Irish Food Predictions 2015

Well it seems that quite a number of people searching on the blog remember I made some Irish food predictions in  January last year about what I thought would be in store for Irish Food in 2014.

In 2014 said that I thought that group dining/Sunday Roasts would be making a comeback. The Exchequer has been doing it for years, but I also believe that newer establishments such as the Brookwood have started doing a roast dinner. This trend will continue to increase in 2015.

Juicing was my trend to watch and I was pretty much bang on with that too. There has been an explosion of juice bars in the Dublin area that I’ve noticed. The price of tropical fruit has remained static enough but this could be down to the slump in fuel prices, more so than lack of demand.

Increase in Ottolenghi/Middle Eastern/Lit-Fest inspired dishes across blogs in Ireland in 2014? I’ll stick a firm tick beside that one.

I mentioned how the food bank system would struggle unless the major retailers stepped up to the plate – go figure, between the Bia Food Bank & Food Cloud the amount of food that is being redistributed has increased significantly. So I’m happy to report that while food banks have increased demand, they also have more food to hand out.

I’m putting the diseases related to nutritional deficiency to one side – as I’ve not had a chance to research this thoroughly (I’m a bit laid up at the moment).

Now to 2015.

Again, just to emphasise, these are just my personal views and they may be heavily pain-killer influenced so apologies for spelling/grammar mistakes.

Value-Added Food

There will be an increase in regular foodstuffs getting “value-added” or being altered to make the food a premium product. We’ve already seen this in Christmas of this year where Tesco had a number of party foods on sale with edible glitter and Lidl had cheese with grated truffle. I foresee this trend increasing.

Content-Reduced Food

You may not even notice this food trend, however it is a stealthy change. Many larger manufacturers are working to reduce the salt, sugar and additive content on their ingredients list. It is work that can take a number of years and greater research. Manufacturers who started 3-4 years ago will start making greater claims on their packaging in 2015. You may not see these claims on the packaging though as there are strict regulations on recipe changes and advertising in the EU. For example, did you know that KitKats now have 11% less saturated fat than 2 years ago?

Sugar Replacements

Think Stevia, agave, xylitol, and honey – aspartame, fructose and saccharin are on the bold list. Coca-Cola being one of the first to make the reduction in sugar content with their “Coke Life” which has less sugar and uses stevia as a sweetener.

Nothing Artificial

On the other side of the coin, I reckon there will be more of a return to natural foodstuffs in 2015. More lard, suet, regular old sugar, butter, and a return to older, traditional recipes that were used 100-odd years ago.

International Food Trend To Watch

South American Cuisine, heavily influenced by Brazil and Argentina. There has been an increase in Asadors in the UK, which will be followed swiftly by Ireland I’m sure. Street food will be influenced by the great foods like empanadas/pastels, pao (cheese bread), rice and beans, chimi-churri sauces packed with flavour and loads of asado (grilled meat). I have it from a reliable source that Google Dublin have been dining on Brazilian food for quite some time – as always they’re ahead of the trend when it comes to fresh, flavoursome food for their staff.

Fruit & Vegetables

I think there will be an increase in colours in the fruit/vegetable area in 2015. Think purple carrots, white strawberries and unusual crops. Raw food is also a trend so we will see more raw, vegan cakes, dehydrated fruit and vegetables will feature as well.

Please note: These are my own opinions based on personal experience. I am only an expert in my own kitchen!