2022 food trends
Don’t tell people that we only talk about insects! Well, we will talk about them a little bit this time too, but only a little bit, we promise!
If on one hand it is true that eating habits change, on the other hand it must be said that it is not always easy to understand where they are headed.
Trying to understand the context is essential to be able to direct choices that are truly conscious, let’s see some of the food trends of 2022 and who knows, we might be able to get some things sorted out from another year of the global pandemic.
Many insist that this virus, rather than setting new paradigms of life, has been able to accelerate practices that have been already picking up in recent years.
Today, in the sector of things that are eaten, it seems that the focus is almost entirely focused on two centers of gravity: the ease of access to the service and the sustainability of the product offered; attributes that the public, in their choice of consumption, increasingly feels are indispensable.
Translated, this means exponential development of food delivery systems and an increase in the healthy and organic universe.
Let’s take a few examples.
GHOST KITCHEN
Ghost kitchens or dark kitchens are actually restaurants with closed doors.
Laboratory spaces where a kitchen brigade prepares meals that will then be delivered to customers’ homes. No dining room and no waiters, just a couple of taps on the phone and a doorbell that rings after a few minutes.
For some it means compromising on the idea of catering that has been around for centuries, others see it as one of the best ways to go about cooking in 2022.
SIGNATURE DINNERS TO FINISH COOKING AT HOME
The many lockdowns around the world have undoubtedly pushed us in this direction.
We’ve spent a lot of time at home over the past two years and, often, seeking outside stimulation has been as vital as it has been complicated.
Many restaurants have begun to offer real boxes containing the entire line of ingredients to put together to prepare a signature dinner at home.
Pastas to cook, sauces to reheat and roasts to revive, sealed in boiling water.
Perhaps if we can physically return to the restaurants, these little ideas will lose their meaning.
Maybe not, we’ll see.
AGRICULTURAL SHOPPING AT HOME
Everyone wants agricultural products but no one wants to move away from the city.
In this sector there has been a real boom of participation in recent months: online shopping systems, farmers’ associations that provide lists of producers who deliver, with subscriptions to subscribe to, like Netflix, to have your seasonal vegetables delivered directly to your door every week.
It would almost seem like the countryside has moved closer to the city, and I doubt that in the near future it will want to move away again.
ALTERNATIVE PROTEIN SOURCES
The attention that citizens pay to environmental sustainability in the production chain of animal proteins is growing every day.
As a result, in order to find substitutes to meat and fatty food, the industry seems to be going in two directions.
On the one hand there are ” fake” meats: 100% vegetable burgers and synthetic meats grown in vitro, products capable of replicating, with excellent results, the taste of meat we are used to.
On the other hand, there are attempts, often successful, to include in the consumption of new protein products capable of ensuring excellent nutritional benefits without having to go through intensive farming and reckless exploitation of natural resources.
To give some examples, we are talking about many soya derivatives, fermented vegetables and of course our loved crispy insects.
The crystal ball to read the future unfortunately does not exist and what will be the way of eating tomorrow is still far from being defined.
We are left with the possibility of understanding the present and trying to make choices with the conscious awareness that contemporary life requires from every person.
We will see what happens, our cards to do something good are not lacking. We just have to play them!