Random Thoughts on Food Trends of the Decade

All the best to everyone in 2020. As we say goodbye to 2019 and look forward to a new decade, it's time to look back at some of the foods and food-related things that occurred in the 2010s.

• Cauliflower
  In the past ten years, the price of cauliflower has skyrocketed, with it going for as much as $9 per head at one point. Though a drought in California, oil prices, and a dropping Canadian dollar were to blame for this, it didn't stop the rise in popularity of cauliflower rice and cauliflower crust.
• Food in bowls
  Putting food in small hand-sized bowls was a popular thing this past decade, which is strange given that putting food in bowls has been around for as long as there have been bowls. It got popular enough that the term "bowl food" now exists, with the British press making a big deal about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle serving food other than soup and cereal in bowls at their wedding reception.
• Craft beer
  So many people started drinking beers from small independent breweries that the major breweries stood up and took notice, with new offerings to compete with the abundance of IPAs, sours, kölschs, and saisons now available.
• Cannabis edibles
  With weed legalization happening in more places around the world, people are being introduced to more ways to get the effects of cannabis without having to smoke it. Whether it's infused in gummies, cereal bars, lollypops, or seltzers, you're no longer limited to brownies.
• Non-dairy milk
  The cow has lost out on its monopoly in the dairy section with almond, coconut, hemp, rice, and soy milk now being regularly available. This opened up so many possibilities and options to people with dairy restrictions, milk allergies, or are lactose intolerant.
• Gluten
  Over the past ten years, we learned that gluten makes dough chewy and elastic and that people who don't even suffer from celiac disease enjoying gluten-free meals.
• Food on Instagram
  If you check someone's phone, you're probably going to find a photo of something someone can eat. Letting others see what they ate or what is available to be eaten is how Instagram became a social media powerhouse.
• The Instant Pot
  It's hard to believe that this ingenious kitchen device only debuted ten years ago. Now it's taking up space on kitchen counters everywhere with its ability to be seven different devices all at once.
• Plant-based meat
  People took to plant-based meats in a big way last year. There is some debate on whether this meat alternative is healthier for you, but anything that cuts one's intake of red meat isn't a bad thing health-wise.
• Pumpkin spice
  You either like it a lot or loathe it with every fibre of your being, but there was no escaping this ubiquitous flavouring, even if you didn't like expensive coffees.
• Fried chicken sandwiches
  You couldn't eat the ones at Chick-fil-a without upsetting the LGBTQ community; you couldn't find one at Popeyes because they sold out of them within hours; the other fast food companies scrambled to market one of their own. Who knew putting a piece of chicken in a bun would be so lucrative and controversial?
• Avocado
  Whether it was being put on toast, or being blamed for people's inability to save for a house in today's market, the avocado was the food that millennials made famous.