I’m a trends specialist and here are the ultimate food trends for 2026: ingredients, cuisines and habits set to rise next year

Want to know what you're going to be eating, drinking and talking about in the world of food in 2026? Trends expert Gurdeep Loyal has the lowdown on the food trends to know for the new year. Read on to know the trending cuisines, dishes, habits and appliances set to rise next year...

Soil-to-gut eating

The evolution of gut health conversations in 2026 will link up soil health with the microbiome as one looping system. Nutritionist Dr Lucy Williamson will be championing the drive with her new book ‘Soil to Gut’ (released in July) which will explore the connections between the health of our soil, the food we grow, and the microbes that shape our gut.

Lucy explains: “Foods grown in chemical-free soils – organic or regeneratively farmed foods for example – are richer in certain nutrients and antioxidants, key fuels for our gut microbes. By supporting soil biodiversity in nature, we support the microbiome within us and, ultimately, our overall wellbeing.” She continues: “It’s an ecosystem-based approach... it recognises that the wellbeing of our soils, our food, and ourselves are all interconnected.”

In this vein, ROVI restaurant by Ottolenghi has had a grand transformation and asserted a new ethos with deep connections to the land, seasons and vegetables from ‘root to tip’. At the heart of ROVI’s approach is Wolves Lane, its kitchen garden in North London – a home for regenerative producers that work in ongoing dialogue with the restaurant, allowing ROVI’s menus to evolve in harmony with the land and the growers. For the launch of the new look restaurant, they also partnered with Wildfarmed – growers of regenerative flour. Elsewhere, GAIL’s have launched The Wheat Project – a series of loaves packed with nutrition that support good gut health and British farming. Brands like Northern Pasta Co and Bold Bean Co are also championing gut-friendly eating connected to the land.

Fibre is the new protein

Holland & Barrett report that their online searches for fibre have increased by more than 52% since 2024. Despite strong evidence that fibre can support gut health, 96% of Brits aren’t meeting their daily needs. The viral trend for #Fibremaxxing (amassing over 160m views on TikTok) is where health-conscious creators have been sharing innovative ways to help get to the recommended 30g a day.

Holland & Barrett have launched their new High Fibre range, including products like Super Seed Spinach Crispbreads (which are 83% seeds, combining five varieties) and a Fibre Soda made with acacia, baobab, and Jerusalem artichoke fibre.

The trend for #GutScrubs and #InternalShowers is also leading to a rise in drinks like chia water, whilst Holland & Barrett are watching out for ingredients like boswellia serrata, also known as Indian frankincense, whose resin is rich in natural plant compounds that studies show support digestive comfort.

Trending global cuisines

Cambodian food

Cambodian or Khmer cuisine is amongst the oldest of Southeast Asia’s culinary traditions, pulling influences from ancient Khmer empire cooking, Thai, Vietnamese, and Chinese cuisines. Freshness and aromatic complexity are defining features – along with the balancing of salty, sweet, sour, and bitter elements, with umami depth added through fermentation.

A rice based cuisine, Cambodian food is heavy with flavours of garlic, shallots, lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, kaffir lime and ginger; along with prahok (fermented fish paste) and kapi (shrimp paste). Herbs like Thai basil, mint and coriander are used in abundance, as are spices like black kampot pepper, star anise, cinnamon and cardamom. Sweet and acidic elements are added through palm sugar, tamarind, lime, and vinegar.

Mamapen at the The Sun and Thirteen Cantons in Soho – from chef Kaneda Pen – is an exciting beacon of Cambodian cuisine in London. The menu includes dishes like panko pork toast with Drunken Master XO, sour pineapple curry or Khmer BBQ chicken. One of the hottest restaurants in America right now is Mawn in Philadelphia, a Cambodian noodle bar, whilst in San Francisco Lunette – which featured on Netflix's Chef’s Table – is an exciting bastion of Cambodian cuisine. To cook Cambodian at home, check out the cookbook ‘My Cambodia – a Khmer Cookbook’ by Nite Yun.

Egyptian food

Married YouTubers Obi and Salma Elsahhar – also known as Middle Eats – are two brilliant champions of Egyptian cuisine online. Signature dishes include stuffed pigeons, samak singari (spiced baked fish), kabab halla (Egyptian beef braised with onions) and roz me'ammar (Egyptian baked rice).

