The Taste of 2020: 5 Top Food Trends To Expect In The New Year

Tip 1: Eastern flavours inspired by the Tokyo Olympic Games

Let the games begin! Taking place from 24 July – 9 August, the Tokyo Olympics will anticipate a surge in popularity for some Japanese flavours next year, so we recommend trying to adding some exquisite oriental flavours to your menu. The games will be all the talk throughout the year, so you’re never too early to start getting in on the trend!

Sporting events are always huge for food sales. Whether you’re serving food to be eaten while watching the events live at your venue, or want to offer your customers something a little different, there’s so many ways that you can add Japanese flavours to your menu. Using our own products, here are some simple snack and meal ideas: 

• Japanese-style chilli prawn canapés – add a bit of crunch with our crab flakes.
• For something ready-to-serve, try our hot & spicy prawn sandwich filling to spice up your lunch menu!
• Slow-cooked beef with red wine and miso – using our beef diced stewing steaks to make this extra special
• Boneless chicken medallion stir-fry with fresh vegetables of your choice – we recommend broccoli, white onions, mixed peppers, garlic and exotic veggies like baby bok choy
• Baked salmon with mushrooms and sweet miso soup

You can make all these recipes with our staple favourites, enhanced by spices traditionally used in Japanese cooking, like wasabi. Stock up with our fish and seafood, poultry, rice, fresh and frozen vegetables. It’s easy-Japanesey with J.Buckland! 

Tip 2: Unusual ingredient pairings

Combining unexpected sweet and savoury ingredients to create exciting, original flavours has really taken off in recent years. In 2020, we’ll see ingredients being infused and blended to create new and out-of-this-world flavours to tantalise your customer’s palate! 

To make it super simple we’ve got a few ideas up our sleeves. Some of our most extraordinarily innovative sandwich filling blends include:

• Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich Filling – sliced chicken breast in our premium mayonnaise with mixed peppers and crunchy pineapple
• Tikka in Mint Mayo Chicken Sandwich Filling – sliced marinated tikka chicken breast, blended with a creamy mint infused mayonnaise
• Sweet Chilli & Lime Chicken Filling – a zesty & fresh
• Honey Mustard Lamb Filling – sliced tender lamb in a classic honey mustard dressing
• Brie Bacon & Cranberry Sandwich Filling – sliced brie, cranberry sauce and crispy bacon blended with mayonnaise
• Beef in Honey Chilli Sandwich Filling – tender sliced topside of beef in a sweet honey chilli marinade with crunchy peppers and sweet onions
• Vegetarian Honey Chilli Onion Bhaji Sandwich Filling – classic Onion Bhaji blended in a honey and chilli sauce with peppers and spring onions

We love the element of surprise that comes from pairing contrasting flavour profiles. Sweet bacon muffin, anyone? A fun way to create a sweet and savoury dream is by adorning our well-renowned bacon with sweet flavours, such as drizzling with maple syrup or using to top sweet treats. In fact, you can add a whole variety of flavours to our range of fresh meats! How about a caramelized sausage surprise, or beef burgers topped with strawberry jam and peanut butter?

Tip 3: Try Filipino-style food

Filipino flavours are predicted to flip the food industry in 2020, so why not give them a go? The recipes really are very simple to make. Some delightful Filipino-style dishes to taste-test include: 

• ‘Adobo’ – the national dish of the Philippines, consisting of pork or chicken simmered in soy sauce and vinegar, with black pepper and crushed garlic. Serve with rice.
• ‘Afritrada’ – chicken and potatoes cooked in tomato sauce. Make it simple with our sliced ready-cooked chicken breast.
• ‘Ginililing’ – ground pork or beef with garlic, onion, soy sauce, chopped tomatoes and potatoes served with carrots, peppers and raisins. You could even try this with our special steak mince!
• ‘Inihaw na liempo’ – grilled pork belly
• ‘Torta’ – an omelette made out of beef mince meat and potatoes – or sometimes with crab meat or aubergine. 

We stock all the ingredients you need for the Filipino theme, including fresh meats, rice, fresh eggs, potato products and sauces. We recommend you try adding at least one dish to your menu and see if it takes off!

Tip 4: Food provenance is key

Do you know where your food ingredients come from? Consumers are becoming more conscious about where their ingredients come from and how they are produced.

At J.Buckland, we bring the best of local and global produce together to offer our customers products they will love, following stringent guidelines with Safe and Local Supplier Approval (SALSA). SALSA is a food-safety standard written by experienced food safety experts to reflect both the legal requirements of producers and the enhanced expectations of 'best practice' of professional food buyers. We are honoured to serve the South East with the best of local produce but also source international ingredients from our trusted producers that may be harder to get.

Our golden tip: whether it’s ‘fresh from the local bakery’ or ‘authentic German sausages’, be proud of where your food comes from and let your customers know!

Some of our most trendy global products include:

• Krakauer (Cheese) German Sausage
• Bratwurst German Sausage
• Chef’s Choice Green Dutch Bacon
• Aviko Jacket Potatoes & Chips

Some of our most famous local products include:

• Buckland’s wide range of local bacon – all sliced and packed on site
• Buckland’s own sausages – including Cumberland, Pork and Apple, Lincolnshire and more

Tip 5: Offer extra convenience to your customers with takeaway options

If you’re not already serving take-away food, you may like to think about serving your customers this way. Convenience and on-the-go food are also thought to take to new levels in 2020, so get all packaged up with J.Buckland! Be sure to check out our huge range of takeaway packaging and cutlery – including food containers, takeaway bags, cups and lids and more. It could increase your sales dramatically! 

We’ve also got plenty of quick on-the-go snacks that you can offer your customers. Check out our wide range of savoury pasties, sausage rolls and turnover products. Or if you want to offer your customers a sweet snack to-go, be sure to also check out our wide range of desserts, cakes and creams that can be packaged to perfection.

Also, make sure you get ready for the stand against plastic straws! From April 2020, the ban against plastic straws comes into effect, so we’ve got our paper straws at the ready.

Make your order with J.Buckland for 2020

J.Buckland are here to help make 2020 your tastiest year yet! To find out more about how we can help your food business, or to make your next order, contact our friendly team or call one of our friendly advisors today on 01268 966056. Don’t forget, we deliver free and fresh next day delivery throughout Essex, London and Kent.

Plus, to keep on top of all the 2020 trends, be sure to keep up-to-date with our Food Calendar for all the notable food awareness dates and ideas for your business.  We also update our Monthly Offers each month throughout the whole year.