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Food trends

Food trends
The latest news, analysis and opinion on Food trends. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
last updated:
9 September, 2024
highlights from
100 Top Tables 2024 Restaurant Directory
100 Top Tables 2024 Restaurant Directory
The new marmitako dish at 22 Ships in Central, Hong Kong. Photo: Nicholas Wong

Dish in Focus: Marmitako at Spanish restaurant 22 Ships

Afternoon tea at the Lobby Lounge at The Peninsula Hong Kong. Photo: Handout

7 of the most luxurious afternoon tea sets in Hong Kong

The Opposites’ spirit-free menu, which includes this Apple Custard Pie tipple, is perfect for welcoming the new year with a healthier mindset. Photo: Handout

Your Hong Kong weekend drinks guide for December 27-29

À Poêle festive dishes. Photo: Deadly Rabbits Concepts

Your Hong Kong weekend food guide for December 27-29

From Amber and Aqua, to The Upper House’s Salisterra and Morton’s The Steakhouse, check out our list of the seven best New Year’s Eve dinners in Hong Kong for 2024. Photo: Handout

The 7 best New Year’s Eve dinners in Hong Kong for 2024

More from 100 top tables
Content from SCMP's Specialist Publications
Asia

Frozen food is Japan’s 2022 ‘dish of the year’

Malaysia

Malaysia to stop exporting millions of chickens amid shortages

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Wellness

They eat the same meal every single day to lose weight. Could you?

Hong Kong culture

My Hong Kong | The extraordinary power of Hong Kong’s US$5 ‘two-dish-rice’ meal boxes

The latest Hong Kong food trend is the humble US$5 ‘two-dish-rice’ meal box. It’s more than just a cheap, filling meal – it’s the Hong Kong people’s way of sharing with the needy during tough times.

Customers line up to order a “rice with two choices of sides” in Yau Ma Tei during the fifth-wave Covid-19 outbreak. Photo: Felix Wong
India

Indian scientist’s dumpster-diving past inspires his app to reduce food waste

As global food waste looks to exceed more than 2 billion tonnes by 2030, technology such as Nosh identifies food wasted at each stage of the supply chain to save still-good items from the bin.

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Business of climate change

China’s alternative protein market sees rapid expansion amid climate push

Key regions like China could account for an additional US$5 billion in cultivated meat market growth by 2030, according to the Good Food Institute.

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Wellness

The benefits of green banana flour, a new superfood great for gut health

Gluten-free, nutrient-dense and loaded with resistant starch and prebiotic fibre, green banana flour is being used as a wheat flour substitute in everything from bread to pizza.

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Hailed as a new superfood, green banana flour has a number of health benefits and is being used as an alternative to wheat flour in food items ranging from bread and cakes to pizza and pasta. Photo: Shutterstock
Indonesia

Does vegan-friendly Indonesia need to feel guilty about eating meat?

Amid a debate on whether Indonesians should reduce meat consumption to combat climate change, foodies say it’s easy to have a plant-based diet with tempeh and gado-gado.

India

Loved by India’s Modi, Cuba’s Castro, ‘wood’ you believe this miracle tree?

The leaves and fruits of the Moringa tree are a popular superfood in Western nations but have long been savoured in India, including by PM Modi who has moringa parathas for breakfast.

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Wellness

How Asia’s first plant-based butcher is winning over Singaporeans

At Love Handle, in Singapore’s Chinatown, everyone from vegans to meat eaters is coming to buy cuts of its semi-prepared plant-based meats, as well as enjoy its comfort food dishes.

Love Handle’s plant-based pastrami.
Food and Drinks

Is African cuisine finally reaching the world stage?

Restaurants in cities like London and Marseille, as well as across Africa, are showing how the continent’s food can attain fine dining standards, and even work alongside other culinary traditions

Chefs across Africa and beyond are marrying fine dining presentation with traditional culinary techniques to bring the continent’s spices and other ingredients to a wider audience. Photo: Midunu
Food and Drinks

Why wood-fired cooking is reigniting the passions of the world’s top chefs

Ever since Francis Mallmann showed what could be done with some logs, a match and a pig in Netflix’s Chef’s Table, some of world’s top culinarians have gone on to embrace the primal cooking tradition

India

India’s multi-cuisine restaurants offer curry, pizza and Chinese food

Foodies might turn their noses up at places that claim to serve a variety of cuisines but this type of restaurant is thriving in India.

