It’s official. The 2010s have been a memorable decade.
But political upheaval, London Olympics and a whole host of Royal babies pale into insignificance alongside the food trends of years gone by.
From artery-clogging pastries to food fads causing economic disaster, we look back at the best food trends of the decade.
Eggs
Of course, we know that they are a through-the-ages staple. But this decade eggs really took their turn in the spotlight. From the boom of brunching (bookings for the meal on OpenTable have increased by 369 per cent since 2013) to dedicated egg restaurants (see Eggslut and its filthy creations), the humble egg has taken on a new role as a universal crowd pleaser. And please don’t forget the egg that overtook Kylie Jenner’s baby announcement to become the most liked post ever on Instagram, with 54 million likes and counting. #EggGang
Cronut
In many ways, the 2010s have been a period of food extremes A balanced diet seemed to go out of the window, as people oscillated between ‘clean-eating’ and ‘cheat days’. The Cronut®, invented by Dominique Ansel Bakery in 2014, is definitely on the cheat day end of the scale. A butter-drenched hybrid of a doughnut and croissant, it’s ideally filled with a vanilla cream and then glazed. The Cronut® was followed by a host of other obesity-inducing trends – remember the now-banned Hungry Horse doughnut burger? Delicious.
Avocados
Ah, avocados. They’re the reason no millennial can buy a house (thanks, Tim Gurner), and have found their way into every conceivable foodstuff.
Burger buns, brownies, toast, smoothies and cocktails have all been infiltrated, and the trend shows no sign of slowing down – take a look at the queue outside Covent Garden’s Avobar if you need convincing.
Bleeding burgers
In 2016, the meat-like, bleeding Impossible Burger entered the consciousness – and mouths – of the world. Hailed as the new alternative to beef burgers, it was designed to replicate the taste, smell, texture and juiciness of a regular burger. And it held up.
Since then, the alternative meat market has exploded – even on to the menu of meat-loving giant Burger King. And with veganism itself being a defining trend of the 2010s, meat replacements look set to continue to dominate.
Pumpkin spice
Everything. Is. Pumpkin. Spice. Popularised by the Starbucks PSL (that’s a vaguely cinnamon-scented latte if you didn’t know), the aromatic blend has developed a cult following since 2012 and is now mainly associated with the ‘basic’, yoga-pant and Ugg-boot wearing individual. Sorry.
Cauliflower substitutes
This is the food trend with which I take the biggest issue. Cauliflower pizza ISN’T PIZZA. And yet keto-diet lovers, gluten-free advocates and vegans alike fell hook, line and sinker this decade for any menu item that replaces a carb – or meat – with the caul. Cauliflower rice, steaks and pasta have all been popularised, whilst other carb replacements such as ‘courgetti’ and spaghetti squash also all sit comfortably on the supermarket aisles.
