Food Trends for 2015

The holiday season is finishing up while New Year’s comes with a fresh perspective on what’s to come in 2015.  Overall, these trends coincide with Paleo or “caveman” diets and the movement towards consuming more local foods.  Despite the conflicting research on if there is any benefit to gluten-free foods, the gluten-free market continues with a health ‘halo’ around it which will continue into 2015.  The following trends are a smattering of what's to come in the next 12 months. 

1.  Fat phobia is waning.  Butter sales are currently at a 40 year high according to ABC news.  If you scroll through social media, particularly, Pinterest, you will find thousands of recipes and images of everything wrapped up in bacon or avocados.

2.  Locally sourced meat is gaining in popularity.  Along with this, expect CSA (community supported agriculture) boxes to grow alongside it with local produce, local beer, etc.  Find your own local food at: http://www.eatwild.com/.

3.  Food blogging will continue to take off as will TV health experts.  More consumers will get their health and dieting information from TV doctors and celebrity chefs.

4.  Harissa is taking over for Sriracha.  Harissa is the Tunisian version of ketchup, where its blend of spices mixed with olive oil go on just about everything.

5.  Low-carb still stands.  Despite Atkins falling out of fashion, low-carb diets are dressed up in the ever popular Paleo diet (or other ‘clean eating programs’).

6.  Ramen grows up.  Your dorm room staple is now mainstream.  San Francisco and NYC restaurants have been using this Japanese staple for a while.  Research from Technomic’s MenuMonitor tracked an 18.2% increase from March 2013-2014.

Sources:

Time Magazine

Refinery29

Gina (Lesako) Volsko is a Columbus, Ohio based RD and the SCAN blog coordinator.  Contact her at glesako@gmail.com to be a SCAN blogger.  You can find her blogging at Sport2Fork.