The best (and worst) food trends we saw in 2022

Dec 29 2022, 10:13 pm

Every year in the food world, new trends emerge and both baffle and bemuse.

From crazy croissant-adjacent treats to things being cotton candy flavoured that shouldn’t be (we’re talking about the cotton candy Kraft Dinner from back in 2021), it seems there is no end to the zany things we will do to food.

While some food trends sit firmly in the gimmick category, others were a bit more welcome and suggested more enlightened ways of thinking about food and drink.

Who knows what kind of newfangled foods await us in the new year, but these are the trends we loved and the ones we hated from 2022.

The best

Interpretations of the croissant

@lafayette380/Instagram

From the croffle (croissant-waffle hybrid) to The Supreme, new takes on the humble croissant have taken over the dessert world, with new variations emerging almost yearly. We love the flakey, buttery layers of a croissant and all the ways it can be played with, so while this trend can verge on gimicky at times (like when it’s so piled high with things that it’s hard to actually eat), we’re generally happy to see more creative takes on our favourite pastry.

Weed-infused foods

West Blvd Cannabis

Courtesy West Blvd Cannabis

THC-laced food and drink have been around for a while, but this year saw a huge increase in pop-up weed dinners and other interpretations of weed and food. This year, Vancouver got its very first culinary cannabis kitchen – the first of its kind in the country – and pot-based pop-up dinner parties became more popular than ever. This chill movement is partly a result of the legalization of marijuana over the past several years, but the meeting of fine dining and weed also feels like a foray into uncharted territory, one that we’re excited to see grow.

More openings!

Bagheera

Rendering of Bagheera

While we are still living amidst a pandemic, this year saw more openings than the last two years, and for that we are grateful. From cafĂ©s to cocktail bars (and some that do both!) to hot pot restaurants to fine dining establishments, this year was one for the books when it comes to Canada’s dining scene. We can’t wait to see what 2023 brings.

Negroni Spagliato

Negroni Spagliato | Daryn Wright/Daily Hive

By now, nearly everyone has seen the video clip (and the resulting memes) of actors Olivia Cooke and Emma D’Arcy chatting about their favourite cocktails, and probably just as many people have wondered “what is a spagliato?” The drink, which features Campari and Vermouth just like the original, uses sparkling wine or prosecco instead of gin and truly is “stunnin.” It’s now featured prominently on drink menus everywhere, which is great because it’s also become one of our favourite things to order.

Butter Boards

butter boards

@themodernnonna/TikTok | @michaelfinch/TikTok | @justine_snacks/TikTok

A twist on the classic charcuterie board, the butter board quickly gained attention on TikTok and was billed as a simple and inventive way to artfully display and serve food with butter. In this trend, soft butter is combined with anything from herbs to crunchy nuts to jams and is then served alongside warm bread. It’s smart, it’s infinitely riffable, but best of all, it’s incredibly affordable – something we’re all looking for during this era of inflation.

The worst

Penis-shaped waffles

toronto penis waffle

Karen Doradea/Daily Hive

Don’t get us wrong, we love the playfulness of the genre of the sexual treat, but this year saw one too many shops specializing in penis-shaped waffles opening across the country. The treats are fun for bachelor and bachelorette parties (and for Instagram photo ops), but it began to feel like a handful of folks found a penis-shaped waffle iron and ran with it. We don’t always want to chow down on sweets in the shape of genitalia, but all the power to those that do.

TikTok’s Pink Sauce

Back in June, TikTok user @chef.pii posted a video of a thick, bright pink sauce being poured into a container. The video racked up hundreds of thousands of views, with nearly everyone asking the same unanswered question: “What’s in it?” Apparently, the Pink Sauce contained some combination of garlic, olive oil, and dragon fruit, but what was more compelling (and annoying) about this trend was the lack of transparency from the creator, the lack of regulation behind its production and contents, and the resulting controversy that has come to surround it.

Increased grocery store prices

Grocery stores open on Labour Day

Shutterstock/FamVeld

If there was one consistently devastating food-related trend we saw this year, it was soaring food costs amid inflation. According to Statistics Canada’s Consumer Price Index report for November, food prices have climbed year-over-year, and many items even spiked significantly from October. Overall, that meant Canadians saw some pretty scary numbers next to their grocery bills and a major hit to their cost of living. Unfortunately, this trend isn’t ending as the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, either: according to a new report published by top Canadian universities, already-high food prices will be rising even more in 2023, and the average family of four should prepare for their grocery bill to go up by a whopping $1,065.

Timbiebs

timbiebs merchandise

@justinbieber/Instagram | CNW Group/Tim Hortons

Sorry Tim Hortons and Justin Bieber, but Timbiebs were pretty much just like regular donuts, only marketed more heavily. We’ll pass on the celeb-collab fast food and just take a classic honey-glazed, thank you very much.

With files from Daily Hive Staff

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