In terms of food, everything indicates that 2024 is going to be the year of consolidation of the trends that we have already been seeing in recent times. Now, more than ever, the future of gastronomy could be summed up in a single word: contrasts. From the proliferation of healthy foods to the consolidation of increasingly sophisticated ultra-processed foods; from commitment to the environment to the popularization of takeaway food; from vegetable cuisine to the boom in quality meats; from the commitment to small producers and local foods to the proliferation of gourmet ingredients from the other side of the world.
Thus, in 2024 the main trends in food also leave us the opposite and show us what we already knew: that while a privileged part of the world moves towards a healthy, plant-based, sustainable, eco-friendly and local diet, the other continues to suffer the health and psychosocial consequences of having an inadequate diet. The director of the NGO Food Justice, Javier Guzmán, explains it: “We have left a fundamental right like food in the hands of private companies in the face of the passivity of governments. “There is not a single public policy on food.” If we talk about trends, this would probably be the main one.
While this is happening, new appliances, ingredients and trends associated with lifestyle emerge, haute cuisine restaurants are consolidated and luxury becomes part of the daily lives of many. These are just some of the main trends that will prevail in 2024.
The director of the La Patente cooking school in Barcelona, ??Àngels Puntas, points out that plant-based or vegan cuisine is going to take off in the coming months. “Both people who are vegetarians and vegans and many others who are not agree that a plant-based diet is healthier, more nutritious and sustainable.” Puntas points out that unprocessed foods of plant origin will continue to set the trend, from whole grains to alternatives to wheat such as buckwheat “and others that contribute to providing emotional solutions to those people who have decided not to consume foods of animal origin for reasons of conviction”. There are “the so-called vegan cheeses and sausages, vegetable burgers, legume flours and many fourth and fifth range products that improve the daily lives of vegans and vegetarians,” says the director of La Patente.
Something that hotel and restaurant staff agree on is that one of the most striking phenomena in recent times has been the proliferation of allergies and intolerances. “If first we began to talk about gluten-free foods, then lactose-free and later free of cow’s milk protein, now the time has come for fructose-free foods, which are beginning to be developed,” explains Puntas. According to the cook, fructose allergy or intolerance is increasingly common and very limiting, since it eliminates numerous garden products with a large amount of nutrients. In order to take advantage of its benefits, various companies are already working on developing foods free of this sugar so present in our diet.
The consolidation of healthy eating is seen in trends such as “the consumption of probiotics, present in foods such as kimchi or sauerkraut, for example; the popularization of theine-free infusions or organic foods; the creation of new healthy snacks and snacks; the increase in non-transgenic cereals or the popularization of diets such as Ayurvedic, to give just a few examples,” says Puntas.
On the other hand, the rise of healthy cooking has led to the implementation of new cooking methods, which are increasingly widespread in restaurants and homes. Classic frying has been replaced by baking or steaming, so appliances such as air fryers are here to stay. “It is called a fryer, but in reality it is a mini-oven that makes everyday life much easier, as it allows you to cook numerous foods in a healthy, quick and easy way.”
Seyma Ozkaya, owner and manager of the Funky Bakers pastry shop, restaurant and gourmet products store, in Barcelona, ??a place where the latest trends from all over the world emerge, predicts for 2024 “a boom in herbs and flowers both in pastries and drinks, since the visual impact of using them is very interesting.” Chef Iolanda Bustos agrees with her, an all-round chef specialized in cooking with flowers, who currently has her own orchard and garden at the rural establishment Mas Generós, in the province of Girona, an old restored farmhouse whose garden is the center nerve center around which life at the hotel revolves. “Cooking with flowers and herbs is something as special as changing the way we look at the landscape, connecting with an animal instinct when it comes to relating to the nature that we have been losing, but that is still there,” says Bustos, who in the letter from Mas Generós explores all the possibilities of plants, flowers and herbs in a large number of recipes.
The latest edition of the Bar Convent Berlin (BCB), the largest fair in the world dedicated to the beverage industry, reserved a space for non-alcoholic cocktails as it is, without a doubt, the fashionable trend in cocktails. Its director, Petra Lassahn, explained it: “This year the so-called Low
Concern for the environment affects restaurateurs, producers, distributors and consumers alike, so reuse is going to become a constant. “Reducing waste, recycling and reusing food to return it to the biological cycle is going to be an unstoppable trend. From banana peels to nut peels or legumes, among others, they will have a new life,” explains Puntas. For his part, the chef and owner of the restaurant My Fucking Restaurant in Barcelona, ??Matteo Bertozzi, who bases his philosophy on zero waste, is committed to “reusing leftover vegetables to make distillates and also to make fertilizers and compost.” .
While the price of the shopping basket is increasing and more and more households are experiencing serious difficulties in coping with it, the consumption of luxury products continues to grow around the world. Ozkaya explains: “Some foods that have traditionally been considered luxury, such as oysters, caviar or lobster, are expanding markets and their consumption is no longer something specific, typical of celebrations, but is becoming part of everyday life.” in many homes.”
“Generation Zeta is adventurous and intrepid, they are curious about a type of gastronomy that goes beyond fads and demands products from all over the planet, from Africa to Turkey or Sri Lanka,” explains Ozkaya. This multicultural and cross-border vocation contrasts with another fashionable trend: the retreat towards seasonal and local products. Thus, while administrations and institutions multiply campaigns about the benefits of consuming local products, the dynamics of globalization bring us home ingredients and dishes from the other side of the planet just a click away. Two contradictory trends that, however, will coexist in 2024 among consumers whose decisions tend to be increasingly complex.
That diners prefer to enjoy a complete experience, beyond the fact of filling their stomach, is demonstrated by haute cuisine restaurants where eating becomes more of a spectacle than a necessity. According to the global market research company Euromonitor International in its report on upcoming trends, in the medium-term future (that is, within 50 years) the so-called premiumization will have taken over the gastronomic landscape and the restaurants we visit will be places that will provide us with gastronomic experiences beyond the simple act of eating.
Along these same lines, everyday cooking, those battle recipes that we usually find in home establishments, will be left in the medium term in the hands of ghost kitchens, something that is already beginning to be noticed today. According to Euromonitor International, the efficiency and infrastructure of ghost kitchens will make them unbeatable. “Cutting fresh broccoli, steaming it, chopping whole fish, preparing broths, boiling sauces… in the future, all this will no longer be done in the restaurant kitchen, but in ghost kitchens,” the report reveals.
