Food and Beverage Trends 2024

The British pretzel boom

Specialist bagel shops in Britain used to be limited to areas with (or with) a large Jewish population, such as Brick Lane in London and Prestwich in Manchester, says Tome Morrissey-Swan in The Daily Telegraph. But that is no longer the case. After the lockdown, Britain experienced a ‘bagel boom’, as a result of which high-quality bagels can now be found all over the country. In the north of England, for example, there’s King Baby Bagels in Newcastle (famous for its cured ham, pea pudding, fennel and mustard pickles), Chapter One Bar & Kitchen in Oldham and the hugely popular Lincoln Bagel Co in Lincoln. Moving down the country, donut and bagel specialist The Steamhouse now has seven sites in the Midlands and southern England, including one in Oxford. Traditional bagel bakeries are also popping up in the capital, many inspired by New York’s bagel culture. It’s Bagels!, which opened in Primrose Hill in October, is owned by New Yorker Dan Martensen. He “struggled to find the bagels of his youth” after moving to London in 2019. New York bagels, he says, are bigger, less chewy and denser than London ones. His bakery is designed to resemble a “traditional Big Apple bagel shop” and offers fillings like lox (smoked salmon) and “schmears” (flavored cream cheese). And they’ve already proven popular: on Sunday mornings, people line up for up to two hours to get them.

Starting with an air fryer

If you’ve got an air fryer for Christmas and haven’t used one before, it’s worth taking the time to get to know your machine, says Anna Beryl in The Guardian. While air fryers can be transformative for the home cook, they can be surprisingly frustrating to begin with. Since not all are “created equal”, it’s really a good idea to read the manual. Take the time to test the cooking time, because some models are fiercer than others. Don’t assume (as many do) that your air fryer doesn’t need preheating: in that respect, it’s like a regular oven. As for dishes to try first, Poppy O’Toole, author of The Actually Delicious Air Fryer Cookbook, recommends a whole roast chicken. It’s not too difficult and gives a good idea of what an air fryer can do. “The chicken stays incredibly moist, but still has that crispy skin” that everyone loves, she says.

New uses for olive oil

If you only use extra virgin olive oil in spicy dishes, you’re “missing a trick,” says Sarah Rainey in The Times. Because in addition to being good for you, olive oil is extremely versatile: it “makes the creamiest cheesecakes,” the “fluffiest mushrooms” and even the most “deliciously drinkable” cocktails. Chefs have recently seized on this “untapped potential” and are using it in increasingly inventive ways. Known for its velvety texture, olive oil ice cream is fast becoming a “modern menu staple”. Other chefs drizzle olive oil over fresh or poached fruit or add it to mousses and truffles. Ferran Adria, formerly of El Bulli (considered the best restaurant in the world until it closed in 2011), suggests pairing it with grated chocolate on bread for a “surprisingly delicious” breakfast. According to chef and food writer Ursula Ferrigno, olive oil’s versatility is a result of the fact that it contains so many phenolic compounds that act as flavor enhancers. Avant-garde mixologists are now using olive oil to freshen up cocktails, and there are also non-alcoholic options: try “adding it to your morning smoothie, mixing it into coffee” or using it to enhance hot chocolate.

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Tearing up the rules

High-end restaurants will “tear up the fine dining rule book” this year, Restaurant magazine said. The industry believes that tasting menus – long the mainstay of fine dining – are losing their appeal to diners. And so restaurants are starting to ditch them and go back to a la carte menus. One restaurant that has already done so is 670 Grams in Birmingham, which recently replaced its seven-course tasting menu with a “more casual” sharing-style format. Others to follow suit include Pidgin in London’s Hackney and The Man Behind the Curtain in Leeds. Another trend to look for this year is “confrontational dining” – or food that, in some cases, literally “stares right at you.” At Fowl, a new beak-to-toe chicken pop-up in London’s St James, the signature dish is a heart, liver and rooster pie that has a “chicken head sticking out of the pastry”. Meanwhile, the breaded and fried pheasant leg served at Manteca in Shoreditch comes with the leg still attached. Two recent trends from New York are also expected to hit the UK this year. One is for “comfort” New York-style Italian dishes like lasagna, vodka tomato sauce and spaghetti meatballs; the other is for “crushed” burgers – burgers pressed into the grill while cooking to create a “thinner, crispier” patty.

“Greek-style” vs. real Greek

The British market for Greek yogurt and Greek-style yogurt has boomed in recent years, but “let’s get one thing straight,” said Xanthe Clay in The Telegraph: the copycats “aren’t even close” to the real thing. Unlike the “authentic” stuff, Greek-style is really “freshly curdled milk”, has a “quite thin” texture, “can be made almost anywhere”. Greek yogurt, on the other hand, must be made in Greece and has a “thicker, creamier” texture because it’s strained to remove most of the whey. It requires more milk “to make the same amount” so it’s more expensive. But while Greek-style yogurts “are nice enough to eat with fruit,” it’s worth paying more for the “really seductive, rich creaminess” of the real deal, argues Clay, whose favorites include Fage Total, and for a more budget-friendly option, ” Lidl’s delicious Milbona Authentic Greek Yoghurt, £1.89 for 500g.

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Food and Beverage Trends 2024

The British pretzel boom

Starting with an air fryer

New uses for olive oil

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