Singapore

‘Singapore curry’ video pulled after backlash

Singaporeans lit up social media with their anger, calling the version of the dish ‘filthy drain water’; The New York Times conceded that ‘the video demonstration did not faithfully follow the recipe’.

Screen grab of the New York Times Instagram video showing a food writer’s attempt at Singaporean Chicken Curry. Photo: Instagram @nytcooking
Food and agriculture

Coriander: India’s national herb? Ranveer Brar plants the idea

Leading Indian chef Ranveer Brar’s Instagram post has planted the idea that coriander be designated as the country’s ‘national herb’

Celebrity chef Ranveer Brar cooked up a national debate with one simple post on social media. Photo: Handout
Japan

Mainland China overtakes Hong Kong, US as top market for Japanese food exports

Growing Chinese appetites for sake, scallops and whisky have helped Japan boost its annual food exports by over 25 per cent, hitting its target of 1 trillion yen.

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Wellness

Explainer | The health benefits of kombucha, trendy fermented probiotic tea

Celebrities from Kourtney Kardashian to Lady Gaga swear by kombucha, a fermented tea drink with probiotic properties that’s credited with multiple health benefits including cancer prevention.

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Venture capital market

Li Ka-shing backed Eat Just eyes expansion after Singapore approval

The American start-up backed by Hong Kong’s best known tycoon, Li Ka-shing, aims to scale up and expand after receiving approval to sell more of it’s cell-grown chicken products in Singapore.

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Eat Just aims to scale up and expand after receiving approval to sell more of its cell-grown chicken products in Singapore. Photo: SCMP Handout
Food and Drinks

How do you drink somaek, the K-drama cocktail staple?

From Netflix’s Squid Game to Single’s Inferno, South Korean shows have taken the world by storm – but culinary delights like the beloved cocktail somaek are becoming more popular too …

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Thailand

The Michelin Guide just put this ancient Thai city on the foodie map

Ten eateries in the former Thai capital of Ayutthaya have won the ‘Bib Gourmand’ distinction, raising hopes that tourists’ appetite for the city will return.

Food and Drinks

The end of meat? Why fine-dining restaurants are going green

Around the world, some of the most famous fine dining restaurants – such as New York City icon Eleven Madison Park – are shifting to plant-based menus as our environmental concerns grow

Vegetarian fine-dining by Andreas Caminada at Oz restaurant in Switzerland. Photo: Oz
Good Eating

Why are truffles so expensive, and which species is the best?

What makes the coveted and costly delicacy so very appealing, and are white truffles really worth 10 times their black counterparts?

Black gold: freshly dug truffles at Terra Petra Truffles farm in Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia. Photo:
Wellness

Explainer | How superfood seaweed boosts heart, gut and thyroid health

Studies suggest that seaweed – a versatile ingredient that can be made into butter, added to soup or used as a seasoning – has anticancer, antiviral and antioxidant properties. Oh, and it’s fat-free too.

Social media

Mouthing Off | Why I loathe list articles that tease readers with empty promises

Lists often state or recommend things we already know, and lists about food are among the worst, says food writer Andrew Sun.

Healthy eating

Mouthing Off | Why health trends like the keto diet are best left for Lululemon lovers

Andrew Sun is one of those lucky people who has never had to diet, but if he did, he wouldn’t choose one endorsed by the Instagram crowd.

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The keto diet encourages low-carb, high-fat eating, similar to the meat- and protein-focused Atkins diet. Photo: Shutterstock
Food and Drinks

A US$6,000 burger? Crazy expensive junk food around the world

From US$200 for French fries to US$10,000 for a home-delivered pizza, would you try these everyday comfort foods with an eye-watering price tag?

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The world’s most expensive junk food: a US$169 hot dog from Seattle’s Tokyo Dog, a US$100 milkshake from New York’s Serendipity 3, and the Golden Boy Burger at De Daltons in The Netherlands, costing nearly US$6,000. Photos: Guinness World Records, @serendipity3nyc/Instagram
Food and Drinks

How to beat ‘yuck’ factor of eating insects? Hide them in pizza dough

Eating insects has various nutritional and environmental benefits but consumers in Western countries still have a hard time getting over the ‘yuck’ factor. Insect powder for use in baking is one solution.

Wellness

Seafood, chicken products next for plant-based food entrepreneurs

Two food companies bent on fighting climate change by offering plant-based seafood and meat alternatives introduce innovative new products in Hong Kong.

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