Salma explains that “Egyptian food is vastly different than the Middle Eastern cuisine most people are used to. We use a lot of garlic and vinegar for an extra punch. Bread is the primary carb; it's even called eish (meaning ‘living’). We use a lot of open-top clay tagines for baked braises, and onion marinades are used for tenderising meats”. One of the most distinctive aspects of Egyptian food is the falafel. “Our falafel, known as ta'ameya, is made with fava beans and not chickpeas, which makes it super light and fluffy,” explains Salma.

Another excellent advocate of Egyptian food is British-Egyptian food writer Soha Darwish who shares recipes on Instagram for dishes like rolled vine leaves ‘warak enab’ and koshari (Egypt’s national dish), which combines long and short pastas, rice and lentils topped with a garlicky sauce called daa’ah, tomato sauce and crispy onions.

Taiwanese-Tex Mex

Felicity Cloake’s latest book ‘Peach Street to Lobster Lane’ explored US cuisines from coast to coast. One of the most interesting discoveries along the way was Taiwanese-Tex Mex fusion – exemplified by the restaurant Best Quality Daughter in San Antonio which has been a huge influence on chefs around the world. Their menu features dishes like orange chicken fried steak, Taiwanese popcorn chicken with Thai basil ranch and mochi cheddar hush puppies. Restaurants in London like Mexican Seoul, Los Mochis and Ta Ko all celebrate wider Asian-Mexican fusion foods in their own delicious ways.

Food and psychology intersection

Two brilliant books have sparked interest in this fascinating intersecting field: Baking and the Meaning of Life by Helen Goh, and The Kitchen Shrink by Dr Andrea Oskis. Helen Goh – psychologist, Ottolenghi pastry chef and food writer – opens her book with the question “Why is baking so important in the way we signify and strengthen the things that are meaningful in our lives?”. Weaving psychology and baking (with plenty of recipes), Helen explores how the act of choosing to bake can create purpose and significance in our lives – as well as being a joyful outlet for creativity, connection and celebration.

In The Kitchen Shrink, Dr Andrea Oskis explores how food can be a window into our relationships, identity and emotional lives. The way we eat is deeply meaningful because of how it links to the ways in which we communicate, connect and remember our relationships with other. There’s a direct correlation between our eating behaviours (what and how we eat) and our emotional behaviours (who we feel safe with, how we negotiate closeness).

Kids party desserts grow up

Elevated chocolate mousse

Ever since Dua Lipa was photographed at Chez Janou in Paris (famous for its gigantic “all you can eat” chocolate mousse bowl) the world has been going crazy for this nostalgic treat, elevated with high quality ingredients and additions like cacao nibs or unusual liqueurs – I recently shared a recipe on Instagram for a chocolate orange mousse with cacao dukkah. Chefs are experimenting with selecting extra virgin olive oils with particular tasting notes and aromas to drizzle over their finished mousse for a balance of sweet and savoury.

At Fjora in Copenhagen, try baked milk chocolate mousse with koji Copenhagen miso custard. Closer to home in Kentish Town, The Parakeet's chocolate mousse is made with 70% Valrhona dark chocolate, served table side from a large bowl and generously spooned onto a base of white chocolate crumb and delicate biscuit tuile.

Try our coffee-infused affogato chocolate mousse recipe, or make this white chocolate mousse topped with honeycomb and blackberries for extra texture.

Rice crispy & cornflake treats

The back-of-the-cereal-box classic recipe of puffed rice or cereal and chocolate is having a gastronomic glow up – set to explode even further in 2026. Ardington Bakery in Oxfordshire sells a classic marbled Belgian chocolate crunch traybake that will appeal to a sweet tooth, whilst Fine & Warm offer a browned butter crispy treat taster box that perfectly balance of sweet and salty. Flavours include cinnamon toast, toasted black sesame and chocolate hazelnut. Dig into your storecupboard to get making your own unique creations! We love our layered honey nut cornflake and caramel bars.

Gourmet instant foods and freeze-dried everything

Freeze-dried instant food is moving beyond pot noodle and camping fodder into genuinely delicious gourmet products. Itsu recently launched their big Noodles and Broth Instant Pots in collaboration with chef Monica Galetti, with flavours including katsu curry and chilli miso. Your storecupboard is getting the freeze-dried treatment too: Jux Foods specialises in “100% cupboard-friendly” freeze-dried plants including beetroot, red onion, ginger and a whole host of herbs.

The social media craze for freeze-dried candy will continue to rise in 2026 too, with brands like Noomz launching lots of unique new freeze-dried treats like lemon bites, fruit bears and sour worms.

