The year of food 2024 promises to be marked by nostalgia, well-being, eco-responsibility and attractiveness. Those are the four strong trends noted by the Nelly Rodi agency based on the behavior of users of The Fork, an online restaurant reservation platform. But when we get into detail, 20 minutes actually noted… twenty-four trends to follow for 2024.
1. Eat to reassure yourself
Prepare yourself for the return of authentic cuisine “that tells stories and awakens memories”. On the menu, roast chicken will make a comeback, as well as mashed sausage, stews, aligot, jellied eggs… For those with a sweet tooth, it will be rice pudding. “Tables that revive the cuisine of yesteryear and modernize it will be on the rise,” warns Candice Alvarez, lifestyle consultant for Nelly Rodi.
2. An alternative to overfishing
Salmon and fish victims of overfishing will give way, in restaurants, to fish that have been “forgotten” or “neglected” in recent years, like herring or horse mackerel, which are very tasty and much cheaper. Nelly Rodi also bets on sardines, fresh or served in small cans.
3. Dried beans and vegetable scraps
Beans (coconut, paimpol, black beans, etc.) will be popular in 2024. In the fight against food waste, recipes based on vegetable peelings and tops will multiply. To your soups and broths!
4. Buckwheat in all sauces
Buckwheat will be the flagship ingredient of 2024. In pancakes, of course, but also bread, spreads, beer or whiskey… The Fork and Nelly Rodi see “buckwheat appearing everywhere depending on the creativity of the chefs” as long as it can replace wheat.
5. The sauce that stings
2024 will be the year of chili and spicy sauces. Spices from here and elsewhere allowing you to re-appropriate all the dishes, to play, to test new seasonings… New brands of sauce will appear, or be created in collaboration with chefs, as the ex-Top Chef Alexia Duchêne with Bénédicta.
6. Italy world champion
Italy is on the rise, especially since its specialties have been able to renew themselves: giant ravioli to share, pizza with increasingly fermented dough like that of Pepe Cutraro, risottos which can turn out to be sublime like that with prawns. of the Michelin-starred restaurant Il Carpaccio. Even French chefs have given in to temptation, see Pierre Gagnaire with his restaurant Piero TT.
7. Eastern Europe in sight
The conflict in Ukraine made Eastern European cuisine popular. After the opening in September of BoubaléAshkenazi grandmother’s cuisine restaurant, Russian-Austro-Hungarian fusion by chef Assaf Granit and his team behind the Michelin-starred restaurant ShabourNelly Rodi is betting on “Poland and Georgia” for 2024, for their comforting dishes such as pierogi.
8. England returns to the game
We had lost sight of them since Marks & Spencer in France. It was not knowing them well. The Fork and Nelly Roidi are betting on the strong comeback of saussage rolls, hash browns, pies (pork, cornish), English muffins and a surge of English cheeses (cheddar, stilton, etc.) .
9. New wave Japan
Japan will continue to democratize its still little-known techniques such as the yubiki (we boil a food before plunging it into ice water to stop the cooking). “Hand Rolls and especially sake will appear on our plates and on our tables, even in wine bars and French bistros,” underlines Candice Alvarez, lifestyle consultant for Nelly Rodi, confirming a trend noted by 20 minutes.
10. Korea always springs a surprise
Driven by k-pop and TV series, Korean cuisine will continue to amaze with the arrival of still little-known specialties, notably Tteok bokki. Children’s favorite rice noodles for snacking should make a notable appearance in France.
11. America is becoming more refined
Coming from the United States, chicken waffles will appear on our plates after the wave of fried chicken in versions with fewer calories than across the Atlantic. For those with a sweet tooth, donuts and New York rolls will be popular in popular or more chic, jewel-like versions.
12. The choice of atmosphere
The restaurant tends to become an experience in its own right, fun like the main attraction of a theme park, pop and Instagrammable. We no longer just eat, we also dance like at the brand new Podium bistro whose menu is signed by chef Glenn Viel. After dinner, show, dance and return to the 1970s.
