The 11 Biggest Food Trends Of 2011

It's been an exciting year for food. We already rounded up our favorite cookbooks and food books, and you can expect several more food-related round-ups throughout the rest of the month. After watching our stomachs oh-so-slowly expand this past year, we feel pretty confident in our assessment of 2011's food trends. We saw some great new restaurants pop up, had some memorable meals and fabulous drinks.

A lot of people cringe at the word "trend." After all -- how does one really determine if something is a trend, or a fad. Certainly, media professionals have been accused of creating trends where there really aren't. But in the past year we've seen a lot of activity around all of the examples below. Although you may have seen lots of these grow before 2011, the 11 trends below really reached their apex in 2011. Feel free to express your disagreement in the comments below but this is our list and we're sticking to it!

Check out the slideshow, and check back Wednesday for food trends we expect in 2012:

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Comments

[Amr Salah Tawfik]

08:23 AM on 06/17/2012

I have the pleasure to brief you on our Data Visualization software
"Trend Compass".

TC is a new concept in viewing statistics & trends in an animated way
by displaying in one chart 5 axis (X, Y, Time, Bubble size & Bubble
color) instead of just the traditional X and Y axis. Discover trends
hidden in spreadsheets. It could be used in analysis, research,
presentation etc. In different business sectors, to name a few we
have Deutsche Bank, NBC Universal, RIM, Vanguard Institutional
Investor, Ipsos, Princeton University as our clients.

Link on Drilling feature (Parent/Child) - Just double-click on any bubble:
http://www.epicsyst.com/test/v2/drilling/

NBC presentation on TED using Trend Compass exported Videos on CNN
Money/Fortune:
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/12/21/from-laughing-to-judging-in-fifty-years-the-evolution-of-televised-emotion/

Link on our new Geographical Trend Compass (Earthquake in Japan - Mag
vs Depth vs Time):
http://www.epicsyst.com/test/v2/japan-earthquake

Link on UK Master Card vs Visa performance :
http://www.epicsyst.com/test/v2/mastercard_vs_visa/

Video on Trend Compass:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzDCGB8xBq4&feature=related

Since we already develop 3D Virtual Reality applications, please find
below a link on a prototype for a new 3D VR Trend Compass application:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueqULRUvikg&feature=related

Regards.

Amr Salah
Trend Compass Team
Epic Systems
www.epicsyst.com

[quantmlp71]

09:51 AM on 12/12/2011

I have tried eating silk worms, bamboo worms, crickets, grasshoppers, and dragonflies. These insects are delicious to eat. So what is the big deal as to why so many of my fellow Americans are afraid to eat insects? I would gladly go to any restaurant serving insects on the menu!

To everyone reading my comment who will not eat insects, whenever you eat crab, shrimp, or lobster, you already are eating an insect! So not why try something delicious as grasshoppers, silk worms, bamboo worms, crickets, and dragonflies.

[TRACYBURTON]

07:18 PM on 12/11/2011

trends only take place in nyc? Interesting, when several notable chefs in Chicago...

[TRACYBURTON]

07:17 PM on 12/11/2011

cannot wait for the cupcake trend to end...too much hype for a mini cake

[Eden Godsoe]

12:30 PM on 12/08/2011

Agree w/ one of the commenters below that this list is a little niche & probably focused on NYC or LA. I have to believe that cupcakes were the #1 craze in 2011. I suppose the cupcake craze may have start in 2010 but it hit it's stride in 2011...not just in big cities but across the country. Heck, there is a whole Cooking channel show on cupcakes. That being said, I think cupcakes may be in the decline based on Very Good Looking's (a website) poll on the subject.

Have you moved on from the cupcake craze?
http://www.skinnyscoop.com/question/q/3634

[emmeaki]

11:36 AM on 12/08/2011

I love macarons and they're special because you can't get them on every corner. That's how cupcakes use to be, but now there are a hundred cupcake shops around the city and even cupcake trucks on the street. I think I've about OD'ed on cupcakes!

[TRACYBURTON]

07:17 PM on 12/11/2011

ditto.

[nanaofmysky]

04:31 AM on 12/08/2011

What a stupid list! I do not know what meatballs,the butcher and most other things on the list have to do with trendy. As far as insects go, NO THANK YOU! I do not like them alive NO way am I going to eat them. ewwwww

[HerrMonk]

07:02 PM on 12/06/2011

You forgot to finish the title of your article: The 11 Biggest Food Trends of 2011 Amongst my Foodie Friends from Manhattan.

[cameron d]

09:49 PM on 12/07/2011

A lot of that is the same where I live, in Toronto.

[HerrMonk]

11:36 PM on 12/07/2011

Okay:
The 11 Biggest Food Trends of 2011 Amongst bourgeois urbanite foodies.

[Marty Jarvy]

02:56 PM on 12/06/2011

The world is going to have to get used to insects - they can be delicious, and are a massive proportion of the world's available, exploitable protein resources.

[gbrooks]

10:14 AM on 12/07/2011

No. I won't.

Insects are food for chickens--I'll wait for the finished product.

[clearthinker2008]

10:58 AM on 12/08/2011

"The world is going to have to get used to insects.."

No, no we don't.

[Marty Jarvy]

02:24 PM on 12/08/2011

Not now - but in the future it's not disputed that they will be essential as an exploitable source of protein. The shift of demand for food, and the ability to afford food means that's the case.

[Andrew Wojtkowski]

02:48 PM on 12/06/2011

"and was everyone's drink-of-choice this year." Everyone's? Really? That's why nobody I know has ever even heard of it?


If anything, the biggest food trend of 2011 has been the evasion of restaurants and eating out in general. So this article is the biggest food trends among the fastest shrinking group of people.

Supermarkets, Vitamin Water and whatnot are completely off the shelves, but Coke is stacked to the cieling.

And what about HFCS-free Sodas, Ketchups, and not to mention the now-infamous Mexican Coka-Cola? They're everywhere, and while they may not come topped with cream fraiche, that's what 95% of America has been trending towards and away from nonsense like this.

[tedhices]

02:31 PM on 12/06/2011

So this isn't the biggest food trends. Its the trends of a small group of foodies.

[clearthinker2008]

10:58 AM on 12/08/2011

Yes.

[amy cat]

02:14 PM on 12/06/2011

macarons and meatballs! two food trends I don't see going anywhere.

[baxtron]

02:03 PM on 12/06/2011

meat in a popsicle. now that's trendy.

[baxtron]

02:02 PM on 12/06/2011

This is a list for trendy people who were fixated on their previous trendy list, hence, the trendiness of things that are not trendy for the rest of us.

[aphextwin07]

01:34 PM on 12/06/2011

I should have stopped at insects... is this list intended to be a joke or something? and how is visiting a butcher a new trend? what an awful list.