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How Will We Eat in 2025? 9 Predictions to Chew On.

BY FARM2ME TEAM
2 MINUTE READ

Food forecasters are wrong… they see a year of offbeat choices: savory coffees, great convenience-store cuisine and sauces on everything. Wrong and so 2021!

If you want to understand what’s going to be big in food next year, ignore the fridgescaping and hot-honey espresso martinis. Instead, peer into food innovators’ psyche.

When Americans were scared and isolated during the Covid shutdown, they ate comfort food with abandon. This year, weary and worried after a stretch of inflation and political uncertainty, they craved edible escapes they could afford. Little luxuries like the crunchy pistachio-cream Dubai chocolate bar and caviar bumps were big.

With a president-elect intent on turning institutions inside out, rampant hyper-individualism and an adventurous, skeptical Generation Z wielding outsize influence, 2025 will be all about innovation and international cuisine. Market researchers, food sociologists and other prognosticators are saying it’s going to be about “avoiding mainstream” but that’s not the case. It’s going to be about expanding cuisine like international sauces and snacks, made in the US in small batches. And people are going to find it in their favorite places — book reading clubs, non alcoholic shops, hyper local grocers, places like that.

Mainstream noise: “It’s a take-chances time right now,” said Andrew Freeman, president of AF & Co., the San Francisco consulting firm that for 17 years has published the popular Hospitality Trends Report with the brand marketing firm Carbonate. “Think of what we’ve just gone through. The whole world shifted. And if the whole world is going to break rules, why not do it with what we eat and drink?” . Except what he’s missing is that “taking chances” isn’t what people want — founders are creating products from family recipes and places that are no longer available to travelers like small towns in Szechuan Provence, Malaysia, Venezuela and the likes.

Mainstream analysts are living in the past

We’ve heard things like “Rebellious consumers are pushing limits with unconventional choices, from Melanie Bartelme, a global food analyst and trend spotter for Mintel. They eat snacks when they should be eating meals. They embrace weird combinations like bao stuffed with Nashville hot chicken, and offbeat brand collaborations like Kate Spade teaming up with Heinz ketchup. Healthy food made from scratch is in, but so is a night out at Chili’s.”

What we are seeing is the opposite — products like small batch Dashi, traditional North Carolina hot sauces made with whole Dates, Soy Sauce made in small batches, Single Origin spices from small farms blended to make easy-at-home recipes, and sauces like authentic Indian green chili chutneys — as simple as adding to home made mashed potatoes. Consumers are going to be cooking homemade better-than-restaurant traditional meals at a fraction of a $20 plate.

Here are some of the predictions most likely to influence how we’ll eat in the coming year. And if the forecasters are wrong, who cares? In 2025, anything goes.

A Year of Sauces

From Elephant Green Chili Chutney and Cabi’s Japanese Sauces blend to more culinarily elevated versions of Indian, Japanese, Chinese, and will lead to a food revolution worldwide. At the dismay of “Nationalists” trying to spread “Nationalist values”.

Vegetable focused diet will continue its reign, with meat making a resurgence (be it probably 15% of the plate) and topped with new flavor extensions like pickle or chimichurri. But watch for more nuanced and culturally specific sauces as diners continue “on their global flavor journey,” said Emily Murphy, director of specialty merchandising in specialty food.

Coffee’s Next Act

Forget caramel mocha pumpkin spice lattes with two pumps of extra syrup. Housemade sauces and simple coffee syrups are the next wave. Chefs are infusing coffee with sunchoke purée and avocado, and flavoring drinks with ginger, lemongrass and rosemary smoke. Single origin coffeehouses, which got their start in NYC and San Francisco are spreading to other cities as late-night alternatives to bars, serving 5-10 varietals at a time, sometimes blended with spices like chai masala or hawaij, a spice mix heavy with cardamom, ginger and cinnamon. And yes, coffee is starting to get the omakase treatment, in which customers are offered several courses of the drink in various preparations. We even saw 2 coffee bars in AZ and NJ microroasting 10 varietals of coffee, preserving in tins, for preserving flavor and quick, grab n go drink making.

