There are just a few weeks left in this year, before we hurtle headlong into 2024. But before you start hyperventilating, look at it as a time to start looking toward next year to see what we’ll all be eating, drinking, and ordering in restaurants.
In fact, as Food & Wine reports, Yelp has consulted its data scientists and a trend expert to do that very thing, analyzing everything its users have been searching for on the platform to put together a report about the food and drink trends we can expect next year.
For starters, our cocktail preferences are going to change, at least according to the report. Yelp’s data suggests that orders for the Aperol Spritz, that classic orange fave, may increasingly become requests for the Hugo Spritz. Searches for that sweet variation, made with elderflower liqueurs or syrups, increased by 1,121% over previous years, and searches for other elderflower cocktails also jumped significantly. That suggests that bartenders — the pros and the at-home amateurs — may want to keep some St-Germain on hand next year.
The Aperol Spritz wasn’t the only standard cocktail getting an unexpected glow-up. Yelp says that searches for some surprising martini variations, including green mango, matcha, parmesan, pickle, and truffle martinis, all increased. We were also increasingly curious about the Tomato-Tini, and Yelp’s data also suggests that we’re not going to stop ordering Espresso Martinis anytime soon either. (And why would we?)
On the non-alcoholic side, searches for fruit-and-veggie smoothies were also on the rise, driven by a couple of influencer favorites. The infamous $20 smoothies from swanky Los Angeles supermarket Erewhon were searched 178% more frequently this year, and queries about the Hailey Bieber smoothie — a combination of organic strawberries, almond milk, and collagen — also increased by a whopping 408%.
As for food, we’re still way into caviar in all its forms (including on potato chips), as searches increased by 31%. Searches for “noshing” also jumped 140%, which Yelp credits to the “girl dinner” trend that was inescapable on your FYP for a few weeks, and we seem to be increasingly into the trend of Tsukemen, a dish of cold ramen noodles that are dipped into a hot broth.
Finally, we’re still going to buzzed-about restaurants like Nobu and Carbone, and are willing to eat an early dinner at grandma o’clock if it means getting a table. And Miami’s Gekko — co-owned by rapper Bad Bunny — was one of the most increasingly searched-for spots, driven by frequent sightings of celebs like Joe Jonas, the Beckhams, and soccer GOAT Leo Messi.
So that’s next year sorted. Now I just want to know if I can search Yelp for “Why did this year go by so quickly” and “How to cope with the anxiety of time passing”.
—
Photo Credit: Luna Vandoorne / Shutterstock.com