Post-COVID-19 eating trends, reducing food waste, and what’s in-store.
VEGAN VARIETY
One thing being in lockdown has taught us is that if you were a confirmed carnivore before and your diet expanded to include more veggies, you survived it – and possibly even thrived! Vegan options have been growing for some time but lockdown gave veganism the fuel to make it more mainstream and available to all. Healthful eating every day has become the buzzword, along with meal solutions and discussion around what goes into our bodies and its long-term effect. Nothing new in that, you say? The trick is sticking to it.
HOMEMADE HEAVEN
Baking tins will become full, and recipe swaps will become dinner party conversation again, alongside real estate predictions – as if that would ever go away! We see a return to baking perennial favourites. Mums’ and nannas’ recipes that have been handed down through generations will now actually be made, and become homemade daily treats, as new generations become interested in baking.
THE RETURN OF THE DINNER PARTY
Strange as it may seem, now that we have the all clear to dine out, the experience of creating meals for friends and loved ones has new appeal. Inviting people over and enjoying traditional dinner party fare with multiple courses has never looked so good. I feel a rack of lamb coming on.
GROW YOUR OWN
Growing your own veggies will become popular over the next year or two as we have realised being closer to the source of the ingredients and the creation of food production is best, and can easily be done at home. Simple living, either planting a whole vegetable garden or just a simple pot of herbs, encourages the use of homegrown produce and in-season cooking. Preserving and bottling will become favourite pastimes and hobbies, leading to pantries across the nation being stocked with jar of ripe goodness from the backyard.
CHEF-DRIVEN MEAL DELIVERIES
Not keen to join the crowds in a queue or hang around waiting for a table in a celebrity chef’s restaurant? Well-known chefs will, we predict, build large food delivery businesses alongside their restaurants, so as to include a new offering appealing to those of us who no longer want to spend long periods of time in a restaurant, but would rather have the celebrity dining experience at home.
GOURMET POP-UPS
Small roadside gourmet pop-ups with enough social distancing to keep officials happy will spring up and showcase ethnic cuisine and cool concepts alongside celebrity chefs and anyone else who wants to extend their food offering. Watch out for pop-ups appearing in your neighbourhood – and for the hungry locals converging.