William Meppem
Our Hot 100 issue is out now. In his editor’s letter, Pat Nourse walks you through what to expect.
I’m not going to lie to you. There were a couple of times that we got it wrong. Trendcasting is a tricky business. No matter how carefully you polish the crystal ball or how deeply you gaze into the entrails, the future has a way of coming along and making a mockery of your most brilliant predictions.
The ongoing popularity of smoking foods (GT‘s Hot 100, April 2011) and fermenting them (May 2013) in restaurants can be taken as testament to their hotness, but barrel-ageing cocktails (April 2011) has proven to be a stayer in only the most out-of-touch hotel bars. We can safely say that we were on the money with Airbnb and Instagram (May 2012) being forces to reckon with in the food and travel spheres, but superconductive serving ware (April 2011) has failed to launch. Haute Korean (May 2014) shone briefly on our shores before the guiding lights befell a variety of misfortunes. We’re still waiting for Filipino food (May 2013) to have its moment outside the bain-marie. And Peruvian-Chinese (May 2014) may never truly kindle its hotness beyond the borders of Peru’s Chinatowns.
Saltbush? Bitters? Finger limes? Thing, thing, definitely a thing. Insects? Not a thing. And what about the trends that are taking that little bit too long to die their natural deaths? Food on boards? Or, worse, food on slate? Drinks served in jars? We can’t help but feel somehow complicit.
Fortunately, in this year’s Hot 100, we’re confident we’ve got it 100 per cent on the money. Probably. Maybe. And even if we haven’t, it’s 100 per cent good fun regardless.
