TRENDING FOODS
Oat milk, bone broth...
FRIED GRASSHOPPERS?
These foods are trending in 2019
WRITTEN BY CINDY SCHWEICH HANDLER
38
2019 EDITION (201) HEALTH
INSECT PROTEIN
USA Today recently reported on start-ups looking for
new non-meat sources of protein. It said that Innova
Market Insights, which studies food trends using data on
new products, named insect protein among a number of
alternatives “expected to entice in the new year.” The
piece described a Denver chef preparing a dish called
Sweet and Sour Crickets that contained black ants, diced
crickets and grasshoppers. A future staple of restaurant
menus? “This one strikes me as a fad,” says Audrey Zona,
an integrative health coach and founder of Zo Healthy
in Franklin Lakes.
T
he first time
you noticed
them was on
your trip to
San Francisco.
Then you saw
them in your neighborhood
health food joint. Now foods
like oat milk, bone broth and
chia seeds are showing up in
recipes and on menus and on
your own grocery store’s
shelves. But are they just pass-
ing through? Are they worth
getting to know?
A lot of the foods attracting
more attention this year appeal
to people interested in avoiding
meat and pursuing a plant-
based diet, says Kristina
Maitner, an adjunct professor
of nutrition at Monmouth
University and dietitian at
St. Peters University Hospital
in New Brunswick.
“They’re nutritious but
natural, and helpful if you’re a
vegetarian or vegan and trying
to get complete proteins in your
diet,” she says.
Other buzzed-about foods
address needs we have as a
culture — to relax more, for
example — or build on new
information about how to stay
healthy.
Only time will tell if these
foods are finds or fads — look-
ing at you, insect protein — but
here’s what you should know
about them.