13. Concern for decor
At a restaurant, on a picnic or in front of a sunset, foodies will still compete for moments when the setting will “merge” with the dish. The new thing is that these snapshots are increasingly shared on TikTok, “which is becoming the leading restaurant prescriber among young people,” points out Nelly Rodi.
14. Natural light
A beautiful image circulating on social networks whets the appetite. This is why more and more restaurateurs are favoring, during renovation work, spaces with natural lighting, guaranteeing a beautiful photo. The announced end of subdued lights which give monochrome photos of red, green or purple?
15. Immersion in all its forms
“At the Bistrot Top Chef opened last year, customers come to experience the M6 show up close while tasting the candidates’ dishes,” underlines Candice Alvarez. The lifestyle consultant for Nelly Rodi notes a boom in some restaurants where the meal is staged as in an amusement park and cites the successful restaurants of the Ephemera group which offers immersive experiences under the sea, in space or in the jungle.
16. In the countryside
And if we leave the city, it is to find ourselves at the farm, once again immersed, near the henhouse where the roast chicken that will be served to you comes from. Some renowned chefs, like Christian Têtedoie in Lyon, have opened a restaurant on the farm, where they are also producers themselves.
17. Around the same table
Nothing better than gathering around a large table to feel “at home”. This is what Marsan does – The sharing table by Hélène Darroze. A restaurant in a house hidden in the city, an inn as a place of escape and discovery… In the same way, the Nhome restaurant, awarded this year by The Fork, has the motto: “Reserve your chair, not a table”.
18. We’re still trying to save the planet
In recent years, chefs have become aware of the absolute need to act to preserve the planet! It is the end of food waste, as we have seen, but also the adoption of a more virtuous approach each year in order to transform, in the short term, the way of cooking in order to minimize the environmental impact of each dish .
19. A nature more alive than dead
Since they started cultivating their own gardens, chefs have become better at promoting the naturalness of their cuisine. Raw foods will be in the spotlight in 2024, The Fork and Nelly Rodi bet, in an increasingly simple and “pure” cuisine, as close as possible to nature.
20. Hisbiscus on the plate
The Fork and Nelly Rodi are banking on hibiscus to become next year’s trendy flower. More generally, wild flowers and herbs, pickles, drinks and dishes based on fermentation (kefir) will continue to be popular. Butters flavored with herbs, flowers and chili pepper will also appear more and more on our tables.
21. No alcohol, or less alcohol
More than non-alcoholic cocktails, it is the explosion of “sober” food/drink pairings at restaurants that Nelly Rodi is highlighting for 2024. Not among the Michelin-starred Anne-Sophie Pic, Mauro Colagreco or David Toutain, but on more accessible tables like Nectar or Chocho which offer particularly careful pairings, with homemade non-alcoholic drinks, notably kombucha.
22. The end of contraindications
More than ever, inclusion is essential. After the veggie, vegan, gluten-free, halal waves… The Fork and Nelly Rodi are betting on the emergence of addresses that mix all the possibilities so that in the same group, no one feels excluded and can eat to their hunger .
23. Lower prices and solidarity
The average menu is 30 euros in 2023 when it was only 25 euros in 2022. To reverse the trend, and bring customers back, tables at lower prices (around 20-22 euros) should multiply. Other addresses are committed to solidarity, such as Le République in Paris with its €1 menus for association volunteers…
24. A (slightly) more accessible gastronomy
Customers will be increasingly on the lookout for accessible opportunities, such as Norbert Tarayre’s 49-euro menu at the Prince de Galles, or the menu with food/wine pairing offered for less than €50 during a collaboration between The Fork and Hélène Darrose last June. Another example to follow is that of Ne/So, Guillaume Sanchez’s Michelin-starred restaurant which has lowered its prices by reviewing the fundamentals of its tasting menu.