Taste Trends

Do you plan to serve figs at your next dinner party? How about bacon or pickled vegetables? If your immediate response is “no,” maybe you think about it a little more. That’s because those items are among the year’s trendiest foods.

In the journo trade, we call these kinds of stories “listicles.” They proliferate this time of year as magazines, newspapers and assorted experts tell us the top 10 events of the past year and the top 10 events to expect in the next one.

But they are useful for keeping the conversation going or showing off your insider knowledge at your next dinner party. This one is particularly useful because you can actually include some of the items in your menu, making you a doubly-hot host.

Here’s what’s trending in the food world right now:

  • Bacon is still ruling the roost as an addition to just about everything, including bacon-infused beer. You can even crush the bacon and use it to rim the glass for your next brew.
  • Figs, dates, pears and blackberries are the fruits of the moment, especially paired with chocolates or in jam and preserves. Take a favorite recipe using berries, apples, or dried fruits, substitute one of the above, and you’ll have a whole new dish.
  • Pickled veggies and fruits are giving snap to steak or pork tenderloin (or anything else). Search online for recipes that can be made and used the same day.
  • The artisan salt craze continues, with flavored finishing salts such as chardonnay and truffle. Try a scraping of Himalayan pink salt over your next batch of fudge.
  • Bitters, the stuff in the paper-wrapped bottle that gets dashed into bourbon and rye cocktails, is coming into its own as a full-fledged ingredient. Try Fee Brothers Rhubarb Bitters in your next Manhattan. (feebrothers.com)

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