Cabbage, Mint, Pecorino Salad
There’s so little to this recipe, it’s barely a recipe at all. It’s great with anything fried, schnitzel in particular.
From Matcha Fatigue to Main Character Vegetables: My Take on 2025
I’m not averse to sharing my opinion; I know, shocker. Many sites are sharing their 2025 food trend hot take. Most of it is fun, some of it’s genuinely interesting, and occasionally I want to step away from the group chat and make myself a snack.
So rather than a definitive ‘this is what’s in and this is what’s out’ manifesto, think of this as a personal reckoning. The food trends of 2025 I won’t miss, followed by the ones I’d happily see more of. Pitchforks optional.
Trends I’m happy to leave behind
Matcha fatigue
I don’t mind matcha but it doesn’t need to be in every baked good, beverage, dessert, and snack within arm’s reach. By now it feels like a shortcut to relevance. Some flavours work best when they’re allowed to be occasional. I’m looking at you matcha.
Dubai chocolate (and its increasing price tag)
Yes, it’s rich. Yes, it’s indulgent. No, I don’t want to pay a premium for something that’s so sweet and overwrought it becomes unpleasant to eat. Variety is the spice of life, and I’d rather have a smaller piece of something well-balanced than a slab of excess dressed up as luxury.
Enough of cottage cheese, please
I understand the protein argument. I truly do. But shoehorning cottage cheese into every recipe in the name of dietary optimisation is no fun. Not every meal needs to pull double duty as a macro calculation. And I continue↴
Functional food
Food can absolutely support health, but when every dish is broken down into fibre counts, probiotics, and grams of protein, so much gets lost. Cooking and eating are cultural, social, and sensory experiences, not items to be ticked off. Sometimes food can just be… food.
Chilli everything everywhere all at once
Okay, so this one is personal. I can’t eat chilli, but that doesn’t mean I want bland food. Somewhere along the line heat has become shortcut to flavour and that’s a real shame. With elements such as spices, acidity, fermentation, herbs, and bitterness to play with, a menu where every dish involves some form of chilli feels unimaginative.
The vilification of seed oils
I’m tired of this conversation, mostly because it’s rarely grounded in reputable information. Nutrition is nuanced; food science is complex. Reducing everything to villains and heroes doesn’t help anyone cook or eat better. And while I’m glad people are curious about what they consume, “I read it online” is not a solid research method. No, not even if ChatGPT said it.
What I’d love to see more of
Vegetables with main character energy
This isn’t about vegan menus. It’s about vegetables being treated with the same care and intention as meat or fish. Proper seasoning, good technique, a sense of occasion. That eggplant I wrote about a few posts back is exactly what I mean. Vegetables can be satisfying, indulgent, and exciting without pretending to be something they’re not.
Seafood beyond salmon and prawns
There are, quite literally, so many fish in the sea. Sardines, leatherjacket, whiting, mussels, blue eye – the list goes on. Expanding our seafood habits is as much about sustainability as it is about flavour. Many of these fish are affordable, delicious, and underutilised. They also force us to cook a little more thoughtfully, which is never a bad thing.
Better ready-to-eat food
I want quality finished dishes and meal components I can buy without pre-ordering or planning my life around them. A genuinely good quiche. A salad that just needs dressing and actually tastes of something. A spread or topping I can throw on croutons when friends turn up unexpectedly and I want to look like I went to some effort.
Fresh or frozen, I’m not fussy. What I am fussy about is flavour. At the moment, my local supermarket offerings are woeful. Let’s level this up. Convenience doesn’t have to mean compromise.
Fusion foods that are curious and playful
I will never tire of people experimenting with flavours and textures that inspire them. French pâtisserie techniques meeting Southeast Asian ingredients? Absolutely. Italian pasta forms turned into snack foods? Sure, why not.
They don’t always land, and that’s okay. I’d much rather eat something that tried and missed than something that played it safe (read boring). Food should be a little entertaining, after all.
If there’s a theme running through all of this, it’s that I’m craving intention over optimisation, curiosity over trends for trend’s sake, and flavour over everything. If 2026 can give us a bit more of that, I’ll be very happy at the table.
Ten Cheeses, Zero Regrets
I could throw some facts and stats at you about why cheese is nutritious, but honestly, why bother. It tastes so darn delicious. There’s something slightly magical about how milk becomes cheese in so many different incarnations and flavours.
From Matcha Fatigue to Main Character Vegetables: My Take on 2025
I’m not averse to sharing my opinion; I know, shocker. Many sites are sharing their 2025 food trend hot take. Most of it is fun, some of it’s genuinely interesting, and occasionally I want to step away from the group chat and make myself a snack.