Food predictions: How will we eat in 2009?

Top cookery editors on how they see the year ahead

Allaboutyou.com is home to thousands of recipes from best-selling UK magazines, and we've asked the cookery editors from three of those magazines to give their cookery predictions for 2009, with some surprising answers. What will you be eating in 2009? Find out here...

 

Prima Cookery editor Heather Whinney predicts...

 

Exotica will be out and traditional in

 

'People are going back to old-fashioned British basics such as stews and pies rather than looking for exotic food. They'll seek out cheaper cuts of meat such as stewing cuts, belly pork, shin of beef and ox-tail. The supermarkets don't always stock these so they will need to keep up with this trend. We'll also see a return of the Sunday Roast'

 

Tea will be the new coffee

 

'There will be a growth in premium loose leaf tea imported from countries such as China. Coffee has already broken through but tea is the next thing. These teas have a completely different taste to regular tea bags. But whether the trend for coffee shops will follow-through with a similar growth in tea-shops is something that I can't predict.'

 

 

We''ll be digging for victory

 

'Grow-your-own will expand in 2009. This will include harvesting fruits and berries as well as vegetables. It's a fad that started when people read articles about food shortages but there is also recognition that it saves money, is wholesome and family oriented. It's all about going back to basics and it really is a trend worth following.'

 

 

Good Housekeeping's Cookery Editor, Emma Marsden predicts...

 

We're going back to basics

 

'Simple home cooking will become huge in 2009. People will realise that they don't need to spend £1.69 on a ready-made carrot and coriander soup when they can make three times as much by themselves. Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food has shown how much pleasure people can get from cooking from scratch.'

 

The consumer will become more canny than ever

 

'Consumers are going to pay more attention to what ingredients go into the food they buy and will start to really think about where they are spending their money. In the same way that they would not go into a clothes shop and randomly fill their basket proclaiming: ‘I haven't time to look at what I'm buying', so the same will increasingly apply to food shopping.'

 

 

We'll split up our shopping

 

'The no frills supermarkets that are already popular in 2008 will continue to grow. And yet these will sit happily side-by-side with farmers markets. It may be a case of going into Lidl for meat or lobster but to the farmers market to buy seasonal British produce. It will be a happy marriage.'

 

 

Country Living Magazine Food & Drink Editor, Shona Crawford Poole predicts...

 

Fat will become trendy again

 

'Fat by Jennifer McLagan, published in March will be the most life-enhancing cookery title of 2009. According to McLagan, our fat phobia hasn't benefited us. It has driven us into the arms of trans fats and refined carbohydrates, and fostered punitive, dreary attitudes towards food. Jennifer McLagan's recipes will offer lost skills and tastes to a new generation of cooks.'

 

The well-stocked lunchbox will make a comeback

 

'People are becoming increasingly thrifty, so taking your lunch to work will be smart, not sad. The office microwave will replace the sandwich bar queue as a pick up point when the January bills come in.'

The quality of our ingredients will become paramount

 

'Making the most of the best ingredients will become the cookery mantra of the year, overtaking 'local' and 'seasonal' as watchwords. Country Living Magazine's new cookery series ‘Making The Most Of .........' begins in the February issue with Elisabeth Luard's mouthwatering recipes for cheese.'

 

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Feature by Jo Carlowe