Now kombucha’s gone mainstream, what next for food fads?
SO, LAST WEEK it emerged that Lakeland has started stocking kombucha kits – to help even your grandmother make her own hipster fermented tea, as favoured by Gwyneth Paltrow (ferments are a staple of Goop wellness advice). Not only that, but Morrisons now stocks the ready-made stuff – in case making your own is too much of a faff – and Radio 4’s The Archers has just featured a long-running storyline about kefir, the fermented milk drink that originated in the Caucasus mountains. It’s proof Millennial ingredients have truly hit the mainstream. (And if you’re still unacquainted with the stuff, it’s a fizzy vinegary drink, which can have added flavours).
M&S is another beloved institution surfing the Millennial superfoods wave, now stocking everything from samphire to, yes, kefir yogurt. ‘Up until a few years ago, those interesting products like quinoa, kombucha and vegan-friendly foods were firmly the domain of the specialist health food shops, but have now practically become store cupboard essentials,’ says April Preston, director of product development at M&S Food. We’re definitely getting more adventurous as a nation, she adds: ‘It’s almost unthinkable to not have a few alternative milk options in the fridge when you offer someone a cup of tea.’
Take the headline act, the brunch that led a revolution: avocado toast. It first made an appearance in Bill Granger’s Sydney Food cookbook back in 1999. Vegan, virtuous and oh-so-hip, it was dubbed ‘breakfast bruschetta’ by our own Nigella in 2007, and by 2015 she was calling it ‘the fabric of my life’ – echoing many of the rest of us. Now you can get it in any caff in the country; at one stage even Mcdonald’s got in on the act, selling an avocado Mcmuffin at its Japanese stores.
From Instagram wellness influencers in Bali snapping their pretty smoothie bowls, to chic celeb haunts like LA restaurant Sqirl – get the sorrel pesto rice – over the last decade we’ve been surrounded by healthy food fads. Harriet Kilikita, associate lifestyle editor at WGSN, says that ‘people are increasingly looking for foods with functional wellness benefits; nutrient-dense foods like avocado and kale, or protein-rich snacks like nuts.’ Meanwhile, the Goop empire has popularised everything from kale to charcoal shots.
At the other end of the scale, the fermentation trend – which includes kimchi and sauerkraut (both involving fermented cabbage), and kefir – is attracting a homegrown type of fan. ‘There’s a craving to reconnect with how and where our food comes from,’ suggests fermentation enthusiast and educator Jelena Belgrave. In the countries where these ingredients and recipes originate, she points out, ‘people don’t obsess about it or call it the latest “superfood”. Kombucha has been drunk for over 2,000 years in China. Fermentation has been a great way to cut out food waste and deal with abundance from people’s gardens and allotments.’
So, now that ferments are as ubiquitous as toast, what should the early adopters be eating? Kilikita says that plant-based diets will continue to grow, so look out for new meat and dairy alternatives. ‘WGSN’S top trends for 2020 include antioxidant-rich aronia berries – expect to see them popping up in smoothies and granola.’ Intriguingly, Gwyneth has recently touted psychedelics as the next big thing for wellness – but it’s hard to imagine Morrisons selling those.