GLP-1 effect

As appetite suppressing medicines like Ozempic and Mounjaro (known collectively as GLP-1s) gain popularity, one impact is that users are seeking out smaller meals. Lean proteins and plant-based foods tend to be favoured over high fat and high sugar foods, whilst many users also cut down on their alcohol and caffeine intake whilst using the injections.

At one of the hottest openings in London recently – Town in Covent Garden by chef Stevie Parle – the menu introduced half-sized mains and also “skinny slice” puddings such as a half-slice of chocolate tart and mini kashi canelé for people that only want a small bite of something sweet. At Otto’s – a classic French restaurant – they have a ‘small appetite menu where exquisite ingredients feature’ which includes smaller-portioned versions of opulent dishes. The hip new European sharing plates restaurant Canal has a ‘table burger’ on the menu, designed to be split between a table for those wanting a small bite of something very delicious. And The Fat Duck from Heston Blumenthal has launched a ‘mindful experience’ tasting menu, specifically for people with smaller appetites – yet with the same theatre and flavour as the original menu.

Textural ‘dynamic contrast’ boom

Following on from the ‘Dubai chocolate’ effect – where the world went wild for the textural crunch of kataifi pastry mixed with pistachio paste – we’ll see even more ‘dynamic contrast’ in dishes in 2026. ‘Dynamic contrast’ refers to the combination of contrasting sensations (e.g. hot and cold, crunchy and smooth, sweet and salty).

Chocolate shop Khoury’s from pastry chef Phil Khoury have created a range of chocolate bars that play with extreme crunch and caramel. There is a Beirut bar with fragrant orange blossom caramel and crisp twice-baked cashew baklava; a London bar which fuses Earl Grey–infused caramel with crunchy shortbread; and a Sydney bar which has layers of lime and coriander gelée, avocado caramel, and toasted crunchy sourdough. Try our chocolate, peanut and date bars for a homemade take on the trend.

Another textural sensation set to explode in 2026 is qui qui or QQ, which is a chewy and bouncy texture in food associated with Asian cuisines – particularly in mochi, tteokbokki, lye noodles, tapioca boba pearls, layered rice cakes, and fish balls. It’s often described as being like the Asian ‘al dente’ – referring to foods that are soft, with a little bite, and no mushiness. At Chinatown Bakery in London, they are selling a QQ Bun which showcases the texture, whilst Q Beef Noodles specialises in Lanzhou-style hand-pulled noodles, which have the characteristic QQ texture. At home, try making Korean tteokbokki in a simple sweet and spicy sauce.

AI healthy shuffling

The term ‘AI healthy shuffling’ refers to the growing trend for health-conscious eaters using AI and algorithmic tools to get inventive suggestions on how to mix up their diets and reach their health goals. Just as with “shuffling” a musical playlist, using AI in this way effectively helps you to shuffle your food choices, introduce variety, break habit loops and widen your ingredient palette. This could be through finding unique ways of getting 30 plants a week, finding new chefs and recipes in line with your dietary needs (e.g. higher protein, low in fat), or linking technology to biometric data for a more personalised ‘shuffle’ (e.g. gut microbiome, or glucose data).

Apps like MyFitnessPal are doing this and Zoe is now using AI in-store photo-logging technology to help consumers make decisions. This is also extending into retail spaces. Instacart – the makers of intelligent shopping trolleys Caper Cart – use AI-powered “Health Tags” and “Inspiration Pages” to help shoppers pick healthier options and generate personalised recipe/basket recommendations as they shop, supporting the idea of healthy shuffling.

Countertop combi ovens are the new air fryers

As the novelty of air frying begins to plateau – and home cooks become even more demanding of their appliances – countertop combi ovens are set to grow in popularity significantly in 2026. In short, a combi oven is one that offers multiple functionalities in one appliance – including oven, air frying, defrosting, grilling, keeping warm, and steaming – therefore reducing the need for several separate appliances on your counter. Some also give much more precise control of factors like humidity and air circulation.

Whereas air fryers are all about ‘crisping’, combi ovens offer even more within the same appliance – with steaming being one of the key differences, which can accelerate cooking time whilst retaining moisture. Steaming also preserves nutrients whilst maintaining colour and texture. Smeg’s 10-in-1 countertop combi oven is a slick, retro multipurpose alliance that’s made with an easy-t0-clean enamel – with special programmes tailored to meat, fish, vegetables, desserts, breads, and pizza. The Avona Precision 2.0 oven – which has options like sous vide cooking, steam bake and air fry – also has an onboard camera that identifies your meal and suggests the perfect cook method from Anova's deep knowledge base. Our sister brand Good Food has reviewed the best multi-cookers, tried and tested by experts.