer to live that #cleaneating lyfe, many people are cutting out alcohol completely. It’s only a matter of time before alcohol-free beer, wine and spirits hit the shelves in Australia which means you can still enjoy a gin and tonic on a hot summers day, without ending up in the gutter (we’re definitely not speaking from personal experience).
Gut-Friendly Food
2017 has seen an increase in people with intolerances to gluten, dairy and pretty much everything fun. We predict that in 2018 there’ll be a huge rise in foods available at cafes and restaurants specifically designed to help the gut—think more ferments, pickled veggies and low FODMAP foods for those gastro-challenged folk.
Meat-Free Meat
If you hadn’t noticed, heaps of your mates have probably turned vegan in 2017 that that’ll only increase in popularity through 2018. Instead of a sad grilled mushroom or a chickpea patty on your burger, we think 2018 might be the year for lab meat (LOL what?). Scientists all over the world are working on meat that’s made in a lab and totally vegan—even Leonardo DiCaprio has invested in companies working on plant-based meat substitutes. And y’all know that if it’s good enough for Leo, it’s good enough for you.
Table Tech
We reckon that 2018 will see a huge number of technological advancements in all things food. At the moment, apps like UberEats are our daily life-savers (literally) but we predict 2018 will be all about technology at restaurants and in delivery—basically, we’re just waiting for drones. TBH though, Melbourne already has a cafe where a robot named Rocky makes a mean coffee #thefutureishere.
Image credit: Annika Kafcaloudis