Food trends: what’s been happening between 2001 and 2011?
Over the past decade, the major food trend has been one of sourcing and sustainability as people started to question the wisdom in importing out-of-season strawberries and asparagus to our shores in January. Farmers’ markets, the organic movement, the Slow Food movement, traceability, the Red Tractor Scheme, RSPCA Freedom Food, Fairtrade (left), The Rainforest Alliance, Marine Stewardship Council...the number of organisations that are now in the mainstream of the food world has been phenomenal. By Delia Online editor Jo Hill.
1 Locally produced food It makes sense – food is fresher when you buy it and you’re supporting local farmers and other producers. The major supermarkets have got in on the act too: Waitrose has a 30-mile Local Sourcing Policy, which means that, where possible, they’re supporting local farmers and other food producers. Most of the other leading supermarkets offer similar schemes.
2 Environmental factors such as waste. Websites such as Love Food Hate Waste (www.lovefoodhatewaste.com) have highlighted the issue of overpackaging, as well as the huge amount of food that is wasted each year in the UK. As a result, we are all being encouraged to cook only enough to eat, to buy from markets and boycott supermarket products in layers of polystyrene and plastic. Carrier bags are another issue: many shops now charge for these and a good thing too as they take up to 500 years to rot in landfill sites. The rise of the canvas or jute bag has countered this, plus supermarket schemes to get people to recycle their bags or buy Bags for Life.
3 Farmers’ markets: these have become hugely popular. There are now over 500 farmers’ markets around the country, selling all sorts of foods from apples and cider to home-made sausages. To find out where your nearest one is, visit http://www.farmersmarkets.net/ - the country’s official site for farmers’ markets. The great thing about them is that you actually get to chat to the producers as you browse and buy, making the transaction much more personal.
4 Simple cooking: rustic, homely dishes have been to the fore. It’s now quite rare to open a magazine and see tottering towers of over-elaborate foods. Instead, dishes are made using seasonal ingredients and photographed in a more realistic way, even with drips down the sides of the baking tin. Stews, pies, steamed puddings and nursery favourites have all enjoyed a renaissance.
5 Campaigns. Whether it’s Jamie Oliver chucking turkey twizzlers off the school lunch menu, or Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall revealing that tons of fish are thrown back overboard from our fishing fleets, there’s been a huge rise in popular TV chefs fronting campaigns of various kinds. The good news is that in most cases these have been a successful way of changing things.
6 A scientific approach, a la Heston Blumenthal. People have become more interested – and more accepting – of the fusion between food and science. Heston Blumenthal is the obvious main protagonist of this trend, but others such as Ferran Adria at El Bulli have also followed suit.
7 Foam. This is one thing I can’t abide, unless it’s atop a creamy cappuccino. Always looks like cuckoo spit to me. But it’s been a popular trend, possibly encouraged by Heston Blumenthal who conjures up foams and other fermentations in some of his dishes.
8 Healthy eating, vegetarian food and 5-a-day: publicity surrounding the importance of eating more fruit and vegetables, plus an awareness of the growing numbers of obese children – which will have a negative impact on society in the future – has meant that we are all now eschewing a diet of red meat and saturated fat every day and increasing our intake of white meat, fish, fruit and vegetables.
9 Exotic cuisines: the past decade has seen the rise of many international cuisines, including Thai, Japanese and Malaysian (right, Chicken Pongteh). Fusion food is popular too. This could be a reflection of more adventurous holidays and long-haul travel having an impact on what we eat.
10 The revival of real ale. Among women under 30, this is the drink of choice when socialising or eating out. Beer has managed to throw off its blokey, bad-for-you image and this is borne out by the rise in numbers of micro breweries around the country, all producing excellent local brews.
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