Top Ten of the Past Ten: Most Popular Food Trends of the 2010s

Welcome to the 2010s in America. Marijuana use gained more popularity as Washington and Colorado became the first states to legalize cannabis for recreational use in 2012. Millennials born in the 70s and 80s entered the labor force. The Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013 with the unjustified acquittal of Trayvon Martin's murderer. In 2015, same-sex couples were legally able to tie the knot after the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriages, legalizing it in all 50 states. Donald Trump, a celebrity and businessman, was elected as President in 2017. Without further adieu, here are the top ten most popular food trends of the 2010s.

1) Plant-based Meats

The California start-up, Impossible Foods, launched in 2016 by founder Patrick Brown. Impossible Foods's biotech scientists claimed they had constructed plant-based meat that, according to Business of Business, "bleeds, sizzles, and tastes just like meat, but its production uses 96% less land, 87% less water and emits 89% less carbon into the atmosphere than a beef hamburger." Impossible Foods's burgers, sausages, nuggets, meatballs, and pork plant-based meats are made with soy protein, natural flavors, and other non-animal ingredients. Grubhub, a delivery app for almost any food choice, says that "the Impossible Burger is now the most popular late-night deliver snack in America."

Plant-based meats have been around for years. The rise in Impossible Foods and other meat-alternative brands, like Beyond Meat, was due to increased concern, as Vox puts it, on human populations living too close to animals which causes diseases that leap from animals to humans. In 2019, Impossible burger teamed up with mega fast-food chain, Burger King, to provide customers with the Impossible Whopper. This sparked interest in other fast-food chain stores; plant-based meat can be found in more than 5,000 restaurants and fast-food establishments in all 50 states.

"[The rise of plant-based meats is] . . . a combination of increased consumer interest in healthier eating in general, and then combined with innovation and an explosion of more great-tasting meat alternatives for consumers to choose from."
Michele Simon (former director of the Plant-Based Foods Association)
Vox

2) Avocado Toast

Like plant-based meats, avocado toast has been around for years. According to Juleeho, Bill Granger, an Australian, reports he was the first to invent and serve avocado toast at his cafe, Bills, in 1993. Avocado toast is an open-faced sandwich made from toasted bread and mashed avocado.

With America's food research shifting from demonizing all fats to supporting "good fats" (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, fats that avocados have a lot of, about 30 grams), combined with the surprising trend of taking pictures of one's food and posting it on social media, launched avocado toast into the forefront of the American diet--at least for a few years in the 2010s. Timeout reports over 1.2 million hashtags of avocado toast on Instagram. Gwyneth Paltrow, an American actress, was credited as popularizing avocado toast with a recipe in her book, It's All Good, published in 2013. Bon Appetite magazine published a recipe for avocado toast in 2015.

"[Avocado toast is] . . . healthy and yet ever-so-slightly indulgent."
Jayne Orenstein
The Washington Post

3) Pumpkin Spice

In the 1950s, McCormick launched their official pumpkin spice, a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves that many associated with the scent of fall. This spice was mainly used in pumpkin pies; however, fast-forward to 2003, Starbucks, the mega coffee franchise, unveiled their Pumpkin Spice Latte, consisting of milk, pumpkin spice syrup, vanilla syrup, espresso, and whipping cream--America was hooked.

Jordan Rosenfield from Yahoo reports that Starbucks sells over 28 million pumpkin spice lattes each year. In 2019, Nielsen Data reported that pumpkin-flavored grocery products grossed over $511 million in sales. The pumpkin spice market has grown to include tons of products, including food like cakes, jelly beans, snack bars, ice cream, cheesecakes, donuts, bread, liquors, chocolate, yogurt, candy, cereal, cookies, and so many more. Kantha Shelke, a food scientist, stated, "Nostalgia, clever marketing, and media coverage and hype by companies such as Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and Hallmark led to people believing they like this spice mix."

"I beleaf fall starts with PSL. I beleaf my zodiac sign is pumpkin. I beleaf any weather is sweater weather. I beleaf it's fall."
Starbucks Advertisement

4) Unicorn Foods

Like many food trends in the 2010s, posting a particular food on social media was a big part of the food's success. Spoon University reported that the hashtag "unicornfrappuccio" has more than 159,000 posts on Instagram. Unicorn-styled food usually contains colorful pastel colors of purple, pink, white, and blue combined with a sparkly and whimsical appearance. According to Food Business News, unicorn-flavored foods have notes of fruit flavors with strawberry, watermelon, and violet hints. The unicorn trend rainbow-ed over, much like the pumpkin spice trend, into coffees, cereals, cakes, ice cream, chewing gum, smoothie bowls, bagels, pop-tarts, cookies, and the list goes on.

