The top food trends of 2019, from vegan to pegan, vegetable ice cream to celery juice

SCOTLAND’S restaurants will be filled with plenty of new and wonderful food for 2019.

While avocado and air frying may have been staples of last year, this year sees us quite literally coming back to earth.

Paleo and Vegan food is a biggie for 2019, both separately and together as Pegan.

It’s all about clean eating with plenty of vegetables, fruits and high quality fats as well as food including fish, and meat that hasn’t been treated with pesticides antibiotics or hormones.

Here are a few of the other trends we’re likely to see in the coming months.

Vegan

According to data, 3.5 million people now identify as vegan, 20% of under-35s have tried veganism, and 25% of our evening meals are now meat-free.

And this month, many are taking part in ‘Veganuary’ and cutting out meat and dairy from their diets.

That means vegan menus aplenty for January in restaurants across the country.

One example is Glasgow’s Dhabba North Indian restaurant, which has launched bespoke vegan dishes including Gol Gappa – crispy puffed bread with sported potato, chickpeas and cumin and Bhendi Do Payazi with okra, red onion, ginger and chillies.

Across the UK, vegan wines are also going to be heavily promoted in the next twelve months.

Celery Juice

Celery Juice is being touted for its ability to help remove toxins from your body and stabilise blood pressure levels.

It’s not the only drink that will be hitting the healthmark this year with Oatmilk also being the latest non-dairy alternative to hit the aisles.

Dairy-free options will continue to attract sales but caution should be taken to ensure that additives and artificial flavours aren’t boosting the flavour too much.

Seed Butters

Exotic butters will remain a staple but this time round people are opting for seed butters as an alternative to peanut, almond and cashew.

Look out for lots of sunflower seed butter and tahini, a staple in Middle Eastern cuisine for centuries in restaurants, as well as pumpkin and watermelon seed butters, which share the same good fat profile of nut butters.

They are a good alternative for those with nut allergies.

Vegetable ice creams

In a world which is becoming more aesthetically pleasing, we will also contradict ourselves with the veg we buy.

Imperfect vegetables are on this years hotlist and misshapen fruit and veg that would otherwise go to waste will inspire us to create more crisps and sauces made from rescued food.

There will even be ice creams made of vegetables coming to a freezer shelf near you…

Rum

While Gin was the must have drink of 2019, we will see a definite shift to Rum as Millenials choose barrel-aged, small-batch craft rums, fine rums from traditional Caribbean makers and now, British rums.

Dark, golden, string or sweet, there is plenty of choice.