How many of these brilliant and bizarre food trends from the last 25 years do you remember?

It’s BBC Food’s 25th birthday and we’re reminiscing over the many weird and wonderful food trends that have come and gone since we first joined the BBC website back in the year 2000…

The 1 March 2025 marks 25 years of the BBC’s prolific food website, which is home to more than 10,000 recipes from the BBC’s best chefs and programmes, how-to videos, articles and much more.

And while we have been busy providing you with everything you need to cook delicious food at home, the food landscape has changed, a lot. Some trends disappeared as quickly as they came, while some have stayed the course of time. Here are some of our favourites.

1. ‘Bish bash bosh’

Jamie Oliver exploded onto the UK food scene with his debut BBC food programme The Naked Chef. His ‘bish bash bosh’-style of cooking revolutionised the way we cook and packed flavour into every meal with some torn or smashed herbs, a glug of olive oil and a generous squeeze of lemon. Pukka!

2. Supper clubs, pop-ups and micro restaurants

From Rachel Khoo’s Little Paris Kitchen, which really was tiny, to clandestine supper clubs in basements and front rooms. They were, and still are, a great way to test the water before launching something bigger or more permanent.

3. Pulled pork

2012-2014 was all about the pulled pork. From pulled pork flavoured crisps to burgers and fries loaded with the stuff, there was no escape. But this is one that is here to stay, and now it’s not just pork that’s shredded and put in a sauce; beef, chicken and jackfruit have all been given the ‘pulled’ treatment.

4. Spiralised vegetables

Remember when courgette had to be served as ‘courgetti’ – made using your nifty new device ‘the spiraliser’? It was fine. Didn’t taste bad. We preferred spaghetti.

5. Salted caramel

Still popular now, we can see why this trend became a thing. In fact, we have at least 20 recipes with it in on the website…

6. Food served on anything but plates

Toast served in a replica of a small shopping trolley. Cheesecake brought over in a plant pot. This was big in the mid-2000s. Want something like a plate but not? Have your roast dinner on a slate. The trend is still going, though now it’s all about wooden boards.

7. Smashed avocado on toast

Inspired by Bill Granger, smashed avocado on toast was, and still is, big brunch news. As with all trends, there are lovers and haters, and many eye rollers. But it has definitely stood the test of time.

8. Food stacked into a tower

It’s nice when food comes to you, like that game where you remove sections without it toppling over. It adds excitement to proceedings. Weren’t we lucky in the mid-2010s…

9. Food smears and droplets

Want to show how fancy your food is? Smear a little bit of a condiment on the plate before placing your protein or veg on top of it. Want to make it feel even more Michelin star-esq? Put droplets of sauce in a little pattern across the plate. We’re not exactly sure when this started, we’re thinking mid-2000s. Definitely still a thing.

10. Matcha

It's one of those ingredients that you either love or hate. Some people love the earthy umami undertones, other people think it tastes like grass. The trend is stronger than ever though, with verdant matcha lattes popping up everywhere.

11. Gin o’clock

What’s the time? It’s gin o’ clock. Again. Proof that all trends come back around again, since the 2010s gins become incredibly popular with multiple types and flavours emerging, including alcohol-free versions.

12. The cupcake craze

In the year 2000 the characters in Sex and the City started eating fancy cupcakes. Over the next few years, everyone did. The icing had to be whipped up on top of them in elaborate flavours. If your buttercream was less than 4cm tall, you’d failed. Cake pops soon followed.

13. Red velvet

Linked to #12, comes red velvet cake, which has a long history in the US. We are big fans of the cream cheese icing that tops it.

14. Vintage cakes

More recently, cake decorating has gone back in time and the swirls and curls of 1700s are back with a bang.

15. Clean eating

In 2004 we’d been told we were what we ate and as bloggers became more and more popular in the early 2010s so did #wellness. Everything that wasn’t processed was referred to as ‘clean’.

16. ‘Dirty’ food

No this isn’t the opposite of clean eating, in the late 2010s things with lots of toppings were called dirty because they look a bit messy. For example, ‘dirty fries’.

17. Chocolate soil

Nope, no idea why chocolate had to look like mud either. But it was a rule in 2016.

18. Cold brew

The only beverage to carry into work in 2017.

19. Lockdown sourdough and banana bread

Both great things to eat but no, let’s not dwell…

20. Smash burgers

Their crunchy edges and deep flavour have taken the burger world by storm.

21. Fermented foods

From kimchi to kombucha, this trend started to creep in during the late 2010s and is well and truly here to stay as we embrace and celebrate gut health.

22. Shouty chefs

In 2005 The F Word arrived on our screens with Gordan Ramsey often making his point in a rather abrupt way. Since then, angry chefs seem to have morphed into stressed chefs, we’re looking at you The Bear and Boiling Point.

23. The air fryer

We’re going to say it. Don’t bother ‘boiling’ your egg in an air fryer, yes it works but it’s much quicker on the hob. However, the fact we have reached this level highlights that our obsession with air fryers over the last five years is a very real thing.

24. Vegetable/kale crisps

In and around 2010, root vegetable crisps became the popular ‘guests coming over, let’s put out a fancy nibble’ choice. But just as they became normal, kale crisps stepped in. They aren’t quite as popular, but we do still make them, sometimes in the air fryer…

25. ‘Gramable’ food

As Instagram grew popular in 2012, there was a new rule for many diners. Don’t start your meal until you’ve got a photo for the ‘gram… These days food is still big news on Instagram.

Originally published February 2025

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