Anywhere you’ve looked over the past few weeks, they have been inescapable, and every year they’re more prolific than rabbits.
“They” are the year-end lists with titles like “best of” or “top trends” or “what’s hot.” Even we here at FoodInsight.org have been known to fall under the sway of this handy-dandy way to package the best of the best for easy consumption. We recently counted down our top five blog posts of 2015 and we looked forward to “5 Tasty Trends for 2016.”
We’re certainly not alone, of course, in our enumerative tendencies. An entire genre of journalism called “listicles” has grown up, keeping the best-of spirit alive all year ’round. So just to be extra meta, we thought we would share a Top 10 list of our own favorite year-end, food-related lists.
6 Food Trends To Help You Eat Better In 2016. No. 1 is “power bowls,” a trend that pops up on many different lists (see below). Save time and effort by serving a full, balanced meal in a single vessel! Next up for 2017: troughs?
BuzzFeed Life’s Favorite Recipes of 2015. The news/blogging juggernaut draws upon its editors, writers, and readers for this one. Arguably better than the recipes themselves are the food-porny photos, some of which had me practically clawing at my monitor, hoping that the food might somehow become real.
Google’s Top 10 Trending Recipes. Slightly more scientific is this list, courtesy of the algorithms of Google, of the 10 most popular types of recipes people searched for in 2015. They’re only search results and not individual recipes, per se, but BuzzFeed (again) has helpfully paired each trending term with an actual dish you can whip up yourself.
Chefs Predict Top Restaurant Menu Trends for 2016. The National Restaurant Association surveys 1,600 chefs to reveal the 20 hottest themes we can expect to dominate menus in the New Year. Artisan pickles? Yes, please!
Top 10 Food and Restaurant Trends of 2015. Not to be outdone, Forbes consults a panel of experts to arrive at its own predictions. Among the trends: the aforementioned bowls, along with poke, shakshuka, and other words I can’t pronounce.
The Top Food Words of 2015. Have you ever found yourself hangry because you couldn’t find a good piecaken? Have no idea what I’m talking about? This list fills us in on the food-related neologisms that are starting to nudge their way into our vernacular.
Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) trends for 2016. Who better to ask about future food trends than the editors of IFT’s Food Technology magazine? Tech and transparency are predominant.
11 Interesting Facts about America’s Eating Habits. Also from IFT comes this list of facts about Americans’ food choices, which is all potentially good fodder for bar bets. I didn’t know that one-quarter of Americans eat soup at least once a week. Did you?
Best of 2015: Top 7 Food-Related Songs. Mashing up music and cuisine, this list is chockfull of food metaphors that are laid down on a bed of sick hooks. Spoiler alert: A very sweet single by Maroon 5 that peaked at No. 2 on the charts takes top honors here.
5 Barbecue Trends for 2016. As an unreconstructed carnivore, this list in particular caught my eye. Orange might be the new black, but smoking (meat) is the new grilling!
All year long, FoodInsight.org is planning an ongoing series on food fads, so we will have plenty of opportunities to find out if the experts’ crystal balls are clear or cracked.