Trends you can taste

I enjoy going to the Speciality & Fine Food Fair to see what’s next in food trends. This yearly event in London showcases the latest offerings from food producers as diverse as Spanish sheep cheese makers, to baked kefir producers in Devon.

This year, it was all about the sheep and goats in dairy, no matter where the herd is located. A discussion with the Comte importers from Jura in France revealed that they are looking at getting goat cheese in for their two outlets in London. This time next year, the UK will be stuffed with sheep and goats, mainly in cheese.

An interesting cross-section of trends was occurring – on the one hand, pulled pork barbecue is so ubiquitous it was on the lunch menu at the café. Chillies also continue to trend. A man wearing a Mexican wrestlers’ outfit wandered around the show, advertising chilli sauce. Sea salt on chocolate is everywhere, so it is almost unusual to eat chocolate without salt now. The Portlebay popcorn was lemon sherbet flavoured, harking back to childhood.
Meanwhile, in cheese, it’s not just about Greek halloumi. Instead, importers such as Maltby & Greek offer barrel-aged feta, which Morten at the stand described as “a totally different beast from supermarket Feta. It’s more of a warm hug of a cheese.” I am not keen on hugging briny feta so I just sampled it instead.

Another exciting concept that has been knocking around the US for awhile, but has yet to hit British shores in any strength, is kefir. I met Alena Mineka of Bio-tiful Dairy, who is working with Natasha Bowes to bring a Russian strain of kefir to the UK. After a day of eating cheese and chocolate, it was a relief to down a bottle of baked milk kefir. Sorts out any grumbly tummy almost instantly. I await its arrival at the local Tesco.

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