Hipster tabasco, seaweed shakes and… cheese?: The biggest food fads of 2016

Hot stuff, melty stuff, sour stuff, stuff from the sea and stuff delivered straight to your door

Raclette

Gloopy manna from heaven

Raclette is a semi-hard Swiss cheese that magically transforms into a life-saving, game-changingsubstance when melted then scraped over potatoes, meats, mushrooms… You could pour it  on to a manky tea towel and it’d taste pretty good. Foodies went mad for it in spring, gorged on it all summer long, then wondered why their jeans no longer fitted come autumn. But it was worth it.
Buy a wedge: $19,90, deliziedellefate.com

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Sriracha

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Molten chilli lava for all

“Hipster Tabasco” was everywhere in 2016: smothering Brussels sprouts in upscale restaurants, psyching out other condiments at your dad’s BBQ, sloshing around in titchy bottle key chains bought at Urban Outfitters. And when McDonald’s announced in July it was making Sriracha-laced “Awesome Sauce” for Big Macs, the tipping point had been well and truly reached.
Buy a bottle: £2.50, tesco.com

Sour beer

Hard to like = cool as hell

How did hipsters stay one step ahead of the boozing masses with Blue Moons at four for a fiver in Asda? The answer: sour beer. It was sharp and complex enough to deter the dilettantes, but palatable enough to be strangely addictive – once your taste buds recalibrated themselves, anyway. Sour beer newbie? Start off with Buxton Brewery’s Far Skyline (zingingly limey), Partizan Brewing’s Cuvée Maxine (a peppery session beer) or Boon Brewery’s Geuze Boon (nomessing two-fisted sourness).
Buy a mixed case: £49.95, beergonzo.co.uk

Deliveroo

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Up yours, Papa John’s!

Deliveroo has changed the takeaway game forever. No longer limited to standard-issue fare – floppy pizzas or MSG-clogged noodles – we’re now free to sit on our arses and order off the menu from any local/local-ish eaterie that’s signed up to the scheme. You want sushi, nachos, jerk chicken, a Moroccan meatball tagine? Then you’ve got it. Living in the future: sometimes it’s actually alright.
Order nosh near you: deliveroo.co.uk

Seaweed

The new superfood don

Kale had a good run, but 2016 was seaweed’s year. Sales rocketed by 125 per cent when Jamie Oliver credited adding seaweed to his diet as a key factor behind his dramatic weight loss, and by spring the sustainable, nutritious and easily harvestable crop was sneaking into everything from quinoa salads to post-workout shakes. And if you live on the coast, you can get in on the algae-munching action for free by simply heading down the beach and rifling around a bit.
Get some Yutaka Wakame Dried Seaweed: £1.69, japancentre.com

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