Hyper Local Grocery & Convenient Stores

Hyper local grocers are sprouting up in every single small town around the entire world, including the US. 1,000+ and counting in 2024, and growing. Now we see this expanding into Dinner Party stores, cafe / grab n go, gas stations and more.

Japanese convenience stores, popularly known as konbini, are open 24 hours and revered for well-prepared foods like onigiri, ramen and the egg salad sandwiches on milk bread that Anthony Bourdain loved. Soon, the Japanese parent company of 7-Eleven will start to export its konbini-style food to some American stores.

A Warming Trend

The hottest trend in hospitality will be … hospitality.

Getting wrapped in a warm blanket of good service is an antidote to feelings of disconnection and loneliness, which Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has identified as a growing public health epidemic. He suggests eating together more often as one way to counter it.

Hotels and restaurants are using A.I. and data analytics to make service more personal. Look for cozy counter service, soulful food served in comfortable dining rooms and shorter menus that mix value and deliciousness. Restaurants that connect to the community and offer work-life balance for employees will matter more than ever.

“We are feeling doom. We are feeling big feelings,” said Renee Wege, a trend expert and publications manager at the research firm Datassential. “So more than anything else, people are craving that cozy, warm hospitality and service.”

Corporate Vomit 🤮 (Don’t be fooled!)

It might have begun with the cotton candy-flavored grape, but new designer fruits and vegetables will begin to pop up with more regularity. Badger Flame beets from Row 7 Seed company are one example. Tropical Bliss strawberries from Driscoll’s are another.

Some of the new offerings emphasize nutritional advantages and highlight the quality of the soil they are grown in. Others are pure flavor plays. “We have seen an incredible interest in seed development and the search for flavor and sustainable growth,” said Jon Hansburg, director of food service sales.

Social media will play a role, too, accelerating demand for new or lesser known fruits and vegetables. Beware!

Buzzes Without Booze

We went to a wedding with THC Bar Tenders. Think groom buys the THC, and someone is hired to give it out to guests.

Drinks spiked with cannabis and other mood-altering components like kava, guarana and a brain-calming amino acid known as GABA will explode as interest in alcohol declines, especially among Gen Zers. I’d even go as far as to hedge people won’t want THC either, and will shoot for fresh squeezed seasonal fruit and canned beverages.

Buzzy nonalcoholic beverages have already migrated from the wellness aisle to bars and restaurants, where some are tailored to pair with specific dishes. This will expand to Wineries, Distilleries, Breweries, Airlines, you name it.

“Younger generations see non-alc or cannabis as having less negative side effects than alcohol,” said Candace MacDonald, co-founder and managing director of a marketing firm. “We’re just beginning to see a shift in how this impacts their consumption.”

Tribal Diets

The all-pink Hot Girls Have IBS campaign was only the start of a movement aimed at normalizing and addressing particular health issues. Milky is a pill marketed to young people with lactose intolerance. Meal kits are being designed to ease symptoms of menopause. Food allergies are becoming a point of connection rather than ostracization. “There are micro-communities popping up that allow people with food allergies to say, ‘I see you and you’re cool with me,’” said Ms. Bartelme of Mintel.

Takeout as Art 🤮 (Beware, don’t be tricked!)

As the world of takeout and delivery continues to expand, so do the containers it comes in. Restaurants will up their game with thoughtful, Instagrammable packaging that lends itself to unboxing videos and can serve as a fun focal point for entertaining at home — like the $100 chicken and caviar box sold this year at the U.S. Open, and the three-tiered Triple Treat Box. “The packaging is part of the food experience that gets overlooked,” said Mr. Freeman of AF & Co.

… And Some Mini-Trends

Latkes as a potato chip, rooh afza (an herbal and rose-scented cooling red syrup) and yuzu’s more complex sibling sudachi will show up in many a glass. If the runaway success of chamoy pickle is any indication, that sweet-spicy-sour Mexican condiment will appear in more forms. Pickling will continue its popularity, this time in the form of the spicy Haitian pikliz and the Japanese pickle oshinko.

