Decade rewind: Food and drink trends that made our tastebuds tingle
Before 2010, nobody had tasted a “monster shake”, you ate your dinner instead of taking a picture of it, and we didn’t struggle to say words like quinoa. Here’s how food changed in the past decade.
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‘Twas the decade that saw Millennials swap the Great Australian Dream for avo on toast while Baby Boomers attempted to master the pronunciation of quinoa.
(To those still pronouncing it “kwin-oh-ah”, you may not proceed to 2020 until you repeat after us, “keen-wah”.)
The decade also marked a fierce foodie rivalry between naughty and nice in the culinary world.
Gastronomical mayhem ensued when “monster shakes” or “freak shakes” — calorie-laden creations that saw milkshakes stacked with fluffy doughnuts, ice cream, fairy floss and drizzled with sticky syrups and Nutella — took the world by storm, while the equally sugary “cronuts”, a clever hybrid between a doughnut and a croissant, also took the fancy of sweet tooths.
But plenty was still on offer for the health-conscious.
In complete contrast to those crazy shakes, another section of society attempted to flush out their system of toxins and impurities by doing a juice cleanse or partaking in the fad diets of the decade such as paleo, keto or I Quit Sugar.
delicious. columnist and author Matt Preston also credits the 2010s for anointing kale a “superfood”.
“Kale and the growing love of vegetables, pickling and fermenting and a renewed love for foraging and indigenous ingredients have all been popularised this decade,” he says.
But he adds that the defining flavour of the decade is firmly positioned in the naughty corner.
“Salty caramel — that very timely love of sweet, salt and fat together — as seen in dude food, and South-East Asian dishes was a huge trend of the 2010s. Think chilli peanut praline, chilli sauces and sweet, sour, salty dressings.”
Preston says other food trends included the rise of bowls and “plates no longer built around a large chunk of protein,” and social media’s influence.
“The concept of people taking pictures of their dinner is entrenched in this decade, as are other social media-driven fads like the polarising of food into the over-the-top and a halo-giving virtue.”
When it comes to our eating habits, while there is no denying the impact of food delivery services such as Uber Eats, Preston says people have also embraced cooking.
“There was a far greater interest in food this decade and people cooked a lot more,” he says.
“The kitchen replaced the home theatre as the place people spent discretionary money.”
The 2010s also marked the rise of popular veganism and even flexitarianism — a vegie pledge to go meat free one meal at a time — which triggered an expansion of the meat-free alternative market, even in Australia where we’re known for our love of lamb and beef.
Between 2015 and 2020, Australia was predicted to be the third-fastest-growing vegan market in the world at 9.6 per cent growth.
Supermarkets and restaurants began enticing vegans and carnivores alike with their newfangled meat-style vegetarian options such as Beyond Burger and Miracle Meats, which sizzle, caramelise, in some cases, even “bleed”.
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