7 Lip-Smacking Food Trends For 2023

Do you remember the food trends of years gone by? Mushroom coffee, camel milk, charcoal, ghee, keto diet, to name but a few of the slightly strange edibles we’ve been cajoled into consuming. So, what’s next? Well, ever the one’s to keep our foodie fingers on the pulse, we’ve put together our predictions for the lip-smacking food trends for 2023.

1. Butter Boards

Last year was the year we went absolutely nuts for charcuterie boards. There wasn’t much to dislike about wooden boards being topped up with big chunks of cheese, slices of meat, fruits, vegetable, pickles, savoury biscuits and generous dollops of chutneys and pickles. It was a proper hearty smorgasbord of a Ploughman’s. We loved it because it was so damn tasty, and pubs and restaurants loved it because they were super easy to make, required zero cooking, and hardly any washing up.

But of course, that was so last year, and board foods as we like to call them, have moved next level since then. In 2023 it is going to be all about the butter boards. The same chunky wooden boards, but slathered in mountains of creamy, salty butter topped with such delicious delights as roasted garlic cloves, sun dried tomatoes, cheese, herbs, spices, etc., and served with a side dish of warm, crusty bread. Diners can then rip off chunks of bread and submerge them into the butter board, creating an oozy, buttery, mouthful of deliciousness. We don’t know about you lot, but we’re salivating at the mere mention of it!

2. Seaganism

Straight off the back of the flexitarian diet, which is basically where you can eat anything you fancy depending on what particular morals sit with you on any given day, seaganism is one of the next big food trends for 2023.

Seaganism is the sea version of veganism, as in you don’t eat any fish or seafood product, just lovely, healthy sea plants. Plant-based sea products include sea plants, sea weeds, and grains that are packed full of healthy nutrients and antioxidants and offer a much more sustainable option for our poor over fished oceans.

As seaganism is a newly emerging trend, 2023 will see it become much more mainstream. Look out for the addition of sea plants on the menus in top restaurants, both as an accompaniment and as the main star of the meal. And we should also start to see sea plant-based products appearing on our supermarket shelves too.

3. Sensory Foods

Another food trend to come out as a direct reaction to the pandemic, is the idea of sensory foods. Think about it… covid made us lose our sense of taste and smell for a while, so it makes perfect sense (no pun intended!) that we’re keen for our senses to be firing on all cylinders now that we’re back to a relative state of normality.

We’re talking dishes that set our taste buds alight, with strong, bold flavours literally smacking us around the chops and screaming at us, “have a taste of that!”. Humans have between 2000 and 4000 taste buds, most of which are found on the tongue, and the sensory cells in those taste buds are renewed every week. So, whether it’s sweet, salty, spicy, sour, umami, those taste buds want to taste everything and thankfully 2023 is looking like that’s set to happen.

As well as taste, let’s not forget our other important senses; smell, sound, sight, and touch. Prepare to be wowed in 2023 with foods that are quite frankly theatrical showstoppers. Who’s ready?

4. Nostalgic Nibbles

Food has always been connected to our emotions; we eat when we’re happy, we eat when we’re tired, we eat when we’re bored… you get the idea. During the pandemic however, this became even more of a thing, when we treated food as a form of escapism, because let’s face it, we weren’t allowed to leave our houses, so we needed somewhere to escape to, and food filled that void. And what better place to escape to than our childhood – a time when we felt safe, had zero stresses, and we certainly had none of the weight of the world’s problems on our shoulders.

One of the emerging food trends for 2023 draws on the nostalgia we have for days of old. We can look forward to eating food that evokes happy childhood memories, like bowls of deliciously wobbly jelly and soft creamy ice cream, packet mix trifle, pink blancmange, arctic roll, vol-au-vents stuffed with creamy chicken and mushroom. Think soft, comforting food that cuddles your insides as you eat it and makes you think back to birthday parties in village halls, your grandma’s kitchen, and lazy Sunday afternoons. Pass us the bunny mould, we’re going all in!

5. Clean Label

The number of people converting to veganism, or even just meat eaters who are choosing to eat more plant-based foods by having 1 or 2 vegan days every week, is continuing to rise. And you’d think that by that very fact alone we’d all be eating a bit healthier, right? Interestingly however, many vegan products out there, and there are certainly lots too choose from these days, fall into the junk food category. I’m sure you’ve seen the type of product in the supermarket; quick, easy to make, shove in the oven food that are carb heavy and high in calories.

One of the food trends for 2023 is looking to address this problem. Clean labeling is all about encouraging people to eat clean by making sure that plant-based food labels are just as information packed as the meat products they are for the most part trying to mimic. This is food education, with an emphasis on healthy, sustainable products that are free of the artificial ingredients so often found in vegan convenience foods.

We want minimally processed food and ingredients we recognise. Clean labeling will help clarify our concerns, but will also drive forward the need for companies to produce foods that are tasty, look good, and have a desirable texture all while keeping things as healthy and natural as possible.

6. Mood Foods

You’d have to have been hiding under a rock not to have noticed how popular CBD has become, especially with millennials, who are the first generation to place equal importance on their mental health as they do their physical. CBD burst its way into the market initially in the form of CBD oil, but now you can pretty much get it in any product you desire. And CBD edibles in particular, are making big news. CBD coffee, CBD gummies, CBD tea, CBD chocolate, CBD honey… the list goes on.

Mood foods, like CBD edibles, are set to become even more popular in 2023, as people become further educated on the all round health benefits of incorporating this legal compound into our lifestyles. If you struggle with poor sleep, stress, anxiety etc., mood foods offer a means to cope with these issues.

We are more open to trying alternatives, and perhaps again in response to or changing mindset since the pandemic, we are actively seeking out wellness products to assist with our emotional needs. Mood foods offer an easy and convenient solution to this problem, so watch out for more of these coming onto the market in the year ahead.

7. Potato Milk

Before you say anything, we know. Potato milk. Milk from an actual potato. How is that even a thing? But apparently it is, and it’s set to be one of the more popular food trends for 2023.

Now clearly, you can’t ‘milk’ a potato; aside from anything else it doesn’t have nipples. So, how the dickens are we getting milk out of this earthy vegetable?

You’ve basically got two choices. Either you buy a carton of pre-made potato milk, which is starting to make an appearance in some supermarkets and specialist health food shops. Or, you have a go at making it yourself, by simply peeling and boiling a standard white potato until soft, then blending it together with water, and a small amount of salt and sweetener to taste.

We haven’t actually tried it ourselves, but rumour has it that despite sounding as if it would be like drinking a mashed potato smoothie, potato milk doesn’t taste like potato in the slightest. But I think for now we’ll be sticking to almond and oat milk whenever we fancy going for the plant-based option.

Final word

None of us can say for definite what foods will and won’t be popular in the future, but if we look at cultural shifts and past trends we can make educated predictions, such as the ones we have made today, to forecast the way we think the food trends for 2023 are headed. Let us know your thoughts about what foods you think will be popular next year, by leaving us a comment below.

 


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