The launch of the unicorn food trend is credited to Adeline Waugh, a health food photographer, in 2016, as she experimented with natural pastel-colored foods to create "unicorn toast" and posted it on her blog and social media. However, the increased interest and popularity are credited to several factors of the 2010s. First was the TV and film franchise My Little Pony, between 2010 and 2019, which had 4 million views per month by the end of its first season. Second, the rainbow and the LGBTQ+ movement became seemingly connected as gay rights advanced in 2015 with the legalization of same-sex marriages in the US. Third, many millennials contribute their interest in the unicorn food trend to 90s nostalgia when Lisa Frank, a company founded in 1979, which sold more than $60 million per year in sparkly, girly, and carefree T-shirts, binders, pencils, pens, stickers, lunchboxes, that every grade school girl had to own.

"Not only do the millennials remember the unicorn as a fun, carefree symbol of their youth, but in confusing times, we want things that provide hope and positivity,"
Jane Buckingham (Founder of Trendera)
Vox

5) Bowl Foods

Acai bowls (smoothie bowls), burrito bowls, and poke bowls have increased in popularity in the 2010s. The acai bowl, a mixture of tropical fruits blended into a smoothie (and placed in a bowl) and topped with choice toppings, is a food craze that started in 2017. Its original origins are credited to 90s Brazilian surfers and fitness enthusiasts.

The burrito bowl, a bowl mixture of rice, beans, meat, salsa, and other topping, origins are credited to Juan Mendez in Chihuahua, Mexico, in the 1910s. But the burrito bowl's popularity spiked in America due to Chipotle, a Mexican American fast-food restaurant, introduced the burrito bowl to their menu in 2010. Chris Arnold, a spokesman for Chipotle, reported a rise of $3 billion in sales by 2012, which many contribute to the burrito bowl's launch.

As the Brazilian taste of acai bowls spread from Hawaii to the rest of America, the poke bowl has similar origins. Food historian Rachel Laudan states that the poke bowl became popular in the 1970s as a traditional Hawaiian dish with influences from Japanese foods. A poke bowl is skinned, de-boned, and filleted raw fish or meat seasoned with spices, vegetables, or noodles in steaming broth.

According to Eat Poke Bros, between 2012 to 2016, Hawaiian restaurants serving poke bowls double in North America. This Hawaiian food trend quickly spread onto means of Japanese and Asian American restaurants. America's obsession with bowl culture with rounded open-top food bowl meals wasn't just contained to the acai, burrito, and poke bowls, but rose, as Quartz Weekly Obsession stated, 29.7% in US restaurants sales from 2011 to 2016. This included grain bowls, harvest bowls, Buddha bowls, KFC mashed potato bowls, and many more.

". . . we hold bowls and bring them closer towards us, which fosters feelings of comfort and nourishment--a connection that can't be made by a fork and plate."
Lindsay S. Nixon
Happy Herbivore

6) Cold Brew Coffee

According to Bean & Bean, in 1960, Todd Simpson invented the Toddy Brewing System; which is a way of brewing coffee using cold water, submerged coffee grounds, and a steeping time of 12 to 24 hours that produces a non-acid-y (because the coffee never encounters hot water) concentrated coffee, meant for combining with water before consuming. With cold brew concentrate's smooth and sweet taste, many coffee houses started using them for a blended drink in the 90s. In 2016, SToK launched their ready-to-drink cold brew coffee in supermarkets, which grew in popularity among the millennial and Gen-Z generations, with 45% of these populations being interested in cold brew and iced coffee.

Grand View Research, in 2018, reported the cold brew coffee market value at $340 million and is expected to grow to $1.63 billion by 2025. The rise of STok's and cold brew coffee, in general, is mainly because of its convenience (no need for a coffee maker) and major brands promoting and selling the cold brew coffee alternative. Brands like Starbucks, Costa Coffee from Coca-Cola, Illycaffe, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, and Minor Figures with their nitro-infused coffees and chai lattes. Even the coffee creamer giant, Nestle's Coffee-mate, unveiled their Natural Bliss Cold Brew Coffee line in 2018, sold in Targets and Walmart nationwide.

"It's amazing what you can do with the right beans, method, craft, and a head full of ideas."
Stok Brew

7) Non-dairy Milk

While we're on cold brew coffee, many cold brew coffee drinkers prefer non-dairy milk in their brew to satisfy their creamy cravings. Research from Mintel reported non-dairy milk sales growing to $2 billion between the years 2012 to 2017. Non-dairy milk can be created from many sources, including oats, quinoa, rice, hemp, cashews, peanuts, coconut, soy, almonds, peas, and even bananas.

