Food is on the move!
The year is 2020. A silver pod the size of a watermelon cruises towards your bedroom window, flashing softly to catch your attention. You slide open your airlock to allow the pod to latch onto the small loading bay. Once attached, the pod opens to reveal a silver container bursting with the latest dishes from ‘Delivabug’. Deep fried crickets, grilled grasshoppers and spaghetti buffalo worms all await.
Now this is perhaps what we envisaged we’d be eating in 2020, a year that projects the metallic scent of futurism. However, luckily for us, we’re not there just yet and that means we’re still enjoying the humble sandwich, a spot of sushi or a warming pasty at lunchtime.
As we look to the year ahead though, there are a few trends that we see defining the food to go world in 2020. We spoke to the innovation and kitchen team at Urban Eat HQ to find out more about three of the main foodie cravings for the next 12 months:
The meat free movement continues: While the move toward reducing meat consumption is certainly not new, this is a trend that will further ignite the mainstream in the year ahead. It’s not that half of the country is necessarily becoming vegan, but shoppers are thinking about what they eat more than ever before and want different choices down the supermarket aisle.
In the year ahead we will we see new meat-free, flexitarian and plant-based innovation on our shelves, with people changing their lunchtime habits, even if for just a couple of days a week.
Hot food on the move: It’s not just because we’re writing this on a brisk winter’s day that hot food is on the mind. It has been growing in the food to go world for the past couple of years and shows no sign of stopping. With the traditional lines between breakfast, lunch and dinner blurring, as well as the increase in snacking occasions, more of us are pointing our hungry eyes towards the hot food counter. We’ll see even more hot options in the year ahead and if this isn’t the time to mention our hot naans from our Street range then I don’t know when is!
Flavours from around the world: The classic BLT, Tuna & Sweetcorn or Ploughman’s will always feature high in our sandwich favourites! But our taste buds are always on the hunt for new flavours and that means taking inspiration from dishes around the globe. The reputation of street food has vastly changed in the past few years, from late night temptation after a couple of drinks to leading the way in terms of our foodie culture. This isn’t going to change in 2020 so expect your favourite bakeries, cafes and coffee shops up and down the high street to bring new and exciting flavours to your lunchtime.
For more information on the Urban Eat range of sandwiches, wraps, hot food options and more, visit www.urbaneat.co.uk.