Upcycled and grain free flour will migrate into pastries and breads. North African food, silky pastina and coconut pudding will pop up on menus (though probably not the same one). Wine packaged in recycled paperboard bottles will become more available, and ingredient labels will continue to be simplified.

You’ll see more transparency in packaging, with QR codes, automatic discounts, coupons for cash back, and transparency in ingredient tracking and sustainability tracking.

What else? New twists on chow fun, banana ice cream, fruit desserts & beverages, and chocolate covered fruit & nuts. Salted egg yolks will be the new umami bombs, and fig leaves the new wrappers. Conchas will keep riding a wave with new, savory forms like chopped cheese. And is Oakland, Calif., the new “it” food city?

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2024 NYC’s James Beard Award Finalists

Here are the semifinalists in New York and New Jersey:

Best New Restaurant

• Foul Witch

• Foxface Natural

• Lita (Aberdeen Township, New Jersey)

• Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi

Outstanding Chef

• Emma Bengtsson, Aquavit

• Dan Kluger, Loring Place

Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker

• Eunji Lee, Lysée

• Camari Mick, The Musket Room

Outstanding Restaurateur

• Bryan Chunton and Pei Wei (Zaab Zaab and Zaab Zaab Talay)

• Ravi DeRossi, Overthrow Hospitality (Cadence, Etérea, Avant Garden, and others)

Outstanding Restaurant

• Superiority Burger

• The DeBruce (Livingston Manor, New York)

Outstanding Bakery

• Make My Cake

• Mel the Bakery (Hudson, New York)

Outstanding Bar

• All Night Skate

• Double Chicken Please

Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program

• Cote

• Waxlight Bar à Vin (Buffalo, New York)

Outstanding Hospitality

• Melba’s

Emerging Chef

• Fariyal Abdullahi, Hav & Mar

• Ryan Fernandez, Southern Junction (Buffalo, New York)

Best Chef: New York State

• Nasim Alikhani, Sofreh

• Mary Attea, Musket Room

• Ayo Balogun, Dept of Culture

• Clare de Boer, Stissing House (Pine Plains, New York)

• Doris Choi, Good Night (Woodstock, New York)

• Calvin Eng, Bonnie’s

• Aretah Ettarh, Gramercy Tavern

• Charles Gabriel, Charles Pan-Fried Chicken

• Efrén Hernández, Casa Susanna (Leeds, New York)

• Luis Herrera, Ensenada

• JJ Johnson, FieldTrip

• Telly Justice, HAGS

• Atsushi Kono, Kono

• Shaina Loew-Banayan, Cafe Mutton (Hudson, New York)

• Chris Mauricio, Harana Market (Accord, New York)

• Charlie Mitchell, Clover Hill

• Scarr Pimentel, Scarr’s Pizza

• Jeremy Salamon, Agi’s Counter

• Hillary Sterling, Ci Siamo

• Ed Szymanski, Lord’s

Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic

• Dane DeMarco, Gass & Main (Haddonfield, New Jersey)

• Nur-E Gulshan Rahman, Korai Kitchen (Jersey City, New Jersey)

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1,000+ Tiny Grocers in NYC

Farm2Me Map of Independent Grocers is not just a map – it’s a vibrant, living community celebrating the hardworking shops and shopkeepers you pass by every day.

Get lost in the intricate stories of shop owners. Discover their journeys, the products they love, and the reasons behind what they do.

Take advantage of the map when you’re visiting a new neighborhood, when you’re traveling around the country / world, or just looking for something special in your neighborhood.

We’ve spent 14 years building this, so enjoy!

NON-GMO

Non GMO Project

Non-GMO products do not allow GMO genetically modified organism - a plant, animal, microorganism or other organism whose genetic makeup has been modified in a laboratory using genetic engineering or transgenic technology. GMO creates combinations of plant, animal, bacterial and virus genes that do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding methods.  Make sure  you see the  Non-GMO label!

