Jelly dessert by Calgary’s Jelly Lab.Todd Corrol/Globe and Mail
Nothing inspires me in early January like cleaning out my dusty crystal ball and anticipating next year’s food and drink trends. My insights on what the next 12 months will bring, from drinking non-topic Canadian wine to embracing the fact that it’s the world of TikTok and that we all live in. are shown below.
jelly dessert
Born in the 1980s, I was at the end of the jelly cooking era. Jelly-centric salads, such as the ambrosia salad (traditionally made with marshmallows), will forever be etched in my memory as quirky sweet dishes that weren’t on the table. But jelly in its sweetest form was always welcomed as a purupuru dessert.
Ambrosia is thankfully not back in fashion, but gelatinous desserts are certainly in vogue.
Forget artificially flavored limes and unnaturally colored blue raspberries, turn your favorite cocktails like Mojito, Sangria and Tequila Sunrise into jelly-like works of art.
A prime example of successful jelly-centric companies in the past includes Jelly Lab, a Calgary vegan dessert maker. Jelly, her dessert company that launched last spring, made headlines locally thanks to creator Lia Van Loon’s grown-up take on Jell-O.
Best known as one of Alberta’s top fashion stylists for many years, it’s no surprise that she chose an impressive array of antique jelly molds to bring her creations to life.
Van Loon uses high-quality beef gelatin (or carrageenan-based seaweed jelly for vegan special orders) to blend fruit juices, as well as other liquids such as coconut milk, edible glitter, and fresh fruit and herbs. Set and layered with a playful mix. It’s a dessert that’s delicious to eat and looks great as a table centerpiece.
Not surprisingly, the vibrant, jelly-like dessert’s shimmering effect has also caught the attention of social media. If you know, you know
Low-alcohol and non-alcoholic winemaking and “spirits” production
This time next year, we may all be plant-centered and chilled out, remembering the old days. It’s probably an exaggeration, but the no-n-low drink movement has been here for a long time. Just as the plant-based food trend has made great strides in recent years, so too has the non-alcoholic beverage industry rapidly become dynamic. has become
If you want to drink less, the selection of non-alcoholic craft beers, wines and fake spirits has never been greater, but most interestingly, more non-alcoholic wines are being produced in Canada. am.
Thoughtfully riding this new wave is the Ones+ wine collection. Created in part by noted Okanagan winemaker Tyler Harlton, these offerings are less than his 1% alcohol (read: terroir) while maintaining a sense of place. In other words, it’s a non-alcoholic wine that you actually want to drink.
Alberta’s Wild Folk Beverages is one of Western Canada’s leading manufacturers of canned botanical cocktails and is another example of rapid growth in this drink category. The company’s booze-free Bibi, with options like Vermouth Spritz and Sparkling His Negroni, are now readily available on menus in Calgary and other restaurants and bars.
queer representation
It’s been a long time coming, but we’re finally seeing queer industry professionals in leadership (and ownership) positions across Canada.
Bri Campbell of Edmonton’s May Restaurant is the state’s first non-binary chef to take the executive chef position (2021). Her industry colleague, Winnie Chen, now talks about running Fu’s Repair Shop. In Calgary, queer-owned Rising Tides Taproom creates a safe space to not only support her community of queer creatives with weekly drag shows, but also showcase Alberta craft her brewing her scene diversity. doing.
The Concorde Group is also building a queer-focused restaurant concept run by Dane Walker of WERK event programming fame. This restaurant is scheduled to open by summer.
Besides Calgary, restaurants such as Winnipeg’s The Tallest Poppy, Friends of Dorothy Lounge (with locations in Kelowna, British Columbia and Victoria), Victoria’s The Vicious Poodle, and St. John’s Kaleidoscope Drag Lounge and Restaurant all offer food and drink. , the synergy of queer culture.
TikTok trends
If last October’s Negroni Sbagliato phenomenon is any indication, TikTok’s food and drink influence has recently begun to extend far beyond the realm of foodies at home.
Its reputation for being a famous Italian cocktail with true mixological integrity House of the Dragon Star Emma Darcy went viral. In the clip, the actor describes his favorite drink as “Negroni Subagliato and Prosecco.”
Shared and viewed millions of times, this drink has started appearing on major drink menus in North America.
While cuddling up at Vancouver’s famous Rabatoire bar, I was recommended the Negroni Subagliato, the evening’s star cocktail.
“Is this TikTok’s fault?” I asked the bartender.
Of course the answer was yes.
All this indicates that TikTok’s effects have begun to move beyond the “foodie” at home and have officially entered the realm of hospitality. Social media apps can be rampant with weird culinary hacks and what I define as “shock food” (think bacon-wrapped blocks of fried cheddar cheese). However, it would be silly not to do so when it appeals to the masses and gets snagged on something restaurants can easily add to their menus.