Move over kale, here comes cauliflower

Cauliflower is the new kale, salt is the new pepper and doughnuts and burgers are going gangbusters.

Food trend watchers are bidding adieu to sliders, those small sandwiches made of beef, chicken, pulled pork or fish, cupcakes are waning, while quinoa has gone mainstream. There are oodles of noodles, from ramen to pho, while salted caramels, flavoured waters and roast chicken are taking off.

Coconut, too, is exploding this year, prepared sweet and savoury. Look for it in sugar, flour and vinegar.

Vegetables continue to be centre of the plate, edging out meat.

“I would say that cauliflower is the new kale and will definitely surpass kale this year,” says Christine Couvelier, executive chef and global culinary trendologist. “Kale had that buzz. Everybody loves kale chips, and how many restaurants have we seen that have kale on the menu? But cauliflower is certainly the huge buzz this year. Bigger than ever.”

Some predict Swiss chard will take over from kale, says Dana McCauley, vice- president of marketing for Plats du Chef Foods. For those who don’t know what to do with it, “people need to be told ‘ treat it like spinach,’ and then they’re OK.

“I was surprised when I heard people talking so much about Swiss chard, because I think that cauliflower probably has a bigger chance of being a rival for kale than other veggies.”

Cauliflower can be mashed, grilled, broiled or cut in steaks and barbecued, served on its own or in salad or tossed with herbs, vinegars and oils.

For those following a gluten free food plan, there are many recipes for pizza with cauliflower crust, McCauley said from her Vaughan, Ont., office.

Couvelier says salt is the new pepper. “When we look at food shows and when we look at restaurant menus and even grocery shelves, the number of flavoured salts continue to grow. It’s overtaking the pepper category.”

Salt can be infused with almost any ingredient, ranging from citrus, jalapeno, banana peppers, balsamic, apple cider, edible flowers, onion or garlic.

“I think it also speaks to the fact that people are learning different flavoured salts help different dishes. … They’re not afraid to use it in small portions to their own discretion and, wow, what a flavour burst those different flavours can actually give you,” the Victoriabased Couvelier said.

Salt falls into another trend — customization — which Couvelier says is particularly strong.

“Letting customers put their own twists on foods: That can happen in a restaurant setting, that can happen in a grocery- retail setting … and it can certainly happen in the home setting.”

Creativity and innovation extend to burgers, too. “They’re becoming more healthful and more local,” says Couvelier, whose company, Culinary Concierge, helps clients build their brands. “Some chefs and burger restaurants are grinding their meat inhouse and making house- made condiments. … They’re giving the consumer all the customization,” with a choice of toppings and sides, like sweet potato fries, rice pilaf or grilled vegetables.

“I believe that sliders are on their way out, yet burgers continue to rise,” she adds.

Cupcakes, those morsels beloved by trend watchers a few years ago, have plateaued, says McCauley. “They’re here for the foreseeable forever. People just kind of count on them the same way they count on being able to get a muffin or a cookie.”

Doughnuts, meanwhile, are still morphing, with shops devoted to the sweet treats mushrooming.

McCauley is full of admiration for “brilliant” pastry chef Dominique Ansel of New York City, who created the Cronut, a croissant- doughnut hybrid, and began selling them in May. People can be seen lining up each morning to purchase the trademarked confections, which retail for $ 5 US each at his SoHo bakery.

Chef Michael Smith of Fortune, P. E. I., thinks foraging is on fire for 2014. “That whole trend is really exploding all over North America and it’s directly related to the whole Noma ( restaurant), new Nordic cuisine influence,” says the cookbook author and Food Network personality.

“It does take a year or two for that stuff to trickle its way down the pipeline, but that moment has arrived. I think we’re seeing a huge explosion of interest in what we would call weeds or just foods around us that we’ve forgotten about. I think it speaks directly to our confidence in our cuisine.”

Chef and cookbook author Lynn Crawford, who owns Ruby Watchco in Toronto and advocates using local suppliers, hopes consumers will be more aware of where their food comes from, which will help them make informed decisions about where they buy their fish and meat.

Salted caramels are exploding, with the flavour infused into doughnuts, crepes and ice cream, into any sort of glaze or sauce for pound cakes, angel food cakes or melted and drizzled over any desserts, says Couvelier.

She says it’s been interesting in the last six to nine months to watch the number of manufacturers who have launched maple bacon potato chips.

“There’s nothing new about the maple bacon food trend, but I’m hopeful that this year someone can make a maple bacon chip that tastes good. I don’t think they’re there yet.”