Merry Christmas, internet dwellers, and a happy New Year. It’s finally over - the turkey carcass cold and bare, the sprout heads festering in the food waste bin, the leftover nut roast gradually growing mould in the back of the fridge. But there’s one thing that remains. The overwhelming sense of self-assuredness that your roast was, in fact, the best roast of them all.
But was it good enough for the internet’s approval? Roasts, while invariable in many ways, are not exempt from food trends. Sure, you’re never going to have a small plates Christmas, but there are themes that permeate even this most rigid tradition. Year-on-year, a handful of new variations or fashionable ingredients crop up in the mix.
And like all things, these trends are most obvious on TikTok, which is rapidly becoming ground zero for any ideas ready to be set alight. So here are the chicest new players in the Christmas spread - let’s see if your roast matches up.
1. Caviar bumps
Food of kings, you say? Let’s shot it, says TikTok. A caviar ‘bump’ involves applying the fish roe directly to the back of one’s hand and eating it all in one go. This is supposed to be the ‘purest’ way to taste the caviar’s flavour, due to it not interacting with any other food flavours, merely your own skin. It’s a pastime of Taylor Swift and Sophie Turner, and as with anything Swift endorses, sales are booming.
And according to experts, it's a trend for 2024, not just for Christmas. “We expect this trend to continue into 2024, with more chefs putting it on their menus and our customers buying it to serve as an impressive appetiser at their dinner parties," Andrew Bird, head of food at Selfridges, told The Times. "For those looking to impress their guests or treat themselves to something special on New Year’s Eve, a glass of champagne served along with a side of caviar is the ultimate gourmet experience.”
2. Rosemary cocktails
This one’s got a slightly more simplistic rationale: rosemary looks like a fir tree, and it’s a festive flavour. TikTok loves obvious metaphors, so cocktails featuring sprigs of rosemary are proving a hit on the app this Christmas.
Now that the espresso martini is officially dead in the dishwater, perhaps this is our next big festive tipple? Fill your boots for NYE while stocks last.
3. Trout over salmon
Catch up, guys, salmon is over - it’s all about trout now. Cheaper, virtually indistinguishable in appearance and far easier to cure, trout will apparently be all over London’s restaurant menus come 2024, and TikTok has taken note.
Those blinis you saw all over your Instagram stories and FYP this Christmas? Trout, not salmon. Let this be your lesson.
4. Orange glazed gammon
If 2022 was the year everyone you knew cooked Nigella’s coca-cola ham, 2023 has to have been the year of the orange glazed gammon. Another TikTok fave, this one was done best by none other than MasterChef The Professionals star and internet famous chef, Aaron Middleton, as part of his 25 days of Christmas cooking series.
Middleton prepared a practically Medieval-looking spiced orange and honey glazed gammon, scored and punctured with cloves. The recipe is from 2022, but due to the sheer volume of cola hams last year, it's only really cut through in 2023.
5. Miso-mania
Miso leeks, miso french onion gravy, miso sprouts, miso butter onions. You name it, this Japanese soybean paste was all over the festive radar, adding some necessary umami to a typically umami-less meal.
Especially now that everyone has conceded that basic, boiled sprouts are useless, miso is one of the main ways to level them up (besides the typical pancetta and chestnuts).
This particular trend is also a lesson in durability: there are miso sprouts recipes on TikTok from way back in 2020 that are still getting comments this festive season, they’re that popular. The Spice Girls said it best: soybean spice paste up your life!
