Tickle your taste buds: Latest food trends of 2014

SCREENSHOT FROM POPSUGAR VIDEO: Everything Bacon Burger

An upset Joey Tribianni once said, “You don’t put words in people’s mouths; you put turkey in people’s mouths!”

Wiser words have never been spoken since.

2013 was the year of the cult-favorite cookie butter, gluten-free everything, cronuts (a croissant-donut hybrid), even quinoa and kale (yes, the leafy vegetable). But this 2014, we’ve certainly grown more adventurous, more delicious, and more fatty (yes, I went there).

2014 is almost halfway done and we’ve certainly seen our fair share of food trends. From the irresistibly delicious to the strangely palatable to the absolutely insane, people all over the world continue to surprise each other with culinary concoctions to satiate any craving—not just turkey.

SCREENSHOT FROM POPSUGAR VIDEO: Monkey-Style Burger

The best of 2014 – so far

The intrepid team behind PopSugar Food took on the noble assignment of finding out the latest food trends already dominating 2014 and came back a bunch of braver—and perhaps heavier—human beings.

FoodBeast dissected PopSugar’s video and featured the list on The Huffington Post.

Call your cardiologist now. Tell him/her you’re sorry.

The Monkey-Style Burger – the marriage of an In-N-Out Burger and animal-style fries. This makes so many people happy—including this writer, despite it not being available in the Philippines. Just the thought of a majestic burger existing somewhere out there is enough for me.

The Everything Bacon Burger – Yeah, I guess this is the Year of the Burger, so tell your Chinese friend the Year of the Wooden Horse just got booted. This burger needs no explanation. Although I do want to say three words: FULL BACON PATTY.

SCREENSHOT FROM POPSUGAR VIDEO: Ramen-Crusted Chicken

Ramen-Crusted Wings – Because regular, batter-coated chicken is just too mainstream. Chicken wings coated with crushed instant ramen noodles. Imagine the crunch and the flavor and the explosion of flavors and textures in your mouth as you savor this magnificent meal. Oh, and don’t forget to wipe that drool off your face.

SCREENSHOT FROM POPSUGAR VIDEO: Cheese-Stuffed Doritos

Cheese-stuffed Doritos – As if regular Doritos isn’t enough, some dude decided to take this tasty snack chip one level higher into glory. Cheese-stuffed Doritos. Yep, I’m already a fan.

Cookie Shot Glass from Instructible Things

Cookie Shots – Shot glasses made of chocolate chip cookies. I’m sure you saw this everywhere (and not just on Pinterest). Since it is a shot glass, it calls for milk to fill it up. No “last call” in this cookie shot bar.

Healthier Options

If you’ve had enough of artery-clogging deliciousness, 2014 is also your year.

According to a Forbes report, locally produced vegetables and food items have dominated the market. With the growing awareness and need for organically grown produce, more and more people have switched to eating healthier options—especially for kids.

Apparently, this year, more people have shown love to chicken wings and even fancy pizza compared to last year. Speaking of fancy, comfort food also received an upgrade this year—like southern style, full-fat mac and cheese to an “Italianized” version with salami and sun-dried tomatoes.

“Highbrow versions of classic comfort foods are popping up all over menus, from appetizers to dessert,” said San Francisco hospitality consultant Andrew Freeman in a 2014 trend report.

Power leaf: Kale. Photo by Brent Hofacker / ShutterStock

UK-based website The Guardian also pointed out that “dejunked” junk food items, a “health” chocolate, chia pod goodies, egg white crisps (also known as “chips” to non-English folk), and even lollipops made of kale are making its way from some dude’s imaginative brain to someone’s pantry.

Aside from that, CBS News noted the beginning of “responsible/edible food packaging.” A bunch of other items are also getting the word “edible” attached to it—according to The Guardian—like QR codes, wood, and even soil.

I’m just not quite sure what to make of edible wood and edible soil.

Roasted Cauliflower Salad. Photo by Magdanatka / ShutterStock

What to expect

The National Restaurant Association of America release a fearless 2014 forecast of the best food items to watch out for.

Surprisingly, the forecast revealed a wiser, healthier list.

The Food Network (TFN) supports this forecast by releasing its own list of food trends to watch out for this year.

TFN predicts that we’ll see more mash-up concoctions this year. As well as a revolutionary take on vegetables as fast food items and “meat” products (check out TFN’s cauliflower steak). Fish will also take over pork as more people tend to watch what they eat more carefully.

A slight change in geography is also expected, with TFN saying that the Midwest is the new South when it comes to comfort food.

Bitter flavorings are also in—proving a rather dramatic shift from the Sriracha craze of 2013.

No matter the trend or what the prevailing craze is, one thing is for sure—food is awesome.