If you want to understand what’s going to be big in food next year, ignore the fridgescaping and hot-honey espresso martinis. Instead, peer into the nation’s psyche.

When Americans were scared and isolated during the COVID shutdown, they ate comfort food with abandon. This year, weary and worried after a stretch of inflation and political uncertainty, they craved edible escapes they could afford. Little luxuries like the crunchy pistachio-cream Dubai chocolate bar and caviar bumps were big.

With a president-elect intent on turning institutions inside out, rampant hyper-individualism and an adventurous, skeptical Generation Z wielding outsize influence, 2025 will be all about breaking rules and ignoring tradition. At least, that’s what the market researchers, food sociologists and other prognosticators are saying.

“It’s a take-chances time right now,” said Andrew Freeman, president of AF & Co., the San Francisco consulting firm that for 17 years has published the popular Hospitality Trends Report with the brand marketing firm Carbonate. “Think of what we’ve just gone through. The whole world shifted. And if the whole world is going to break rules, why not do it with what we eat and drink?”

Rebellious consumers are pushing limits with unconventional choices, said Melanie Bartelme, a global food analyst and trend spotter for Mintel. They eat snacks when they should be eating meals. They embrace weird combinations like bao stuffed with Nashville hot chicken, and offbeat brand collaborations like Kate Spade teaming up with Heinz ketchup. Healthy food made from scratch is in, but so is a night out at Chili’s.

Here are some of the predictions most likely to influence how we’ll eat in the coming year. And if the forecasters are wrong, who cares? In 2025, anything goes.

A Year of Sauces

From Chipotle’s viral vinaigrette and Raising Cane’s peppery mayo-ketchup blend to more culinarily elevated versions of romesco, salsa macha, tzatziki, hoisin, harissa and garlicky toum, sauces will be a national obsession.

Ranch will continue its reign, with new flavor extensions like pickle or chimichurri. But watch for more nuanced and culturally specific sauces as diners continue “on their global flavor journey,” said Emily Murphy, director of specialty merchandising at the specialty food company Baldor.

Coffee’s Next Act

Hakim Sulaimani, the owner of Yafa in Brooklyn, preparing a cup of Yemeni coffee on Oct. 6, 2021. Yemeni coffeehouses got their start in Detroit and are spreading to other cities as late-night alternatives to bars. (Vincent Tullo/The New York Times)

Forget caramel mocha pumpkin spice lattes with two pumps of extra syrup. Savory coffee drinks are the next wave. Chefs are infusing coffee with sunchoke purée and avocado, and flavoring drinks with ginger, lemongrass and rosemary smoke. Yemeni coffeehouses, which got their start in Detroit and are spreading to other cities as late-night alternatives to bars, flavor pots of coffee with hawaij, a spice mix heavy with cardamom, ginger and cinnamon. And yes, coffee is starting to get the omakase treatment, in which customers are offered several courses of the drink in various preparations.

Grab-and-Go Gastronomy

Japanese convenience stores, popularly known as konbini, are open 24 hours and revered for well-prepared foods like onigiri, ramen and the egg salad sandwiches on milk bread that Anthony Bourdain loved. Soon, the Japanese parent company of 7-Eleven will start to export its konbini-style food to some U.S. stores.

That’s not the only zhuzh coming in convenience-store fare. Gas stations are preparing made-to-order meals, selling their own brand of frozen foods, stocking salads with local produce and creating coffee bars with as many opportunities for customization as Starbucks. The East Coast chain Wawa is bringing its much-loved sandwiches to the South, and the Texas-born Buc-ee’s is taking its brisket to more states. We’re still a long way from road food as good as you’d get at an Italian Autogrill, but we’re getting closer.

A Warming Trend

Shaw-naé Dixon, center, the chef and owner at Shaw-naé’s House, speaks with patrons at the restaurant on Staten Island, March 16, 2024. Restaurants that connect to the community and offer work-life balance for employees will matter more than ever in 2025. (Colin Clark/The New York Times)

The hottest trend in hospitality will be … hospitality.

Getting wrapped in a warm blanket of good service is an antidote to feelings of disconnection and loneliness, which Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has identified as a growing public health epidemic. He suggests eating together more often as one way to counter it.

Hotels and restaurants are using artificial intelligence and data analytics to make service more personal. Look for cozy counter service, soulful food served in comfortable dining rooms and shorter menus that mix value and deliciousness. Restaurants that connect to the community and offer work-life balance for employees will matter more than ever.

