ALINA SELYUKH, HOST:
Tinned fish, butter boards and, of course...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
EMMA D'ARCY: A negroni...
OLIVIA COOKE: I was going to say the same thing.
D'ARCY: ...Sbagliato with prosecco in it.
COOKE: Oh, stunning.
D'ARCY: Yeah.
SELYUKH: Those are the foods that consumed our attention in 2022. But what will 2023 look like for our stomachs? Kim Severson is a national food correspondent for The New York Times, and she's published a list of her predictions for the upcoming year. She joins us now. Welcome.
KIM SEVERSON: Hi.
SELYUKH: Hello, hello. Before we launch into 2023, what defined this year in food?
SEVERSON: The phenomena of TikTok viral recipes captured us a lot, so we had silly things like people using their counters as the serving and cooking utensil or, as you mentioned, the very famous butter boards, which essentially was butter on a board.
SELYUKH: How did inflation affect what people ate?
SEVERSON: I think it makes people think about different recipes, about being a little bit more creative in the kitchen with food - certainly feeds into what we're seeing this year, which is a real celebration of thrift and frugality and not wasting in your kitchen.
SELYUKH: So what are some of these lasting changes that you are predicting for 2023? Your vibe of the year, I think, is sharing. Where does that come from?
SEVERSON: This year, I think people are really looking for a sense of community. It just has never been stronger. You know, we went for a long time where you couldn't reach into your friend's bag of chips or take a sip of their drink - right? - I mean, understandably, in the pandemic. And now there's a sense of community coming through, both from the low end - for example, Minis, which is a new snack from Frito-Lay. So there are tiny little Cheetos and SunChips in these canisters that have specifically been designed to share and pour into friends' hands. And at restaurants, there's, you know, appetizer towers and dessert towers and large-format cocktails. And I have to say, I may make fun of butter boards and the charcuterie trend, but some of that is flowing from that, this idea of communal eating.
SELYUKH: Your list of some specific items includes the purple yam, ube. I'm a huge fan. It's sweet. It's delicious, staple Filipino desserts. Why do you predict a big year for ube?
SEVERSON: Ube is, like, a beautiful, vibrant purple. And ube's great. You can make a beautiful, like, sweet potato pie using ube. I think you can bake an ube. You can put it in waffle mix. So I think you're going to see a lot of ube.
SELYUKH: On the topic of bright colors, you make a prediction for one specific drink also, which I did not see coming, I will be honest with you - Jell-O shots. Jell-O shots?
SEVERSON: Yes, my friend. I don't know if you - you probably don't remember all the Jell-O shots you had because you were doing Jell-O shots.
SELYUKH: I will neither confirm nor deny.
SEVERSON: Right. But there's this high-end dive bar concept going on.
SELYUKH: Pretty accessible.
SEVERSON: Yeah, so Jell-O shots, but done in a high-end way - certainly other cocktails that might have seemed like bar drinks are getting a bit of an elevation. So the high-end Jell-O shot - look for it.
SELYUKH: Speaking of Jell-O, I'd like to tell you a prediction of mine...
SEVERSON: OK.
SELYUKH: ...Based on nothing except for my own personal love of this food I grew up with, which I think is ready for a modern comeback. It's aspic.
SEVERSON: Aspic? You know, I have to say, there is a bit of a '70s nostalgia thing happening online where people are taking dishes from the '70s, and I think they sort of make fun of them. I think it's not necessarily a real eating trend. However, aspic and food in Jell-Os - there's a little bit of a heartbeat happening for that. But the high-end aspic, it's really actually - done well is a lovely thing.
SELYUKH: I keep waiting. I don't know if people are ready for it.
SEVERSON: You know, just for you, I'm going to really start pushing the aspic.
SELYUKH: There you go. That's Kim Severson, national food correspondent for The New York Times. Thank you so much for being with us. Happy New Year.
SEVERSON: Happy New Year to you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SEVERSON: Oh, wait, can I add one more thing you may want to edit in? I do have to say my personal favorite is the rise of the crispy chicken skin - so chicken skins as a base for nachos. They're showing up as appetizers. Other parts of the chicken are expensive, so why not use the skin? And I personally am making a resolution to eat more chicken skins in 2023.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
