Tinned Fish
The Culinary Edge, based in San Francisco, sees a growing trend in high-quality canned fish in restaurants. “Integral to Spanish and Portuguese cuisine for generations, specialty tinned fish are making their way stateside, served out of the can with traditional European accoutrements,” the consulting firm said. It’s a prominent part of the menus at restaurants and bars in trend-forward cities, such as Maiden Lane in New York and JarrBar in Seattle.
— The Culinary Edge
The mainstreaming of marijuana beverages
Baum & Whiteman cite investments by major players such as Constellation Brands, Heineken and Molson Coors as a sign that drinks infused with THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana, will become more widespread, particularly as they’re legalized to one extent or another in more jurisdictions. CBD, which doesn’t get you high but is highly regarded for its other reputed therapeutic properties and is largely legal (with some asterisks) across the country, will also enjoy wider consumption.
Food from the Stans
As in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan — former Soviet republics of central Asia.
Driven by immigrants from the region, “they’re showing us new ways with noodles, beans and eggplant; new-old tricks with liver; how to marry meat and fruit; and what miracles happen when you chop tarragon, spinach, cilantro, dill, garlic chive and parsley together and toss them into a stew or a frittata or stuff them into a dumpling,” according to the consulting firm, which is based in New York City.
— Baum & Whiteman
Carnivores Double Down
Kimpton Restaurants, based in San Francisco, surveyed its chefs and determined that, “There will be more experimentation with offal-based dishes — such as lamb liver on toast, [tripe] on bruschetta and fried kidneys in a bag. It shows that the plant-based movement isn’t stopping meat-lovers from getting adventurous.
— Kimpton Restaurants
Unusual tea
San Francisco-based AF&Co expects non-traditional teas to become more prevalent in 2019, including infusions of the superfood moringa, cheese tea (a drink with origins in Taiwan for which cold tea is topped with frothy and often salted watered-down cream cheese), mushroom tea and sparkling tea.
— AF&Co
Read more:
3 operations trends for 2019
3 restaurant tech predictions for 2019
6 food trend predictions for 2019
16 predictions for the restaurant industry in 2019
