Happy New Year, S.O.M.E.bodies!
I hope everyone was able to take some time off to relax, have a complicated video call with loved ones, perhaps open a gift. I was here in Bushwick in perfect solitude, trying to remember it wonāt be like this forever.
Iām very excited to share this edition of the newsletter with you, a special commission from my friend and certified independent thinker Andru. I met Andru at work in late 2015 and at first I found his fixation with new fast food items and snack flavors sort of baseline boy-gross. But as I have gotten to know him, I have seen a transcendent social and cultural bellwether in his culling of food trends. For the last few years, Andru will declare an overall food item of the year, as well as food items by quarter (i.e. The Year Of Horseradish, Season Of Green Onion). Sometimes heās dead on, but usually heās ahead of his time by at least nine months. Without further ado, S.O.M.E. Newsletter is proud to present:
Andy Druās 2021 Food Predictions
In January I like to pick a few foods, sauces, and beverages that I think will be ābigā in the coming year. Most of these are hopeful musings in my life and/or inspired by trends I see in NYC or in grocery stores.
In 2018, I declared a āseason of Ranchā where Ranch dressing hit the mainstream once again post-irony. In 2019, I had my year of ketchup ā hosting a party on my roof with 20 different brands of the tomato condiment. 2020 was supposed to be the year of horseradish, but ended up being a season of green onion (DM me for more). Hereās my hopeful list of food items Iāll be keeping an eye on in the coming year.
Top Pick: Vegan Chicken
I spent most of 2020 as a vegetarian because of how easy it was to access fake meat in grocery stores and restaurants. Plant-based beef is here and readily available, but what I miss most as an herbivore is chicken.
Weāre starting to see a couple vegan fried chicken restaurants in NYC; Nicola and I really loved Hartbreakers in Bushwick
KFC has Beyond-branded chicken available in select restaurants, and Iām hoping to see in larger numbers/cities this year; not sure about other big fast food places yet though
When restaurants are able to open back up and have the luxury to experiment a bit more, I believe you may see vegan fried chicken at your local gastropub
Asian restaurants have been ahead of this for some time, with many Chinese restaurants offering a full vegetarian menu with chicken-like substitutes
I recently picked up some vegan chicken jerky from a vegan grocery store in Chinatown, a highlight of my first weekend in 2021
This Yearās Condiment: Mustard
Mustard rising has been a long time coming. Not much innovation for a while, and underrated! Kinda like when a color comes back in fashion after a while of not seeing it.
In 2019 I tried Frenchās mustard ice cream, and I'm seeing that as an indicator for whatās to come (I liked it, paired with some crunchy pretzels!!). I think this year weāll see some revamped mustards available on sandwiches in fast food restaurants, as well as in the form of dipping sauces. I'm sure there will be some companies taking advantage of the āspice boomā and weāll see something like a turmeric/curry mustard from Frenchās on shelves soon.
The Snack Aisle: Salty Goes Sweet
There have been many new potato chip/snack flavors over the past few years ā Nashville Hot Chicken Lays and Twisted Lime Doritos were my favorite of 2020. I believe the next wave will be new sweet flavors on salty snacks. My favorite Pringles of all time may be their āpecan pieā flavor they release around Thanksgiving, and Iām starting to see more of that style pop up in stores. Salted Caramel Lays, Snickerdoodle Smartfood popcorn, Cheetos āSweetosā. Maybe Krispee Kreme corn chips?
My Probably Pick: Soup
Whenever my grandma would visit from Florida, or when we would visit her, she would propose having āsoup and sandwichā for lunch on a day when we didnāt dine out. I always thought this was funny because salad was just not an option. During the pandemic, salad shops are not doing well without the daily office lunch traffic. While itās still cold, I think weāll see a lot of people transition to making soups from home (in the homemade bread bowl?), or restaurants delivering lots of potato-y soup to patrons. That being said, I have been telling myself to make soup for months, but I havenāt done it yet. Maybe this year. Soup may also just be a meme this year again, its a funny word.
My Hopeful Pick: French DressingĀ
The FDA has proposed a deregulation of French dressing, basically getting rid of the line stating the amount of oil needed to be called āFrench Dressingā. Thereās a lot of backstory behind this ā including lobbying by the Associated for Dressings and Sauces ā which I did a deep dive in an episode of my podcast last year. 2021 may finally be the year where French dressing is deregulated, which is said to increase innovation for the product. Maybe weāll see some cool new flavors of French this year outside of midwestern pizza joints (where you find products that aren't able to be called French dressing, due to the regulations).
Follow Andru on Twitter and Instagram for more insights, and check out his podcast!