Top 20 U.S. food trends for 2018

Washington – Ethnic-inspired kids’ dishes, farm- or estate-branded items and heritage-breed meats are among hot upcoming trends in the U.S., according to the latest National Restaurant Association survey.

The association recently recently asked 700 professional chefs who are members of the American Culinary Federation to predict food and beverage trends at restaurants in the coming year.

A news release summarized the foods and concepts U.S. chefs expect to be popular in 2018.

Top 20 food trends

1. New cuts of meat (for example, shoulder tender, oyster steak, Vegas Strip Steak, Merlot cut)
2. House-made condiments
3. Street food-inspired dishes (for example, tempura, kabobs, dumplings, pupusas)
4. Ethnic-inspired breakfast items (for example, chorizo scrambled eggs, coconut milk pancakes)
5. Sustainable seafood
6. Healthful kids’ meals
7. Vegetable carb substitutes (for example, cauliflower rice, zucchini spaghetti)
8. Uncommon herbs (for example, chervil, lovage, lemon balm, papalo)
9. Authentic ethnic cuisine
10. Ethnic spices (for example, harissa, curry, peri peri, ras el hanout, shichimi)
11. Peruvian cuisine
12. House-made/artisan pickles
13. Heritage-breed meats
14. Thai-rolled ice cream
15. African flavours
16. Ethnic-inspired kids’ dishes (for example, tacos, teriyaki, sushi)
17. Donuts with non-traditional filling (for example, liqueur, Earl Grey cream)
18. Gourmet items in kids’ meals
19. Ethnic condiments (for example, sriracha, sambal, chimichurri, gochujang, zhug)
20. Ancient grains (for example, kamut, spelt, amaranth, lupin)

Top 10 concept trends

1. Hyper-local (for example, restaurant gardens, onsite beer brewing, house-made items
2. Chef-driven fast-casual concepts
3. Natural ingredients/clean menus
4. Food waste reduction
5. Veggie-centric/vegetable-forward cuisine (for example, fresh produce is star of the dish)
6. Environmental sustainability
7. Locally sourced meat and seafood
8. Locally sourced produce
9. Simplicity/back to basics
10. Farm/estate-branded items