“We are feeling doom. We are feeling big feelings,” said Renee Wege, a trend expert and publications manager at the research firm Datassential. “So more than anything else, people are craving that cozy, warm hospitality and service.”

Punchier Produce

It might have begun with the cotton candy-flavored grape, but new designer fruits and vegetables will begin to pop up with more regularity. Badger Flame beets from Row 7 Seed company are one example. Tropical Bliss strawberries from Driscoll’s are another.

Some of the new offerings emphasize nutritional advantages and highlight the quality of the soil they are grown in. Others are pure flavor plays. “We have seen an incredible interest in seed development and the search for flavor and sustainable growth,” said Jon Hansburg, director of food service sales at Baldor.

Social media will play a role, too, accelerating demand for new or lesser known fruits and vegetables.

Another Dose of Protein

Protein will continue its rise to the top of the popularity pyramid, driven in part by gym bros and Americans on GLP-1 weight-loss medications, who need extra protein to maintain muscle mass.

Food manufacturers have started highlighting the protein content on packages of cereal, chips and other products. High-protein Turkish breakfasts, peanut butter smoothies and meat snacks are on the rise. Even organ meats could catch on, said Steve Young, a managing partner at the private equity firm Manna Tree, whose portfolio includes companies that produce cottage cheese, and eggs from pasture-raised chickens.

“We are in the second inning in a nine-inning game for consumers to get more protein in their diet,” he said.

Buzzes Without Booze

A worker restocks drinks infused with THC at a cannabis dispensary in Denver on Jan. 29, 2014. Drinks spiked with cannabis and other mood-altering components are expected to explode in 2025 as interest in alcohol declines, especially among Gen Zers. (Matthew Staver/The New York Times)

Drinks spiked with cannabis and other mood-altering components like kava, guarana and a brain-calming amino acid known as GABA will explode as interest in alcohol declines, especially among Gen Zers.

Buzzy nonalcoholic beverages have already migrated from the wellness aisle to bars and restaurants, where some are tailored to pair with specific dishes.

“Younger generations see cannabis as having less negative side effects than alcohol,” said Candace MacDonald, co-founder and managing director of the marketing firm Carbonate. “We’re just beginning to see a shift in how this impacts their consumption.”

Tribal Diets

The all-pink Hot Girls Have IBS campaign was only the start of a movement aimed at normalizing and addressing particular health issues. Milky is a pill marketed to young people with lactose intolerance. Meal kits are being designed to ease symptoms of menopause. Food allergies are becoming a point of connection rather than ostracization. “There are micro-communities popping up that allow people with food allergies to say, ‘I see you and you’re cool with me,’” said Bartelme of Mintel.

Takeout as Art

A box designed for the U.S. Open finals holds a $100 order of chicken nuggets and caviar in New York on Sept. 8, 2024. The clever design of the box is a sign that more elaborate takeout packaging is coming in 2025. (Karsten Moran/The New York Times)

As the world of takeout and delivery continues to expand, so do the containers it comes in. Restaurants will up their game with thoughtful, Instagrammable packaging that lends itself to unboxing videos and can serve as a fun focal point for entertaining at home — like the $100 chicken and caviar box sold this year at the U.S. Open, and the three-tiered Triple Treat Box from Pizza Hut. “The packaging is part of the food experience that gets overlooked,” said Freeman of AF & Co.

… And Some Mini-Trends

Freezer martinis, rooh afza (an herbal and rose-scented cooling red syrup) and yuzu’s more complex sibling sudachi will show up in many a glass. If the runaway success of chamoy pickle is any indication, that sweet-spicy-sour Mexican condiment will appear in more forms. Pickling will continue its popularity, this time in the form of the spicy Haitian pikliz and the Japanese pickle oshinko.

Sourdough will migrate into pasta. North African food, silky pastina and coconut pudding will pop up on menus (though probably not the same one). Wine packaged in recycled paperboard bottles will become more available, and ingredient labels will continue to be simplified.

What else? New twists on chow fun, banana-flavored cocktails and tahini egg creams. Salted egg yolks will be the new umami bombs, and fig leaves the new wrappers. Conchas will keep riding a wave with new, savory forms like chopped cheese. And is Oakland, California, the new “it” food city?

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