Among the food trends to watch in 2024 is the rise in “new European” restaurant formats that put a new spin on classic French, Italian, and Greek concepts, according to a new report from research firm Datassential.
These restaurants feature more regionally specific ingredients and dishes, lean into “eater-tainment” experiences, hybridize their menus with other cuisines, or tap into other food trends such as gluten-free and plant-based eating, said Jaclyn Marks, trendologist and senior publications manager at Datassential, in a webinar on the company's 2024 Trends Report.
As many young consumers have gravitated toward Latin American and Asian cuisines, some traditional European cuisine restaurants have “stagnated, even in their home countries,” she said. “What that means is that now is the time to innovate. Enterprising operators and manufacturers are already on top of it.”
Among the restaurant concepts in the “new Italian” genre are Wafu-Italian restaurants such as Montclair, New Jersey-based PastaRamen, which offers dishes such as Cacio E Pepe Gyoza with parmesan cheese and black pepper, and plant-based Italian restaurants such as Baia in San Francisco.
New Greek restaurants sometimes focus on theatrical presentations, such as Theía in Los Angeles, which features a massive dessert called Moises's Surprise that is created tableside and ends up looking like an edible, abstract Jackson Pollock painting.
New French cuisine, meanwhile, tends to be more downscale and approachable than formal French dining and often incorporates other culinary influences. For example, Le French, which operates two restaurants in Denver and is owned by Senegalese sisters Aminata and Rougui Dia, specializes in “modern Parisian cuisine with global influences” in a casual, bistro-style format. Another example is Argot in Chicago, which seeks to blend “classic French favorites” with accents from Chicago and the Midwest.
Retro Foods in the Spotlight
Other trends covered in the Datassential report include the popularity of “retro” foods and culture, or what the firm described as “newstalgia.” Examples of food items in this genre include dishes that are being revived or recreated in new ways, such as Caesar Salad, Baked Alaska, and Shirley Temple cocktails.
“Many Gen Z consumers are experiencing these brands and products for the first time,” said Marks. “There's a real opportunity to bring these things back.”
Shirley Temples, for example, are up 43 percent in menu penetration over the past four years, according to Datassential. As one of the original mocktails, traditionally made with ginger ale, grenadine, and Maraschino cherries, they appeal to both children and adults seeking to avoid alcohol, said Marks. They are also being adapted into cocktails as “Dirty Shirleys,” which can include a shot of bourbon or liqueur.
Some beverage manufacturers have also capitalized on the trend with retail CPG drinks such as Reed's Zero Sugar Shirley Tempting Ginger Ale with cherry flavoring.
Baked Alaska is another nostalgic treat that is making a comeback, with a 67 percent increase in menu penetration in the last 12 months. It is being offered in both its traditional form— ice cream topped with cake and toasted meringue—and adapted in new forms such as Filipino Halo Halo Baked Alaska, with ube ice cream inside, as created by Filipino-American baker Abi Balingit last year for her cookbook, Mayumu.
The traditional Caesar salad is also undergoing a renaissance, with some restaurants replacing the customary chicken in this dish with shrimp or salmon, and substituting nori for anchovies, for example. Marks noted that shrimp Caesar salads and salmon Caesar salads are up 52 percent and 67 percent, respectively, on menus over the past 4 years.
'New Classic' Food Items
Some food items that have already become fairly well-established on menus still have room for further growth, said Marks. These include mochi, black garlic, and focaccia.
Mochi, a traditional Japanese dish made of glutenous rice, has become widely available in both restaurants and mainstream and specialty grocery stores, but it continues to appear in new forms. 2D Restaurant in Chicago, for example, offers both traditional mochi donuts and has also offered a Tindle plant-based chicken sandwich featuring a sliced mochi donut as a carrier.
Forty-one percent of consumers are interested in trying mochi, according to Marks.
Even more consumers—50 percent—are interested in trying black garlic, which Marks said offers “a pretty approachable flavor.”
“It has big potential in the next few years as consumers seek out unique, rich flavors, both for restaurant applications and CPG products,” she said.
Examples have included Cape Cod's limited-batch Roasted Black Garlic Kettle Cooked Potato Chips, and Heinz's Black Garlic Ranch sauce, which was one of six new sauces the company launched at chain chicken restaurants last year for a limited time.
Focaccia is also on a growth curve, as both a sandwich carrier or topped with on-trend ingredients such as edible flowers, said Marks. Fifty-nine percent of consumers are interested in trying focaccia, according to Datassential research.
Emerging Ingredients
The report also singled out some emerging food items, including:
• Amba, a pickled mango condiment from India, which 25 percent of consumers said they were interested in trying. It is a versatile ingredient that can be mixed into a dip, or used as a sauce in meat or vegetable dishes. An example is Fishwarma with Mango Amaba, a seafood version of shawarma, offered at Branja in Miami.
• Hojicha, a type of roasted Japanese green tea, appears in items such as ice creams and lattes. Thirty percent of consumers say they are interested in trying it. An example is Hojicha Soft Serve Ice Cream at Nana's Green Tea in Seattle.
• Shiso, an aromatic herb used in Korean and Japanese dishes, is up 17 percent on menus in the past 12 months, according to Datassential, and 32 percent of consumers are interested in trying it. An example is the New York Strip Steak with Aji Shiso Chimichurri at Mizu in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“These items have a number of tailwinds that could propel them onto more menus and into more retail products in the future, making them key to have on the radar,” said Marks.
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