At the heart of the Worldchefs Congress and Expo 2024, held in the vibrant culinary hub of Singapore, global chefs came together not just to showcase skills, but to explore the cutting-edge trends shaping the future of food.
Spearheaded by Unilever Food Solutions (UFS), this year’s event introduced eight transformative culinary trends that are fast becoming essential for modern chefs worldwide.
Developed from UFS' Future Menus Top Global Trends report that compiled robust global data and extensive chef inputs of diner trends, the outcome seemingly revolved around the pursuit of knowledge, technique enhancement and expansion and menu innovation, according to the UFS Executive Chef (Singapore, Vietnam, and Cambodia) Eric Chua.
"The Worldchefs Congress is a buffet of opportunities just waiting to be savoured. It's crucial that we do not miss out on what matters most: the future of the food that we are serving to diners," he said.
The UFS emphasised the importance of keeping up with infinite ways to stay ahead of the culinary curve, where the UFS Southeast Asia regional marketing director, Vangie Hu noted that the food innovations have been "practical, sustainable, and robust."
He further said that it was important to embrace the nature of food as "ever-evolving" without forgetting essential culinary principles suggested by UFS, backed by global data and insights from chefs in shaping the "next year of dining experiences worldwide."
The Congress organised by UFS also wanted to ensure that the attendees could experience tasteful discoveries with unique ingredient pairings to make fresh new flavours, new ways for low waste, modernise comfort food and utilise the use of locally sourced ingredients with sustainable sourcing practices.
Among the guests aside from Chua were UFS executive chefs from Indonesia: Chef Gun Gun Handavana, Chef Kenneth Cacho from the Philippines, and Chef Jiraroi "Pop" Navanukroh from Thailand.
The eight actionable global trends unveiled were:
1. Flavour Shock: No Rules Experience
With the trend of people's choices of extraordinary menus, chefs during the Congress allowed an experience that used each sense.
Upon the UFS discovering that the era is more inclined to sensory overload following their report, culinary creations are only expected not to go by the rulebook now and craft dishes that are purely experimental, push boundaries, and exceed expectations.
2. Local Abundance: Celebrating Local
Homeland recipes are celebrated more than ever now, with the use of local ingredients utilised during the Congress to keep a sense of freshness that elevated dishes to new heights. The continuation of the trend enables the connection between diners and communities that goes beyond just serving people for the sake of making them full but including respective region's story in each bite.
3. Low-Waste Menus: Maximising Creativity
The trend sees the use of as few resources and ingredients as possible, further saving money and promoting healthy eating choices to the customers.
Young chefs' expectations and diners for sustainable kitchens are met with a cheat sheet to get the most out of every ingredient. It also gives an opportunity for innovation, aside from living consciously from a wise choice of food.
4. Modernised Comfort Food: Adventurous and Satisfying
According to UFS, people seem to be more inclined to the taste of home food. Remaining the taste of familiarity, revolutionised menus are in hopes of keeping customers interested, with constantly infused culinary storytelling, heritage, and a touch of nostalgia by chefs.
5. Plant-Powered Protein: Veggie Protein Heroes
Someone inclined to meat and vegetables, considered a flexitarian without full commitment to veganism, tends to substitute at least one to two meals per week with plant-based dishes for health benefits.
This trend is included among chefs to provide diners with diverse and inclusive menu choices while reducing their costs and environmental footprint.
6. The New Sharing: Dynamic and Interactive
Taking the opportunity to share a meal with more than one person, this trend utilises tasty food to be shared in a relaxed setting.
The focus is to drive the eating experience with joy, laughter, and connection, where the activity of sharing becomes an innovative playground for experimentation, mashups, and unique experiences that redefine sharing.
7. Irresistible Vegetables: Vegetable Democracy
Vegetables are becoming increasingly popular now, with chefs' signature dishes pioneering vegetables to make them more appealing to the new generation of diners. Not only are they nutritious but also colourful and tasty.
Chefs would need to utilise their skills and creativity to bring out the best in plants, while also being able to make more colourful and nutritious dishes.
8. Feel-Good Food: Holistic Wellbeing
Current foods are expected to give more health benefits, with less unhealthy nutrition such as saturated fat, leaner cuts, and fewer sauces. These are considered feel-good foods where, with perfect balance, people come out eating feeling better and more energised.