“While the pandemic may be officially behind us, its effects have reshaped our industry in a myriad of ways. Old rules no longer hold true, and it’s crucial for businesses to be adaptable in order to remain relevant—capturing attention in new and dynamic ways, and accommodating the ever changing needs and demands of guests. In this article, we highlight some of the top food and beverage trends from our 16th annual af&co. & Carbonate Hospitality Trends Report that will shape the industry in 2024. These insights are meant to help inspire creativity, increase brand relevance, and ultimately drive revenue.”
– Leith Steel, Senior Strategist & Head of Insights at Carbonate
Table of Contents
Cross-Cultural Cooking
American food is a multi-ethnic melting pot and today’s restaurants are a reflection of that. The chef/owner of Little Bull (Durham, North Carolina) describes his cooking as that of “a first generation Mexican American from Chicago who ended up living in the South.”
Instead of hanging their hat on a slice of regional cooking, chefs in 2023 are rejecting the rigid idea of authenticity in exchange for something more reflective of the contemporary and diverse American experience, offering new combinations and menus that can’t be easily labeled or contained.
Korean Cuisine
From K-pop and kimchi, to the Oscar-winning Parasite, and the popular TV series Squid Game—Korean culture is exploding in the US, as are the number of Korean restaurants representing all facets of the cuisine: fast-food fried chicken, communal DIY barbecue, craveable flaming cheese-topped hot pots, high-end steakhouses, casual bakeries, and luxurious fine dining.
You can find it all, and you can find people of all types digging in.
Pavlova and Eton Mess
While these desserts each have a long history, meringue and whipped cream desserts are now gracing the American table like never before: Pavlova from New Zealand and Australia, or layered meringue and cream desserts from France and Italy.
Regardless of name or origin, each features a crisp meringue shell, fluffy whipped cream or silky smooth pastry cream, and often but not always a bit of tangy fruit to offset the sweetness.
Mortadella’s Moment
The classic Italian, emulsified pork-based salumi that gave birth to Oscar Mayer bologna is back in style. Mortadella—which has always been featured in deli sandwiches and tortellini filling—is now showing up as a star on pizza, often with pistachio cream, or draped across crispy golden gnocco fritto.
Chefs are even building on its renewed popularity and making mortadella from all sorts of meats and seafood.
Uni
For a luxury seafood indulgence, maximalist, unctuous uni has taken center stage, replacing caviar’s delicate saline pop and elegant restraint. The custardy golden mass is an attention getter, offering a balance of brine and creamy richness.
It can share the plate with caviar, but today, it’s standing on its own, including as an optional upgrade to all sorts of culinary creations, including atop a hamburger at Yokai (San Francisco, California).
Celeriac
Dense with a balance of sweet and earthy flavors, celeriac is not the root of celery but a root vegetable from the same family.
Once relegated to a sideshow—mixed in with potato purees or dressed in remoulade—the knobby root is now getting top billing in many kitchens, where its thick flesh works as a replacement meat in creative vegetarian dishes, perhaps breaded and fried as a milanese or roasted, chopped and mixed with capers, shallot and mustard in a tartar.
Culinary Inspired Cocktails
In the past few years, cocktails have gone from sweet to savory, from bitter to briny. Now, bartenders are making drinks with ingredients more often found on a plate. Enter the culinary cocktail.
Double Chicken Please (New York, NY)—named one of The World’s 50 Best Bars in 2023—whet the appetite with its list of cocktails such as Mango Sticky Rice, Red Eye Gravy, and Waldorf Salad.
Others are following suit and embracing this playful spirit. Jazzton Rodriguez’s Chicken Soup Martini has had more than 600,000 views across Instagram and TikTok, platforms that know how to embrace a trend.
Caprese Martini
Perhaps our favorite of the culinary inspired cocktails, and the cocktail we named “Drink of the Year,” the Caprese Martini is popping up all over the country.
While some of these savory culinary-driven libations are whimsical—even downright wacky—the Caprese Martini is thoughtfully balanced, offering the bright flavors of tomato and basil, as if a martini went for a stroll through the late-summer vegetable garden.
Clarified Cocktails
As bartenders dig ever deeper into pre-prohibition era cocktails, the last decade has seen the revival of the Victorian Era’s Milk Punch.
Now they have applied a clarification technique—which improves carbonation and shines in stirred drinks—to other well-known cocktails. The result: clear cocktails with a creamy and viscous mouth feel.
