Here is my round of the nutrition trends that I predict for 2017!
Eat Like a Viking
Taking inspiration from the eating habits of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland the Nordic diet is all about eating seasonal, sustainable and super healthy food. The kind of food you can expect to see is wild salmon, salted fish, langoustine, buttermilk, beetroot and even goat. Let’s hope that they don’t include Viking specialities of puffin or elk!
Food will be predominantly raw or ‘cooked’ by smoking, fermenting or curing. The underlying philosophy is to take traditional ingredients and present them in an interesting and experimental way, without taking away too much of the natural taste or depleting the nutritional benefits. Research shows that eating like a Viking has been linked to lower blood pressure and weight loss.
Plant Waters
Plant waters have been everywhere this year and I predict that this trend will continue in 2017 with even more botanical beverages set to quench our thirst. It started off with coconut water now there is maple water, birch water, cactus water and aloe water. In fact you think of a tree, shrub or plant and chances are someone has already thought about how to tap into the nutritious liquid within.
The health benefits of drinking plant water are numerous, most are jam packed with antioxidants, natural minerals and most importantly of all are a far better drink option than the sugary, carbonated energy drinks that are rife in our supermarkets.
They have a subtle hint of flavour with a pure and clean natural taste. Artichoke water, prickly pear and barley water are all contenders for 2017.
Nooch
If you are a vegan this will not be anything new to you, but to the rest of us nooch is set to revolutionise our meals. Nooch is nutritional yeast and although it doesn’t look like the most appetising thing you have ever seen (looks a little like Goldfish food), it holds the key to one of the most powerful tastes in the human palate…umami. Most commonly found in things like MSG laden Chinese food and flavoured crisps. This wonderful flavour can now be accessed without the related MSG. You can also find umami flavours in parmesan cheese, miso soup and green tea.
Nooch has a distinct parmesan like flavour, I use it to make a salad dressing or as a flavour for kale crips ad popcorn. It is a great source of B12 (like marmite) which is fab for optimising metabolism and the cellular function of the body.
Plant Power
You don’t have to be vegetarian or vegan to appreciate good tasting vegetables and 2017 is all about the power of plants.
Vegetables to look out for next year include:
Broccoli leaf – with a taste similar to a sugar snap peas and contain 100% of your daily vitamin C as well as plenty of vitamin K, vitamin A, potassium and folate.
Daikon – this white, radish-like, root vegetable is widely used in Asian cooking, but is only just coming to the UK. Daikon, meaning ‘great root’ in Japanese, is a great source of vitamin B6, vitamin C, potassium and magnesium. But, perhaps the best quality of this vegetable is it’s subtle bitter taste, which helps curb cravings for sweet food.
Dandelions – not just weeds in your garden or food for your guinea pigs, dandelions are fast becoming a fashionable culinary ingredient, these green leaves offer a whopping 111% of our daily vitamin A requirements. Add them to salad, make a dandelion pesto or treat them as you would any herb.
Moringa – the leafy green vegetable, moringa, is looking to give king of the veg, kale, a bit of a run for it’s money in 2017. It is more nutritious than kale, yet also has the added bonus of providing a plant protein very similar to quinoa. You can currently buy moringa as a leaf powder supplement in specialist health food stores, however I am sure it will not be long before we start to see the pods, roots, flowers, seeds and fruits being sold too.
Skinny Prosecco
Prosecco has become the Babycham of the 21st century, with women, in particular, listing it as their preferred tipple of choice. And when it comes to making decisions about what to order at the bar, Prosecco is indeed one of the healthiest choices to go for. Skinny Prosecco boasts half the amount of sugar than that contained in the same amount of standard Prosecco.
Savoury Yoghurt
Flavours such as, beetroot, sweet potato and butternut squash are already popular in the US, so it won’t be long before these are bound to cross over to the UK. I am not convinced about this but will give it a try as I love tsatziki and raita!
Yoghurt has gone back to its traditional savoury roots, relying on spices and natural vegetable flavourings/purees to give the taste. The Greeks have tsatziki, the Indians have raita, so savoury yogurt really isn’t anything new, but with vegetable yogurts coming into the mix there will new tastes to try. Eggs Benedict with sweet potato yoghurt instead of hollandaise sauce or how about sweet potato toast dipped in avocado yogurt…the possibilities are endless.
Mocktail Hour
With the war on sugar raging, the rise of teetotalism it is no surprise that mocktails are set to be the drink to be seen with in 2017. Cocktails without alcohol have traditionally used sweet sugary juices and syrups, but drinkers are now after something healthier. Demand calls for a drink that look as flashy as a regular cocktail, but also tastes refreshing, light and sophisticated. London mixologists are concocting things from fermented tea, vegetable juices, savoury extracts, herbs, raw vinegar, kombucha and even alcohol free spirits.
Teff
Teff is the Ethiopian gluten-free grain that is set to give popular grains like quinoa a run for their money. These seeds may be small, about the size of a poppy seed, but they pack a nutritional punch. They are high in calcium, iron, protein, copper, fibre, manganese and zinc as well as a whole host of vitamins and amino acids. Teff is incredibly versatile and can be used as a flour substitute, meaning it works well in bread, pasta, waffles, pancakes, cakes, pizza bases, anything your baking brain can think of.
Sweet Potato Flour
The orange root vegetable that has become a kitchen staple can also be bought in flour form. It is gluten free, paleo friendly and is one of the least allergic foods on earth. Sweet potato flour is going to feature heavily in the recipes of 2017.
It tastes like sweet potato, sweet, rich and has the ability to add moisture to a recipe so is great for cakes. Just like regular flour, it can be used in any baked good you can think of, as well as a thickening agent and as a coating for fish, meat, vegetables etc. Be warned, it has a tendency to turn things green, is hard to find and is also still incredibly expensive at the moment!
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