Food and Drinks Trends for 2025

For food and beverage journalists, each December is a buffet of piquant triumph and bitter humiliation as we assess our food trend predictions from the previous year. For every correct assessment of ranch ruling and Caesar supremacy, we (OK, “I”) have to eat crow about saying there’d be Chicken à la King on every other restaurant menu and that Cresto di Gallo pasta would rule the roost. Still, we persist, and with the help of some market experts, here’s a peek into what we think 2025 food and drinks trends might be. Think sleepy, trippy, cozy, and flowery — but not quite so boozy as before.

Flower power

“Chefs continue to garnish their dishes with mini edible flowers and bakers have embraced them as decorations on over-the-top, maximalist slab cakes. Now, thanks to global attention on major holidays like Diwali and Día de Muertos, marigolds specifically are in the zeitgeist for their vibrant orange and yellow colors and peppery taste,” says Food & Wine editor in chief Hunter Lewis, citing that Baldor, the specialty foods wholesaler in New York City, reported a 164% increase in marigold sales in recent months.

Rubix Food’s The NEXT Flavor Report concurs on the bloom bounty, but notes that the Gen-Z population it surveyed favors the hibiscus, lavender, and cherry blossoms that are popping up on beverage menus in both hot and cold coffee, steeped into lemonade and tea, and adding a happy hue to cocktails. Flavor creations firm T. Hasegawa concurs on hibiscus in its 2025 forecast, and cites elderflower and rose for their “appeal to the growing interest in sensory and calming experiences,” and the Datassential 2025 Trends Report looks to refreshing South Asian Rooh Afzah syrup with rose water and kewra to have its moment in the sun.

Cuckoo for cocoa

Swiss Miss and Nesquick have gotten us all through some chilly chapters in our lives, but look for cocoa — hot and cold — to be oh so bespoke in the coming year. Just as chocolate and coffee have gotten to be more origin-conscious, so will the powdered stuff, based with everything from macadamia milk to bone broth, and backed with well-sourced spices, chiles, herbs, and some medicinal add-ins. Research firm Mintel took special note of cocoa in its 2025 Global Food and Drink Trends, calling out British brand Sleep Well’s hot chocolate sachets that are bolstered with valerian, a rhizome historically used to combat insomnia.

Mushrooms for improvement

Functional mushrooms have been on the scene for a while, but in the nebulous “wellness” way. (Seriously, are we still pretending to know what “adaptogenics” do?) But in the past couple of years, psilocybin mushrooms have crossed the threshold from fringe to mainstream, with everyone from celebs to CEOs to your friend’s mom microdosing for clarity and calm, and you’re going to see more and more of this manifesting at the dinner table. Obviously, this will vary from region to region (psilocybin is still illegal under federal law, but decriminalized or legalized in some states and jurisdictions), but keep an eye out for cheffy pop-ups and edibles, sometimes borrowing the trippy ethos even if there aren’t technically psychedelics involved — yet.

James Beard-nominated restaurateurs Jason Berry and Michael Reginbogin will be opening Sagrada in Washington D.C. in early 2025 with a mission to “educate and draw attention to the therapeutic aspects of psilocybin” (without actually serving any). Snack brand Popadelics, which features crisp-dried shiitakes in flavors like Trippin’ Truffle Parm and Twisted Thai Chili, like Sagrada, is donating money to the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research to further the ‘shroom boom. 

The diner renaissance

“Our nostalgia for the American diner and breakfast served all day may never fade, but upcoming chef-driven projects are adding new intrigue,” says Lewis, noting that 2022 F&W Best New Chef Caroline Schiff will open her own diner next winter, 1990 F&W Best New Chef Nancy Silverton and food personality Phil Rosenthal have a new diner in the works in Los Angeles, and “the one-of-a-kind honey butter pancakes at Golden Diner in New York City continue to draw brunch crowds under the Manhattan Bridge.” 

French ’25

Spurred on by the 2024 Paris Olympic, the still-ongoing embrace of excess apres Covid, and a white-knuckled ride into the unknown of the next four years, the solid comfort of French cooking is increasingly back in vogue in America — and will likely come with a twist. We’re not parlez-ing about nouvelle tweezer fare here, and oysters avec frites surely aren’t going anywhere, but look to Lyon and its boucherie, rustic fare like meat–and-egg studded salads, pillowy quenelles, and beaucoup offal to maximize flavor and minimize food waste. Maybe not in massive portions (we are still living in the Ozempic era), but still enough pate and everything en-croute to make a statement.

Baldor’s director of NY food service sales Jon Hansburg explained in the company’s trend report, “Now it’s a younger generation of chefs — and diners — who are engaging with classic dishes on their own terms and at a more approachable price point.” And Baldor sales data bears out the French ascendance with a 40% year-over-year growth in sirloin flap meat, commonly used for steak frites. Datassential’s report sees an upswing in short ribs — a must in long-braised Francophile staples like boeuf Bourguignon and French dip.

Fusion feasts

F&W restaurant editor Raphael Brion saw a country awash in culturally conjoined mash-up pastas as he traveled the country. He particularly praised 2024 F&W Best New Chef Wedchayan “Deau” Arpapornnopparat’s Indian- and Chinese-influenced Yellow Curry Rigatoni with pickle juice, mustard greens, curry paste, and coconut milk, as well as elote tagliarini at Valentine in Phoenix, vegan mapo rigatoni at Little Tijuana in Minneapolis, and Los Angeles rich in huitlacoche cacio e pepe and chili Colorado cavatelli at Amiga Amore, broccoli beef ravioli and green curry bucatino at Poltergeist, and Indian-inspired malai rigatoni at Pijja Palace. The NEXT Flavor Report echoes this evolving interest in melded flavors (which it notes is the likely result of social media experimentation) citing Gen-Z’s increasing fascination with Korean-Hawaiian barbecue sauce, Japanese-Peruvian Nikkei cuisine, and Indo-Chinese Hakka and counsels foodservice operators to keep crossing cuisines in 2025 to keep the cash flowing.

Guinness is good for you — and business

“Guinness is suddenly everywhere on social media thanks to the ‘Split the G’ challenge popularized on social media,” says Lewis. “Parent company Diageo is rationing kegs in Europe because of increased demand, and in the U.S., bar owners are reporting major spikes in sales among younger drinkers.” In keeping with current trends toward no- and low-alcohol beverage options, nonalcoholic Guinness 0.0 is seeing a $32.5 million investment to double production, on the heels of Diageo’s acquisition of Ritual Zero Proof. So get ready to lift your spirits — with or without booze.