This summer, people will be gathering from far and wide to meet loved ones and make new memories over food.
Today’s consumers have more discerning tastes than ever before. While some diners crave spice, others love smoke, some will enjoy sharpness, and other customers will be looking for richness in their meals. Ensuring your menu meets the needs of large groups of people, all with different preferences and dietary requirements, is one of the toughest challenges a chef will face.
The combination of a return to post-pandemic travel, the rise in popularity of street food, and the popularity of food trends on TikTok and Instagram means awareness of global food trends is continuing to grow, and diners will be looking for the next exciting thing to eat.
We surveyed over 650 diners from across the US, UK and Sweden to find out what they love about world food. We also wanted to know how adventurous they were when eating out, and the results were a resounding yes - across all three regions, 80% of people said they were either likely or very likely to try new cuisines when eating out.
We’ve called our latest AAK Foodservice Digest ‘Exploring global foods and flavors’ as it encapsulates the huge variety of cuisine inspiration from across the world that’s either already established on menus, is emerging in prevalence, or is just breaking through.
Our research suggests there are three taste areas diners are keen to explore this summer - hot and spicy foods, dishes inspired by Asian flavours, and dishes incorporating barbecue elements.
This is also backed up by our survey - Asian was the cuisine most favoured by diners across the three regions combined, coming first in Sweden, second in the UK, and third in the US.
Meanwhile, diners told us they also loved barbecue foods - with (somewhat surprisingly) those in Europe enjoying them most of all - including three-quarters of those in Sweden.
In terms of spice, again, over 50% of respondents in each area said that they enjoyed eating hot and spicy foods either ‘a lot’ or ‘a great deal’.
Established favourites are always popular, but new and interesting dishes are in abundance. Indian inspired samosas, pakoras and bhajis are crowd pleasers, but street food from different parts of the region are gaining in prominence - for example, Vada Pav potato fritters.
This is being seen in cuisines across the world - new kinds of fried foods are popping up all the time, and adding lots of choice for operators looking to add something new to their menus.
Not only this, but fried foods are perfect fits for the small plates trend - from Malaysian curry puffs, to Japanese karaage chicken, to Jamaican fried dumplings - there’s endless possibilities to bring new and exciting dishes via your humble but hardworking deep fat fryer.
Whatever your challenge, we’re here to support you. If you’re looking to incorporate more global flavours into your menu, please get in touch, or find out more about our unique Co-Development process.
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