By 2008, non-dairy milk, mainly meant milk from soy products, which was invented by Li Yuying in 1910 in Colombes, France. Oatly, a Swedish dairy alternative company founded by brothers Rickard and Bjorn Oeste, created oat milk in 1994; in 2014, Toni Petersson rebranded Oatly and brought it to America's attention, quickly being adopted into the menus by many American coffee shops and household refrigerators. By 2017, Oatly was reported to be in 650 coffee shops nationwide. As the healthy eating trends spiked in the 2010s, non-dairy milk gave consumers an ethical and health-conscious option besides regular cow's milk to drink. Non-dairy milk is lactose-free, lower in fat and sugar, and doesn't require the mistreatment of thousands of cows at dairy farms.

"The reckless pursuit of profits without any consideration for the well-being of the planet and the humans that live here should be considered a crime."
Oatly

8) Hard Seltzer

The alternative beer, a wine cooler, started in the 1980s and consisted of carbonated wine and fruit juice. In 1994, Coors launched Zima, a hard seltzer made of carbonated water, alcohol, and fruit flavorings. Canadian billionaire Anthony von Mandl launched Mike's Hard Lemonade in 1999 and White Claw in 2016. YouTuber influencers encouraged White Claw sales in 2019 with their phrases "Claw is the Law," "White Claw lifestyle," and "White Claw Summer," exploding the hard seltzer and White Claw demand in the 2010s.

White Claw sales went from $155 million in 2018 to $627 million in 2019, with a continued increase in hard seltzer demand. In line with America's health-conscious attitudes in the 2010s, White Claw used the slogan "Made pure" to advertise to young consumers of their 100 calories alcoholic beverage that was made "clean" and caused less bloating than beer and sweet cocktails while still providing popular flavors of cherry, lime, grapefruit, melon, lemon, and even cumber,

By the end of 2019, hard seltzer sales had reached $2.7 billion. The branding of the hard seltzers grew to include other companies: Hard Mountain Dew Baja Blast, Topo Chico hard Seltzer, Good Company Hard Seltzer, Bud Light Seltzer, Jose Cuervo Playa Mar Hard Seltzer, Truly Punch Hard Seltzer, and many others.

"Fans of the drink enjoy its light and crisp taste, low-calorie count, and accessible price point that made it an easy alternative to beer and white."
Seltzer Nation

9) Charcuterie Board

As the popularity of hard seltzer grew at parties, so did the charcuterie board through the 2010s. A Charcuterie board, or a meat and cheese spread, is traditionally served on a wooden cutting board with cured meats, various cheeses, olives, nuts, fruit, crackers, and jams. Curing meats with salt was started by the Roman empire 2,000 years ago. In the 15 century, the French created charcuterie, including animal's entrails and internal organs.

Deli Business Magazine describes "charcuterie" as the "culinary art of preparing meat products." Due to the rise of social media food posting, the charcuterie board, with its visually appealing arrangements, the cured meat and cheese boards became a popular social media hashtag. Business Insider reports nearly one million results for "charcuterie" on Instagram. Midan Marketing stated, "Easy to understand blogs and do-it-yourself videos can give consumers the confidence they need to create a charcuterie board at home." The U.S. Chicago-based IRI reported sales of "charcuterie types of packaged lunch meats" reaching $561 million in 2019. Like most food trends, the visually appealing and convenience factor caused the charcuterie board craze to boom in the 2010s.

". . . as it remains on trend for high-quality, flavorful, convenient meal solutions suitable for snacking, sandwiches, and easy at-home entertaining."
Emanuela Bigi
Veroni USA

10) Zucchini Pasta

Zucchini noodles, another meat alternative popularized by the millennials and Gen-Zs, are made from spiralizing zucchini into noodle-like strands that can be cooked and prepared like traditional grain pasta. The spiral vegetable slicer, also known as spiralizers, are kitchen appliances used for cutting vegetables into linguine-like stands for pasta alternatives.

In 2014, Good Housekeeping and US News listed spiralizers as a hot trending item. Consumers of trending diets like the Paleo diet, low-carb diets (like Keto), and raw vegans found spiraled vegetables a stable in their diet plans. In 2016, New Jersey blogger Ali Maffucci was credited for launching the "spiralized" movement with her cooking books and blog, Inspiralized, containing recipes centered around spiralized dishes, such as the popular zucchini pasta. Kristen McCaffrey from Slender Kitchen states zucchini noodles or "zoodles" are low-carb, low-fat, low-calorie, and high in hydration, potassium, vitamin C, and calcium.

"Creating zucchini noodles is a great way to add a . . .nutritious vegetable to a myriad of meals."
Kristen McCaffrey
Slender Kitchen