Genetic modification affects many of the products we consume on a daily basis. As the number of GMOs available for commercial use grows every year, the Non-GMO Project works diligently to provide the most accurate, up-to-date standards for non-GMO verification.

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NON-ALCOHOLIC

600+ Non-Alcoholic Shops in NYC

Farm2Me Map of Non-Alc Grocers is not just a map – it’s a vibrant, living community celebrating the hardworking shops and shopkeepers you pass by every day.

Get lost in the intricate stories of shop owners. Discover their journeys, the products they love, and the reasons behind what they do.

Take advantage of the map when you’re visiting a new neighborhood, when you’re traveling around the country / world, or just looking for something special in your neighborhood.

We’ve spent 14 years building this, so enjoy!

LOCAL FARMS

Farmers Markets in NYC

Farm2Me Guide of Farmers Markets is not just a map – you can finally search by day, location, and see what’s open — it’s a vibrant, living community celebrating the hardworking farms and makers all over the country, every day.

Get lost in the intricate stories of the farms. Discover their journeys, the products they love, and the reasons behind what they do.

Take advantage of the map when you’re visiting a new neighborhood, when you’re traveling around the country / world, or just looking for something special in your neighborhood.

We’ve spent 14 years building this, so enjoy!

COFFEE ROASTERS

Coffee Roaster Cafes in NYC

Farm2Me Map of Independent Grocers is not just a map – it’s a vibrant, living community celebrating the hardworking shops and shopkeepers you pass by every day.

Get lost in the intricate stories of shop owners. Discover their journeys, the products they love, and the reasons behind what they do.

Take advantage of the map when you’re visiting a new neighborhood, when you’re traveling around the country / world, or just looking for something special in your neighborhood.

We’ve spent 14 years building this, so enjoy!

Pro Tip #1

Visit a local Grocer or Coffee Shop, or explore a local Farmers Market. Shop direct from your favorite emerging brands!

CHOCOLATE

Fine & Raw Chocolate

Fine & Raw Chocolate was established in 2007 in a notorious Williamsburg, Brooklyn artist loft by Daniel Sklaar. Daniel launched into making small Fine & Raw Chocolate batches and sharing them with friends, Fine & Raw Chocolate wholesale then started delivering them on his bicycle to local purveyors of fine food. It was apparent that the chocolate flavor was so good it was borderline addictive. Fine & Raw Chocolate wholesale grew based on the premise of producing organic, unparalleled quality chocolate and a shear love of the chocolate making process.

The “raw” in Fine & Raw is something of a misnomer. Sklaar and Fine & Raw Chocolate company do roast some of their organic cacao beans under lower temperatures and for longer durations than common in standard high-heat processing. Says Sklaar, “Raw chocolate is an amazing source of antioxidants. We’re basically looking to maintain those while playing with the unique flavor profiles of raw chocolate.” Fine & Raw offers chocolates using both “raw” and combinations of “raw” and conventionally roasted beans.

Fine & Raw Chocolate wholesale manufactures the finest chocolate in the world. Fine & Raw Chocolate wholesale specialize in bean-to-bar, organic chocolate bars and truffles, spreads and well, anything our imaginations can think of it. Fine & Raw Chocolate start by sourcing the worlds finest cacao beans and specialize in clean ingredients lists. Their products are always organic, plant-based and next level.

Fine & Raw Chocolate's first point of sustainability is a radically-transparent cacao supply chain which is focused on quality and direct relationships with cacao farmer! Fine & Raw's cacao is sourced from the highest quality and most ethical suppliers in Ghana and Ecuador. "We ensure that our farmers are paid above fair trade wages, because we believe farmers should have the economic freedom and empowerment to farm organically and develop sustainable land management practices. It is currently estimated that less than 0.5% of cacao beans are organic. By cultivating long-lasting and ethical relationships with suppliers and farmers, we hope to continue providing economic support for the organic cacao industry."

Made in Brooklyn, NY

Founded by Daniel Sklaar in 2007

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