My TOP FIVE Predicted Food Trends for 2014.

My TOP FIVE Predicted Food Trends.

This article on Forbes made me LOL.  For one, I love all things about food trends and I am a total “foodie” at heart.  But lets get to my opinion on the article…

I think cupcakes were definitely a food trend and may be subsiding and juicing is definitely taking over, and hasn’t quite reached that peak yet.  (But lets not forget that these are NOT competing industries.)  I do not think the cupcake industry is as hopeless as that article makes it seem though.  People will always enjoy simple delicacies and they will overspend on something like this because it makes them feel good.  The economy has recovered some, but still has a long way to go.  People are not yet confident that things won’t fall apart at anytime.  Yes, people can make their own cupcakes. But really good cupcakes take time to bake and lets be honest…some skill.  So buying some specialty cupcakes for a birthday gift, party, or work event is much easier and a quick way to impress your friends.  When someone brings in something new,  people talk about it especially if it is decadent and hand-made with love.   People don’t get really excited and talk about Dunkin Donut’s which ANYONE can get. (Now this doesn’t apply if their are no Dunkin Donuts in your area, then you will get excited about them, AKA. FARGO)  Simple as that. People like special, unique food especially concerning desserts.  If you are gonna enjoy something that can make you feel guilty, it might as well be really good. People don’t usually get excited about eating a Twinkie as their one treat for the week.  They are gonna go and spend 5 bucks on a cupcake because it makes them feel happy and the whole atmosphere of the shop is just a side bonus.  All in all,  cupcakes or decadent dessert trends are not going away anytime soon.

My next note is what is going to be the newest Food Trend??  Great question.   I have some ideas that I would like to share.  I mixed it up with healthy and not so healthy ideas.

1.  Cookies.  –  Cupcakes blew up as a huge trend. But why not cookies??  These can be just as delicious and some people prefer cookies over cake. There are some crazy cookie out there and can be just as ridiculous and indulgent as a cupcake. Recently, I have baked turtle cookies and pumpkin snickerdoodles, both are not your typical cookies.  One of my great new finds is Whole Foods international cookies section.  They charge about 10.99 per lb, and they have a variety of different cookies that they switch up all the time.  Its a fun way to try new interesting kinds of cookies and enjoy yourself!

2. Chia Seeds – Now, I know these have already gotten popular, but I do not think have reached their full hype yet.  My favorite way to eat chia seeds are in health drinks.  My first choice is Synergy Kombucha Grape Chia.  I know Kombucha has gotten really popular and it can be an odd taste to get used to, but definitely try it!!  You will likely become accustomed to it!!  My second choice is Mamma Chia’s.  All the flavors are great and this is a much smoother taste.  My favorite is Blackberry Hibisicus and my second is Guava Mamma. The chia seeds just slide right down and I love the texture in my mouth. 🙂  I usually choose to buy Synergy over Mamma Chia though.  Only because it is a bigger bottle for almost same price and Synergy has more added health benefits because of the Kombucha.  Also there is about 4200 mg Omega-3’s compared to 2500 mg.  But lots of times I will walk into Whole Foods and they won’t have the Grape Synergy (its the most popular flavor by far) so its nice to have another delicious option.

3.  Fresh Bread – Okay, so I am a bit biased here because I worked at a fresh bakery for over a year. But real bread is soo good and much tastier then other bread you find in the grocery store.  The bakery I worked at was called Breadsmith.  All the bread was baked fresh everyday and real hearty and delicious.  Especially around holidays who doesn’t want real hearty bread? Not only is it more delicious it is much healthier then the bread at the store. I think that bread that doesn’t go bad after a few days is NOT okay to eat….there are tons of preservatives that are in it and HFCS. YUCK!!! Honestly after working here, I am extremely picky about my bread and I can automatically tell if the bread is fresh or not.  I think the whole experience of walking into the bread store is wonderful.  The experience is a good enough reason just to stop at the bread store. Lets bring it back to the good ol’ days (even though I didn’t exist then, ha!)!  If I had a bread store close by to me, I would want to stop by everyday to pick up a fresh loaf of bread. MM MM.

4.  Vegetable Soups – This kinda goes along with juicing, but I wanted a new twist.  First off, I love love tomatoes!!  I made this amazing tomato soup and with all the fresh pureed ingredients, it tasted so amazing I could just feel all the nutrients absorbing.  I do not even want to eat canned tomato soup anymore!!  Fresh soup is a healthy way to get lots of veggies and I like that better sometimes then drinking celery juice :P.   And you don’t always have to puree the soups, cooking the soup softens it up so it easily digests.  Drinking juices are great an all to help rest the digestion system, but sometimes these trends can become too extreme. But I won’t go on about my thoughts about juicing. haha  In upcoming posts, I will share some of my favorite soup recipes so be looking for them! 😀

5.  Ice Cream/Gelato Shops – Okay, so I am going to hate a bit on Self- Serve frozen yogurt places.  I love all these self-serve frozen yogurt places and they are a great idea!!  But I am starting to question them as they are not really “healthy” at all.  I have read negative things about them from Food Babe.  (who is a fascinating read, and I wish half the stuff she said wasn’t true so I try not to read it all the time)  I know that most of those frozen yogurt is full of bad things, like additives, etc. The only truly maybe okay flavor is the plain yogurt one which doesn’t even taste good.  I think we should step away from frozen yogurt and focus on real ice cream. Heck, if I am gonna eat it, it might as well be the real thing. Whole Foods sells gelato and I think that’s a great idea for a tasty luxurious treat.  I would also keep the topping ideas, everyone wants to create their own masterpiece and eat it their way.  We are selfish people, we want the best and we want the most options.  I do not know too much about gelato so I googled it of course.  And came up with this.   So basically its a bit healthier, but really all the three are the same.  Frozen yogurt most likely only wins because it  “sounds” the healthiest which is usually how it works.  But I think specialty gelato shops would be successful as it could be viewed as fancier then other ice cream.

WELL! These are my top 5 predictions for 2014 maybe I am a bit off, maybe not.  Nonetheless these are all 5 wonderful things I enjoy. 🙂

Let me know if you agree/disagree with me! Are there any food trends that you are obsessed with???  Let me know! I’d love to hear! Leave a comment or shoot me an email at chelsea.j.roehl@gmail.com.

XOXO,

Chelsea Jolene

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