The biggest problem foodies have these days is where to eat and what to eat, the options have become endless. Standards are improving all the time and every restaurant is wanting to find their edge by upping their game or serving specialist dishes. Customers eating trends can change quickly and what is fashionable one year is different the next.
The trend for 2017 will be more focus on food ecology; people are becoming more concerned about animal welfare, use of water, sustainability, genetic modification, food miles, transparency on the labelling, and the welfare of those who produce the food. The consumer likes to feel closer to where the food comes from, they like to know the farm it comes from, the story about how it is produce, the security and the provenance of what they are eating. Anyone who is able to demonstrate this to their customers will have the edge.
I also believe there will be a strong trend towards healthy eating, organic, smaller dishes, salads, dietary foods like gluten free, antibiotic free, less but more healthy produced protein, tapas type dishes, grilled fish, grilled vegetable, venison and game.
With more people monitoring their every move on the their smart phones, there will be a strong trend towards people being able to analyse what’s on their plate and the dishes on the menu. Calories will feature on labelling and we will see this as becoming increasingly more common on menus. I believe there will be a trend towards eating more lightly dressed pasta to fit in with fitness regimes. “Food porn will become more common” the obsession of good looking food will continue and the need to have the photograph of what you are about to eat to send viral to your friends and indeed anyone who cares to know!
The interest in food, where it comes from and how it is produced is going to keep growing, television programmes on cooking have stimulated our appetite and have indirectly helped farmers to produce using higher animal welfare standards in a more healthy and sustainable way. The environment is our life and we all have a responsibility to protect it, eat well and live well.
Lord Newborough, Rhug Organic Farm, Corwen, North Wales
Organic Beef