Hey guys! I’m home from Seattle from the International Food Bloggers Conference. I love Seattle – I’ve been here approximately a billion times. I get to go at least once a year for work and I love this city. It just feels like home! And yes, every time I go – I still do all the tourist things too!
But let’s get to the good stuff. Here’s some of the highlights and trend-spotting that I saw at IFBC 2015 (besides alcohol – see photo below for proof).
FOOD TRENDS:
- Champagne is the new wine pairing. Tea might be the new coffee – but never to me, because coffee will always be king.
- Chefs are tired of sriracha guys. While consumers may love it, sriracha is out and Harissa is in. Get to know this spice. Also Indian food/spices are upcoming.
- Flavored Butter is going to be the next big thing. You can infuse anything into butter like hot harissa, miso, sriracha, maple, etc. Sorry for us dairy-free weirdos, but I bet you can still infuse these into Earth Balance!
- Luckily, bacon isn’t going away.
- Smoothie Bowls are in and salads are out. Basically if you put anything into a bowl, it’s going to be popular, even entrees (ex. quinoa bowls).
- Matcha is upcoming.
- Familiar items in unique ways is a big trend that we’ve been seeing in consumers too (see Pinterest): Waffle Iron hash browns, meatloaf muffins. Take an every day recipe and use it in a new way in a new form or function.
- Hacks are also hot: Hack in kitchen examples are scrambled egg muffins, waffle iron hash browns, lasagna muffins, breakfast popsicles, etc.
- Next hot veggies: Cauliflower and Cabbage
- DIY is for food too: homemade sausages and making your own vanilla extract from scratch are all what’s next.
- S’mores ALL the time – made indoors is the next trend.
- Lamb may be the next new protein.
- Gluten-free is MORE STABLE than a traditional trend (huzzah!), and paleo is moving far beyond a diet need and into a lifestyle (but we already knew that, didn’t we?).
- Clean eating is so hot: knowing where did it come from, its ingredients, does it have additives, can I buy it locally?
- Cooking with Cannabis will be a smokin’ (okay I couldn’t resist the pun) trend for chefs and home cooks with marijuana becoming legal in so many states.
FOOD LOVE
- For foodies, KitchenAid and Sur La Table are like our Disneyland. You can find anything and everything in the store, including KitchenAid must haves for the holidays. I covered all of them in my last post here.
- American Lamb Board – lamb is pretty damn tasty. And the lambs seemed really happy before they were butchered. I want a happy lamb life. And you should too.
- Sabra Pizza Hummus – get this.
- Analon – I’m getting a free crepe pan and I’m pretty excited about it.
- Crunchmaster: Harvest Stone line (think party mix for gluten-free) and original crackers, made their appearance and I was so happy to see so many gluten-free sponsors!
- Coravin wine system – open any bottle without actually opening it. It’s like black magic. I love it.
- Teavana ceremonial matcha tea set is beautiful! As you saw above, matcha is mentioned as an upcoming trend and I plan on making match powdered sugar donuts!
- Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery – check out their GF vegan caramel sauce!
- Seattle’s new GF soda hot spot: Rachel’s Ginger Beer (yes, you can order online + ship!!!)
FOODIE GIVEAWAY
You know the drill! Below is a Rafflecopter. There are different ways that you can enter to win this giveaway. Please read the terms and conditions in the rafflecopter – they matter! This is a random giveaway with no requirement to purchase anything, except my love. Please – US only (sorry my Canada besties).
**Disclaimer: As a blogger at IFBC, I need to write three posts about the conference. I could literally write about anything I wanted. While I really wanted to devote three posts about how Sheraton hotel beds are somehow more comfortable than any other bed in the universe, I decided to post about brands and a giveaway instead.**
Loving the KitchenAid spiralizer addition. Zoodles are my jam.
I loved reading about the kitchen gadgets – I’d love to get an air fryer so I can do gf frying at home!
Teavana ceremonial matcha tea is right up my alley!
I’ve been making my own vanilla extract for ages but wish s’mores would curl up in a corner and die.
I like the E’Cucina Home HealthyFry Air Fryer.
I loved the gadgets post. So many new ideas!
You had me at GF Vegan Caramel sauce oh and the ginger beer/soda. I could get into those for days hehe.
Teavana ceremonial matcha tea set looks wonderful and cooking with Cannabis is an interesting idea I’d love to try.
I guess my favorite part was all the what’s in – what’s out in food trends.
I am most intrigued about the E’Cuchina air fryer ! I love making my own fries and baked are great but let’s face it they are called French FRIES after all. This air fryer has definitely caught my eye.
The spiralizer!
Love your list of food trends. I’m kinda glad siracha is out… it has it’s place but it’s
e v e r y w h e r e!
Thanks for making gluten free seem “fun.” 🙂
I love matcha tea… but I am a foodie so any food item.
The review on the new spiralizer attachment for the KitchenAid stand mixer.
The Sabra pizza hummus is VERY intriguing, I will have to put it on my must try list!
I will definitely be checking out the GF vegan caramel sauce — that makes me drool just thinking about it!
Love hearing about the food trends in this post!
I love the new stuff Kitchenaid is offering. Very cool!
Gotta love that new Spiralizer attachment for the Kitchen Aid mixer! What great gadget to have!
I need that kitchenaid spiralizer addition! Also, yes please to the coravin wine system!
Gotta say between all your coverage of Kitchenaid and that darn Pizza Hummus has me really going, “hum….two of my favorite foods combined!” Ah, I wanna go to that battered seafood totally gf restaurant too. I love all of your recent postings on here, fb and Instagram. I wanna do Portland AND Seattle next year. OMG! I need to visit there.
Loved to see the KitchenAid spiralizer. Luckily I have a KitchenAid
I am glad to know that GF vegan caramel sauce exists! Love this post.
The crepe fan really intrigues me! I love crepes and miss them like crazy.
loved the sur la table article. I never go in there because its so overwhelming, but I totally want a spirilizer!
I liked reading about the Kitchen Aid spiralizer!
The crepe pan is super nice!
So hope I find a spirilizer under the Christmas tree
Love hearing that lamb might be the new protein! Love lamb!
I’m very curious about the sabra pizza hummus. Definitely want to try it because I mean who doesn’t love pizza?!
The E’Cuchina Air Fryer is something I would like to have. Like the Analon Crepe Pan too!