Food trends come and go, some we’d love to see stick around and others we’d rather leave behind in 2018 (*cough* carnivore diet). From gut friendly foods to saying goodbye to plastic straws and my personal favourite, focusing on a plant-based diet, it’s been a great year in the world of food. So, without further ado, here are 2018’s best and worst food trends from where we sit.

More Of These, Please!

Gut Friendly Food

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, gut health and gut friendly food have been making its mark on menus – and we love it! Research is still in its early stages, but we now know more & more about the link between diet, our gut microbiota and our overall health, especially our mental health. Hey, if it means including more fibre, plenty of vegetables and reducing junk food we’re all for it.

Poke Bowl

Pronounced ‘okay’ with a P, this deconstructed sushi originating from Hawaii focuses on fresh raw fish, a light dressing and toppings like avocado, seaweed, edamame, other greens on a bed of most likely, rice.  It hits all the marks when it comes to nutrition and is a great fast food alternative. With lean protein, healthy fats and colourful vegetables it’s a whole lot of thumbs up from us. Oh and apparently it’s economical too with less money spent on cooking equipment. Maybe its time to try poke bowls at home?

Credit: Tuna Poke Bowl (Taste.com.au)

Plant Based Diets

There is no doubt that plant based diets such as the Flexitarian Diet made their mark in 2018. This diet includes limiting animal products and instead focusing on plant-based products (i.e. vegetables, fruits, wholegrains, legumes, seeds and nuts). Health benefits are widespread and include those affecting cardiovascular health, cognition and digestive health. Not only that but switching to a plant-based diet helps the environment as well with smaller carbon footprints.

Goodbye Straws and the Rise of Reusables

According to The Last Straw campaign, there are now 474 venues and approximately 20 million plastic straws being saved from use. More and more companies are now pledging to end the use of straws to help save the marine life. Straws have been a big focus out there this year, but we’ve also seen a huge range of reusable coffee cups, food containers, and even light weight cutlery options that you can keep with you use instead of single use plastic sets.

Some of our fave reusables include the coffee cups from KeepCup, these amazing reusable straws from Kappi (they’re GOLD people, literally!), Kappi’s awesome reusable take-anywhere cutlery sets, and these super cool lightweight glass lunch boxes from the team at BeetBox.

Thankyou, next.

Carnivore Diet

This animal products only diet made its way into the media after psychologist Jordan Peterson and daughter, Mikhaila credited the diet for ‘curing’ their inflammatory conditions. Fans of this fad also believed the diet assisted with weight loss, digestion, cardiovascular health, mood and energy. There is no scientific evidence to date that prove or show this through studies. And side note, you’re not going to get anywhere focusing on one single food group, as you know, we always recommend balance & including all the food groups.

Broccoli Latte

Created by the CSIRO and Hort Innovation, this nifty little invention includes adding the brassica powder to a hot beverage. It made headlines back in June causing quite a stir among us coffee snobs here in Melbourne. Despite the mixed reviews, it does pack a healthy punch with two tablespoons of the powder equating to one serve of broccoli. Perhaps the powder is best reserved for smoothies, soups and baked goods though…

Internet Challenges (Spicy Noodle, Tide Pod, Cinnamon)

We get it, these can be entertaining but they seem to get more ridiculous by the year. This year we saw South Korean company Samyang Food release their ‘fire chicken stir-friend noodles’ and in came the ‘spicy noodle challenge’. And let me tell you it is unbearably, w-t-f spicy.

Instant noodles are already high in sodium counting for 80% of the daily recommended maximum salt intake and many of us eat over the recommended serving size. The tide pod challenge was probably one of the biggest social media stunts this year with internet users biting into tide pod capsules that has in the past resembled candy. Needless to say, this is incredibly dangerous and potentially life-threatening. Challenge not accepted.

TELL US IN THE COMMENTS BELOW WHICH FOOD TRENDS YOU'VE LOVED AND HATED IN 2018!