Culinary Roadmap to 2024 — A navigation through food trends

In our rapidly changing world, food culture is omnipresent. Whether you're a food marketer, content creator, restaurant owner, or simply food lover, capturing the current food landscape can be a challenge. We take you on a journey into the world of global food trends.

Kitchen Stories was founded in 2013 and is a popular food platform with millions of users worldwide. We know how people cook today and provide insight into how content creators and social media influence eating habits. We highlight the growing importance of authenticity and explain how food brands can remain relevant among their consumers. Cooking enthusiasts and amateur chefs are increasingly striving to prepare genuine and delicious dishes, even if they have a smaller budget and their lives are more hectic than ever before — with our roadmap, they are able to better understand the food scene in order to navigate the ever-changing culinary world.

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“Microtrends surface at a rate so rapid it's almost impossible to keep up”

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The food media landscape in 2023 was changing faster than ever before. What was true two months ago may no longer apply today. Trends are no longer something that lasts for months, but can be over after just a few weeks.

But what does the current roadmap look like?

Here is your Culinary Knowledge Snack for easy sharing with your team:

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#1: Convenient comfort

• We live in an increasingly tense world.
• People have less and less time to cook.
• Our main Kitchen Stories categories include quick meals (quick dinners, 20-minute meals), but also “cozy” dishes.
• We're seeing new ways to combine comfort and convenience in the kitchen (one-pot lasagna is a very popular recipe that's also featured in our latest book).
• Hot air fryers also meet this consumer need and may be the go-to must-have in the kitchen
• You can also find comfort when eating without eating our dishes = comfort can be found in filling food videos

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#2: Creators are reimagining the way we cook and eat

• The feta pasta was a huge success 2 years ago. It was started by a blogger and resulted in grocery stores around the world running out of feta. It was also one of our top recipes this year.
• Today, there are new trends every week. And they're created by creators.
• Trends such as “Girl Dinner” and “TikToks Canned Fish” determine how we eat and also reflect how we live.
• But creators aren't just limited to social media. They also turn to more traditional media, such as cookbooks.
• To keep up with creators' trends, brands must remain active on social media.
• Creators often know brands' customers better than they know themselves.

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#3: Authenticity before perfection

• Consumers no longer prefer highly polished content.
• What works best on social media is what you are most likely to be able to “imitate.”
• At Kitchen Stories, for example, we stopped using professional video cameras for our videos because it leads to more engagement.
• We also do A/B testing with photo styles, with promising results.
• It is not just about more commitment, but also about lower production costs.
• Some brands, such as Ryanair and Duolingo, have already successfully proven this: telling stories that are fun, without a production budget.
• With lower production budgets, it is even more important to think about storytelling and invest more here.

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#4: Representing global delights — without cultural compromises

• If you've tried to book a flight recently, you've seen that flight prices have risen: people still want to travel and experience the world.
• Fortunately, by democratizing food media, we all have access to genuine recipes from around the world.
• At Kitchen Stories, we truly believe in sharing recipes that are true to their origins.
• There are truly exciting food brands like Omsom that share their cultural heritage uncompromisingly and with pride.
• But you have to be careful, especially when you're telling the story of a culture that isn't your own.
• The British series “Great British Bakeoff” received a fierce backlash for portraying “Mexican Week” in a tacky way.

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#5: AI in food

• We're seeing food brands that have started to incorporate AI into content production.
• At Kitchen Stories, we use them for internal work and to improve ideas faster.
• But that's not all: companies like Tastewise are using AI to analyse consumer behavior and food trends online.
• British grocery store “Waitrose” used Tastewise's AI to develop its latest Japanese menu after finding that Tastewise data showed a 15% increase in discussions about Japanese cuisine on social networks and a 5% increase in restaurants adding this cuisine to their menu.

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The Culinary Media Roadmap for 2023/2024 summarized:

1. Helping people integrate comfort and convenience into their daily kitchen.
2. Learn from creators to get closer to brand audiences.
3. Communicate authentically and focus on storytelling.
4. It is time to represent global tastes without compromise.
5. Artificial intelligence will prevail — use it!

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