You’ve mastered the art of homemade sourdough, you’ve thrown everything you can think of in the air fryer and you’ve had enough baked feta to last you a lifetime… so what are the new food trends to sink your teeth into in 2022?
Reducetarianism
We’re leaving hard-and-fast rules back in ‘21 and focusing on the changes we can sustain. The latest trend to sweep the culinary world, and a happy middle ground between carnivore and vegan, is a little something called reducetarianism. It’s all about doing what you can: whether it’s a regular meat-free Monday or switching to oat milk instead of cow’s, whatever works for you is key.
Eating less meat and more plants has now become decidedly mainstream, and with plant-based alternatives to animal products in every supermarket, it’s never been easier to cut a little bit more meat and dairy out of your diet.
The return of the Mediterranean diet
Forget fad diets and elaborate weight-loss schemes – this year, we’re returning to eating like the Greeks, Italians, Spanish and French do. It’s still deemed by nutrition experts to be one of the healthiest ways of eating, and it ticks many other boxes besides.
Eating Mediterranean-style is about beautiful simplicity, with a focus on vegetables, fish, bread, pasta, fruit and wine. Meat and animal fats take a back seat to the rich subtlety of quality olive oil, beans, and lots of fresh salads. It comes with a great diversity of flavours and a ton of nutritional value, and with its health benefits and less emphasis on meat and processed foods, it’s perfectly placed to be massively popular in 2022.
Hand-making it
The collective interest in making food from scratch at home isn’t going anywhere this year. In fact, we might see people branching out from baking their own bread and trying their hand at something new, like making fresh pasta and sauces from scratch. It looks set to go even further, too, with many people starting to grow their own food and manage every step of the process themselves, from garden to plate. Self-sufficiency is a rapidly growing trend, and home-grown, handmade food is going to be a big part of that.
Bring on the mushrooms
Tapping into other big trends of this year, like cutting down on meat and focusing on health and sustainability, the humble mushroom is going to be one of the star ingredients of 2022. It’s beefy, versatile and packed with vitamins and umami flavour, making it an excellent component for a meat-free or meat-reduced diet. We may well see variations on mushroom toast becoming the new avocado toast in 2022.
Mushrooms are already being used in all kinds of creative ways, and along with mushroom-based meat substitutes like MyBacon, we’re also starting to see innovations like animal-friendly mushroom leather gracing some of the fashion catwalks.
A taste of nostalgia
Humans find comfort in the familiar, and in a topsy-turvy world, nostalgic foods that give us warm fuzzies are on the rise. Many people are breaking out old family recipes they haven’t visited in years, and we’re also seeing a massive resurgence in retro faves like apple cobbler, tuna melts and fondue parties.
Old-skool cocktails are on the rise, too. First it was the ‘80s-era Espresso Martini and the Aperol Spritz, so we’re taking bets on what will be the next big thing in mixology. Will a Sex and The City revival inspire a Cosmopolitan comeback? Or could it be the Screwdriver? The White Russian? We’re putting our money on the Pink Squirrel – ice cream plus chocolate and almond liqueur is a sure-fire winner.