Delicious UK – (01)January 2021

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DoyouagreewithEllenordo

youtakea differentview?Tellus

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andwe’llprintthebestreplies

Why 2021 trends

are on my ‘miss’ list

Timetoignorethetrend-spotters,sayswriterEllenManning,

andinsteadnourishourselveswithfoodweactuallyenjoy

I

t’sthattimeagain:

themomentwhen

thetrend‘experts’

confidentlypredictwhat

we’llberushingtoscoff

andswigduring2021.Apparentlythe

garbanzo(chickpeatoyouandme)

willbepopular,whilecarobwillmake

a comeback.I trytoavoidreadingthese

things,butI seeedibleinsects(seep105)

areontheagendayetagainand,who

knows,maybebluefood,spikyfoodor

drinksdistilledonlyinunderground

caveshavemadethelist.

I’mnotdenyingthatidentifying

genuinetrendsis usefulforproducers,

suppliersandevenconsumers,and

thesetrendsareoftena barometerof

changesinsocietythatgofarbeyond

food.Takeveganismorethicalsourcing

• movementsthathaveseensteady
  growthandarepredictedtocontinue.
  It’sthemanufacturedtrendsthat
  bugme,wherethenextbigthingis
  pluckedoutofnowherebybigfood
  companiesandmarketeers,orivory
  towertrend-spotterswhomakea
  livingoutofchurningoutspurious
  predictionseachyear.Theynamethe
  trend,consumersflocktojumponthe
  bandwagon,andsothecyclecontinues.
  In2020,ofcourse,thatcycleground
  toa halt.It turnedoutweweren’tin
  factgoingtobenibbling‘seacuterie’
  suchasoctopussalami,orcookingup
  a stormusingfruitsyrupreductions
  whileweexploredtheuseofalternative
  floursasexpertspredicted.Littlecould
  theyhaveforeseentheeffectCovid-19
  wouldhaveonourfoodbuying.
  Jumpingontrendbandwagonswas
  quicklyforgottenasweflockedtofood
  forcomfort.Forgetseacuterie– it was
  homemadesourdoughthatbrought

solace.Fruitsyrupreductionswerethe

lastthingonourmindsasweopted

forhome-cookingclassicsorordered

chef-cookedmealsfromourfavourite

restaurantstobrightenuplong

lockdowndays.Okay,perhaps

alternativefloursdidsoarinsales,

butmoreasa resultoftheshortage

ofregularflourthananysuddenurge

tousepeaflourinourbananabread.

Nowthatwe’veseenwhatreally

matterstouswhenthingsgettough,

howaboutwebuckthetrendagain

in 2021 andforgetthetrends?Instead,

wecouldfocusonwhatwewanttoeat

ratherthanwhatweshouldbeeating.

Trendswillcome– ofcoursetheywill.

Somewillendureandsomewillfade.

(Wasrainbowfoodeverthatpopular?

Arefreakshakesquiteasbigaseveryone

saidthey’dbe?)Buttherealtrendwe

shouldembraceis what 2020 taughtus:

thatwhenit reallymatters,whatweeat

is aboutusasindividualsandwhatwe

needinthemoment.Evenif we’vehad

it a thousandtimesbefore.

Itturnedoutwe

weren’tinfactgoing

tobenibbling‘seacuterie’

suchasoctopussalami,

orcookingupa storm

usingfruitsyrup

reductions

130 deliciousmagazine.co.uk

a good rant.