CLAIRE ALDOUS

dish Food Editor

Claire Aldous was 11 when she contributed her first recipe to the NZ Herald. Since then she’s been a caterer, run a cooking school and, for its entire 15 year-history, been dish’s food editor.

Claire has lost count of the food trends that have come and gone, but believes one to watch out for is coffee flour. Made from discarded coffee cherries (after the coffee bean has been extracted), it’s caffeine free and doesn’t taste of coffee.

“Thanks to ever-growing dietary restrictions, suppliers are scrambling to develop more gutfriendly flours, including oats, amaranth, spelt, sorghum and soy,” says Claire. “Coffee flour is the newest on the block.”

Marine-based products, such as seaweed butters, kelp noodles and snacks made from water-lily seeds and salmon skins are set to be another hot trend, predicts Claire, as is oat milk.

“Producers can no longer ignore the vegan trend, especially for the under-35s. Plantbased eating, with only a small amount of ethically and sustainably-raised meat and fish, is here to stay.”

One trend Claire can see making its way to our shores is supermarkets and butchers offering ‘eat where you shop’ options.

“New Zealand hasn’t embraced this yet, but having an area within these shops where you can wine and dine on good quality but reasonably priced food is becoming big in the UK and is already well established in France.”

Claire isn’t, however, a fan of global fads such as unicorn/mermaid food (multicoloured sushi, pasta, cakes and biscuits decorated with sprinkles) and raw cookie dough shops.

“I find it astounding that shops can sell edible raw cookie dough in the form of sandwiches, cakes, ice cream sundaes and milk shakes. Apparently they use pasteurised eggs and heat-treated flour to prevent food poisoning!”

“Plant-based eating, with only a small amount of ethically and sustainably raised meat and fish, is here to stay”