Leading food trends in 2023
The year 2023, although not an easy one, may be extremely interesting for Polish gastronomy due to the changes and challenges that await restaurateurs. Here are five trends that have the potential to significantly change Polish bars and restaurants in the coming months or years. The return of fashion for Food, vegan comfort, insect repellent protein-in the coming year, gastronomic trends will probably never be the result of the socio-economic situation in which we find ourselves.
Cafe with a hybrid profile
The economic situation has forced those who are now thinking about opening their own restaurants to reduce their ambitious visions and businesses. If there is one type of restaurant that has coped well with the crisis recently, it is cozy cafes and bistros that can perfectly meet our social needs to spend time away from home on the cheap.
According to the PMR Market Experts 2022 survey, 66% of respondents have given up going to restaurants. However, much less often than lunch at a favorite place, we tend to refuse coffee or eat a piece of pie.
The answer to this demand is "hybrid cafes" that combine the functions of a bistro, a small restaurant, and sometimes a bakery or wine bar. They are also increasingly launching other non-gastronomic events, such as a dance club or a quasi-cultural center offering film reviews, author meetings, lectures and lectures.
In places like this, food and alcohol are complementary to spending time with family and friends. It is worth noting that 53% of Poles surveyed by GfK Polonia in 2022 said that going out to a restaurant is, first of all, meeting people.
– A person who has no money, first of all refuses to visit restaurants. And what will Varshavets not deny himself? Sociability. He will not go to a place where he will have to spend 200 PLN per person, but rather to a cafe where he will have a glass of wine or prosecco and chat with friends, satisfying social needs within the cheaper option - says Piotr Wierzbowski, co-owner of the recently opened Capital Cafe in Warsaw.
Speciality coffee sales are gaining momentum
An increasingly important role, not only in new cafes, is played by the quality of the products served.
– The quality of speciality coffee is gradually becoming the basis for creating an offer, and not a novelty. It is also starting to operate in other public catering establishments, bars and restaurants. We see this as a continuation of the trend that promotes quality and locality. This is consistent with what has been going on for several years, that is, with the search of gastronomy for alternatives to mass products in accordance with current trends. We have observed this, for example, in the case of craft beer, various types of drinks, or even individual ingredients of dishes - Says Mateusz Trijanovski, Head of Marketing and e-commerce at speciality HAIB coffee shop.
At a time when all other product segments seem to be losing out to inflation and the economic crisis, sales of quality coffee are not declining. This happens for two reasons. First, smoking plants operate at a higher margin, with significantly lower business costs than smoking plants. Second, consumers who need to
they can't afford a meal in a restaurant, they can go without
taint your home budget visit a local coffee shop for a cup of your favorite coffee.
Comfort food in national colors
The so-called comfort food began to make an amazing career with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, this trend has not lost the slightest significance, and dishes of this type still remain the only one of the most popular restaurants.
– Every third person reduces stress or restores a good mood with food. We can say that, despite the crisis, we are living in a golden age for the food industry, which, faced with many difficulties, is constantly and dynamically developing - says Kaya Pomiankevich, a member of the Food and Design team, commenting on the results of the ARC market and opinion survey.
Along with popular comfort dishes such as pizza, hamburgers and Italian pasta, the restaurant's menu is increasingly beginning to accept Polish cuisine in its comfort version-from dumplings, pies and pies to slightly more forgotten baby dishes and offal. It is important to note that comfortfood trend has successfully entered the list of vegan and vegetarian dishes.
Plant-based cuisine is more hedonistic
In 2023, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a new restaurant that does not feature plant-based dishes on its menu. This is a tribute to vegans, vegetarians and flexitarians, but also a manifestation of concern for the well-being of the planet. The ecological position is not limited only to the "green" menu. For restaurateurs, solutions to reduce food waste are increasingly becoming necessary, both for economic and image reasons. However, this does not mean that those who maintain an ecological attitude are by definition food ascetics.
The growing popularity of both meat-and fish-free comfort food on the restaurant menu and ready-made plant-based substitutes for zoonotic products proves that people who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet do not intend to give up a solid portion of carbohydrates and fats. Moreover, the desire to limit or eliminate meat from the diet usually goes hand in hand with the search for well-known tastes, and Polish cuisine can already be found not only in places traditionally associated with pork loin and drumstick.
– We don't want to serve things that come from very far away and have nothing to do with Poland cuisine, because despite the eclectic menu, it is very suitable for us. The love of Polish regional dishes in this place makes us - explains Pavel Zasim, co-owner of Warsaw Butero, which offers vegan and vegetarian comfort food dishes, among which you can find m.in. potato chips, Kopytka or traditional dumplings.
Worms enter the mainstream
Plant-based diets are not the only trend that is responding to the growing number of environmental concerns associated with meat production.
Until recently, the vision of replacing it with edible insects was mostly a media curiosity. Dishes made from crickets or silkworms attracted primarily those who saw such a diet as a panacea for reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced by cattle breeding.
However, there are many signs that insect proteins have begun their march to mainstream gastronomy, all thanks to a European Union regulation that allows this type of product to be used in confectionery and bakery products.
– I think this will be a big relief for the industry. Currently, many bakeries come to us with a question about flour, what its sale looks like, and how to use it. Ground crickets, of course, will not replace one hundred percent wheat flour, so it should be used as an additive "this is Dominika Oilcan, the owner of the store
with insects, edible pack worms.
Currently, the EU allows three types of insects for sale: crickets, mealworm larvae and locusts. In Poland, there are no corresponding farms yet, and it is difficult to find recipes for dishes containing insects in the literature. However, these are not obstacles that can hinder the development of the market.
Of course, these trends are just a part of all the interesting phenomena that we can observe in the HoReCa industry. To what extent they will shape our view of gastronomy, we will probably see only in a few months.
What are social media trends?
5 dishes and products that are rapidly gaining popularity:
- Butter boards - butter boards (modeled after a board for cheese or cold cuts), consisting of high-quality versions of butter with additives in the form of, for example, dried fruits.
- Cinnamon Rolls - thanks to its popularity on TikTok, Cinnamon is experiencing, at least in the US, its second youth. Will they replace the popular berries and doughnuts in 2023?
- Canned fish - spread on a legendary sandwich or served as a board of appetizers, mackerel, sardines, and anchovies will gain popularity on social media in 2022.
- Healthy drinks - along with kombucha and fruit smoothies, Hojic fried green tea has recently been added to the range of healthy drinks.
- Pickles and silage - after years of kimchi dominating social media, it's time for the reign of pickles to be added to everything from burgers to ice cream.
Tekst autorstwa dziennikarza magazynu “Food Service” i portalu Foodservice24.pl Przemysława Ziemichóda.
Źródło artykułu: Magazyn Food Service.
Junior specialist in Marketing Communications and PR.
He is a graduate of the University of Warsaw and the Main School of Agriculture. We have been in the HoReCa industry for more than 10 years. For many years, he has been associated with the Trip group, Sobienie Royal Golf and Country Club, and the Florentin Restaurant in Warsaw.
She graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw Technical University with a degree in Architecture for the Knowledge Society and Visual Communications at the Polytechnic University of Milan. A specialist in creating a mood. She has gained experience at home and abroad at numerous international seminars (Seville, Lisbon, Florence), fellowships at La Sapienza (Rome), etc. m.in. in Carmi e Ubertis and ADM Milano.
A manager with many years of experience in the cosmetics, food, and children's industries. During his career, he was associated with such companies as: L'Oreal, Samsung, Danone-Nutricia, Unilever. During his professional life, he was responsible, among other things, for the development of e-commerce sales and content in Poland and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. 
