We’re almost two weeks into a whole new year, which means everyone’s looking to the new trends - in fashion, in technology, and probably most importantly, in food. Gluten-free foods change just like any other trend, and we got one of the best gluten-free experts we know to give us the skinny on what to expect this year. Erica Dermer, otherwise known as the force behind Celiac and the Beast (and our co-curator for the January box), told us exactly what gluten-free food trends to look for and what is SO over in 2017.
Cauliflower Everything
Flickr user SaucyGlo
Cauliflower ricing is here to stay for another year. If you’re not eating cauliflower in practically every meal, you’re not on trend. Hate cauliflower? Once you try The Blender Girl’s cauliflower leek soup, you’ll be a super fan. Now, even roasting an entire head of cauliflower is popular. When will cauliflower stop? Hopefully never. Please don’t bring Brussels sprouts back – I can only handle one brassica at a time.
Paleo and Primal Dieting
Flickr user arnold | inuyaki
People thought paleo would be a fly-by-night trend. It’s stuck around and multiplied. More and more packaged goods providers are turning into the paleo and primal markets. Paleo tortillas have taken over Pinterest, Otto’s Naturals launched their cassava flour, and Siete Family Foods launched refrigerated grain free tortillas. There are more paleo and primal bars than you can shake a prehistoric club at. It’s the same for the proliferation of jerky. When will it stop? I don’t see the caveman trend stopping any time soon.
Healthy Fats
Flickr user theimpulsivebuy
This will be the year that everyone will have a bottle of avocado oil in their kitchen, I’m just sure of it. Chosen Foods’ avocado oil spray is one of my kitchen must-haves. Avocado oil’s healthy fat content and high smoke point make it awesome to use for practically everything in the kitchen. Fat is not your enemy!
Hello, Harissa?
Flickr user fred_v
The trend predictors I followed in 2015 and 2016 predicted the year of harissa, in hopes to find “the new sriracha.” I scribbled it in my notes, but still haven’t seen it take over yet. I think this spice will finally have its year in the sun in 2017. It’s a North African spice, and since forecasters predict 2017 showcases more African food trends, I’m hoping that harissa gets to have a party this year.
Fermentation, Prebiotics, and Gut Health
Flickr user saeru
With a huge focus on gut health, especially for the gluten-free population, everyone was all about probiotics. Take a pill and repopulate your gut. But, prebiotics haven’t seen the mass market that probiotics has…yet. These fibrous foods help the bacteria in your gut work. Another huge trend is the increase in fermented products for probiotic repopulation. Think of the K’s: kombucha (I shudder at the thought of eating the “mother”), keifer, and kimchi – fermented food is hot right now and I can’t see it stopping any time soon. Expect brands like Farmhouse Culture to keep expanding their product lines.
Your Life in an Instant Pot.
Remember when Crock-Pots were sexy kitchen items? Of course not, because if you’re my age, we missed that trend and now associate the brand with our parents. Now they’re “slow cookers” (even though some still call them by the biggest brand name, Crock-Pot), and they’re popular again. But what’s really sexy in 2017 is the Instant Pot. If you’re on Pinterest and you don’t have an Instant Pot, you feel like the middle school kid eating lunch in the bathroom stall. An Instant Pot is like a Slow Cooker that can do anything – make rice, soup, yogurt, fix relationship problems, predict lottery numbers, etc. You need it.
Eat Better Meat
Flickr user sk8geek
If you’re not vegan, chances are you’ve been faced with a humanely-raised meat revolution. Never before has it been so important to focus on how a meat was raised before. The focus on grass-fed, cage-free, free-range and more permeates natural grocery stores. Butcher Box now has a subscription box full of humanely-raised meat and grass-fed beef. If you’re going to consume meat, it’s up to you to choose the ethnical and environmental ramifications of it!
Vegan Meat & Dairy Alternatives
Flickr user Veganbaking.net
Will Jackfruit finally see its day? Can vegan butter just become the norm? For those of us that can’t eat meat (or just some meat), or dairy, the vegan revolution is the best. I hope that it grows year after year. Vegan protein alternatives are huge, and pea protein keeps growing and growing, along with other forms of vegan protein – like algae. Jackfruit couldn’t be hotter, thanks to Upton Naturals proliferation into the market (finally). I mean, we now have vegan butcher shops! Everyone went nuts – from vegans to vegan critics – when Beyond Meat launched their “bleeding” beet burger – but let’s face it, it’s still beets. And if you’re a vegan, do you really want your food to bleed? Isn’t that the whole point of being a vegan?
Food Waste
Flickr user bibrak
Consumer packaged goods companies are facing pressure from associations and consumers about food waste. Packaging will change: it will be reused or reduced. More of the product will be used in the final product or reused for another product (ex. WTRMLN WTR or Forager Project products). Outside of packaged goods, food waste in the home should be a focus for 2017 and beyond – reducing waste and using as much of the product as possible before throwing out. Hopefully 2017 is about making ugly fruits and vegetables beautiful again for the mainstream.
Quit it, Pinterest.
Maybe I’m just bitter because I’m not that talented in the kitchen, but I see things on Pinterest and Instagram that just have to go. Please, 2017?
Zoodles. Can we please stop? I love pasta, I love forward to pasta, and zuchiini noodles depress me. You don’t taste like pasta. You don’t feel like pasta in my mouth. So the only reason you’re allowed in is because you kinda sorta look like pasta?
Cauliflower crust. No. It’s not pizza crust. I just can’t. Have you ever tried to make an egg-substitute vegan cauliflower pizza crust? It’s even worse than the original. I love you cauiflower, but quit ruining my pizza.
Smoothie bowls, I am so sick of you. I get it. I like smoothies too, but what’s with the artistic expression that you feel compelled to post on Pinterest or Instagram daily. It’s a smoothie, not a canvas. I always wonder, “Do all of those flavors even go together? Or are they just pretty?”
Avocado toast will never die. But one can hope. And when did toast with peanut butter (or SunButter) and jelly become passé? What’s wrong with bread? Anyone slicing up a vegetable and putting it in the toaster does not mean it’s toast – I’m looking at you, sweet potato. If you start making cauliflower toast, I am so out.
Erica Dermer started her website because she felt like she had a new and humorous voice to bring to the gluten-free table, and desperately needed some celiac catharsis through writing and blogging. With a background in marketing and market research and development (including the food and beverage industry), she’s always had a soft spot in her heart for packaged goods, marketing, and branding in the specialty diets industry. It also helps that she’s a self-proclaimed terrible cook - although getting better with every Instagram-worthy meal - so she relies on many gluten-free products to help her get through her day without burning down the kitchen. She uses humor to get through her diagnosis and living gluten-free in a world full of wheat. As a celiac and gluten-free advocate, her aim is to educate the world about celiac disease and the importance of this wonderful “less than 20ppm” universe we live in. Her first book, “Celiac and the Beast: A Love Story Between a Gluten-Free Girl, Her Genes, and a Broken Digestive Tract” was released in October 2013 and highlights her life with a celiac disease diagnosis and what she’s learned along the way.
