Inspired by Food52’s Best and Worst Food Trends of the Decade, I hereby submit my own list, including laws and movements.
I’m so proud to have contributed knowledge to folks wanting to start trends and make good food, in the 2010-2019 decade and beyond! Thank you for all your support, good people of the Interwebs.
- Meal kits by mail. You’ve seen, or maybe experienced, the enormous amounts of trash involved with meal kits from the exterior packaging to the individual packets of spices, herbs and portions of oil, etc.
- On the other hand, meal kits were a wake up call to supermarkets and grocers like Trader Joe’s who upped the ante either with better ready-to-cook kits or ready-to-eat foods you could pick up at the store. In TJ’s case, they have great salad kits with dressing.
My favorite innovation for simplifying cooking is a salad dressing carafe that has recipe measurements on the actual glass shaker. You add oil, then add vinegar, etc. and it tells you the exact amounts. Problem solved. - The Good Food Awards came about 10 years ago with the purpose of highlighting foods that are authentic, tasty and responsible. (I’ve been involved for a long time, which I love, and even mapped finalists to see clusters of where winning food crafters live.)
Once I learned about the horrors of the American food system, and the 1906 Pure Food Act that required labeling and made many toxic ingredients illegal, my appreciation for the Good Food Awards has only grown.
- Bioplastics
- Murky meat.
- Craft chocolate becoming the new American wine or coffee, at least in highlighting origin flavor profiles. The number of bean-t0-bar chocolate makers in 2019 vs. in 2010 is stunning…many dozens more.
- Cottage food laws that allow home based “non-potentially hazardous” food businesses such as for cookies and nut mixes are now legal in most states. California passed a home-based prepared meal law in 2019 too, that is slowly being adopted county by county.
- Plant-based foods are probably the biggest trend in eating and food business in the past decade. From lab-grown meat to interesting simulated meats to uses of fruits and vegetables like jackfruit and mushrooms as meat alternatives…there is no end to the efforts to simulate meat and reduce meat consumption with an eye on better health and a better environment. The Plant Based Foods Association is the place to keep tabs on the latest. (Oh, and of course there’s a certification much as there’s a new Regenerative Agriculture certification.)
- American cider was a long-time coming. It may be an obscure entry for this list, but it is as American as well, you know. What took apple cider so long? In lock step with cider, so many interesting local liquors have cropped up, as you can see on the Good Food Awards list under Spirits.
- How do people keep their figures in shape with all the junk food and eating trends that are made-for-Instagram?
