5 food and drink trends you’ll totally want to get behind this year

Anti-desk dining

Eating at your desk every day? Cue the violins. It doesn’t have to be that way, you know. In America, a company called Allset promises: “No more waiting for a table, food and check. In-and-out in under 30 minutes.” Via an app, office drones in San Francisco and New York can order from a selection of partner restaurants’ menus, pay, then show up to eat without the wait. Locally Chefs has a similar model. Their website updates daily, showing the three market-driven meals available that day. There are no waiters, so you order and pay on arrival via an iPad, take a seat and dig in.

Vodka made from fog

As in South Africa, drought is a very real problem in California. In reaction to this, a vodka distillery called Hangar1 embarked on crafting a vodka made from fog collected from the San Francisco Bay area, where they’re based. Called Fog Point the first batch of vodka sold out pretty quickly, with all the proceeds going to water conservation in the California area.

Healthy food for all

In Los Angeles, a fast-food chain called Everytable has made it its mission to make healthy food accessible to everybody, regardless of income. They sell nutritious fast food like grain bowls, soups and kids’ meals priced according to the neighbourhoods they serve – in south LA meals are four dollars and under, while in the more affluent downtown LA, the take-away meals go for eight dollars and under.

The Mediterranean diet

A diet allowing you olive oil and red wine? We’re in. And so are an increasing number of folks across the globe after The Guardian published the results of a controlled trial where an unrestricted-calorie Mediterranean diet (high in fresh fruit and vegetables, olive oil, whole grains, nuts and legumes; moderate in dairy, fish, poultry and red wine; low in red meat) with added extra-virgin olive oil, an unrestricted-calorie Mediterranean diet with added nuts, and a low-fat diet were pitted against each other. Guess what? The Med diet with added olive oil won out. Yay!

Express juicing

Everyone who is everyone are on the cold-pressed juicing bandwagon. But what if you don’t feel like washing and chopping your fresh loot from the farmer’s market? Or going to the effort of feeding the bits through a juicer? What a burden to be so virtuous but so lazy. A company called Juicero has you covered (but only if you live in the States). You order juice packs containing chopped organic produce via an app, then slot them into the contraption, press a button and allow the press to extract every last drop. How do you know the stuff in the pouch is still good? Each pack has a “press by” date printed on the back, which the press reads and rejects if it’s past its expiration date. What about the environment, you ask? Each pack is recyclable and partially compostable, and the company is working towards making them 100% so. Nifty.

Also keen to kick off the new year on a more virtuous note? Stock up on Easy to Juice Packs and more at Woolies.

Learn more about Today With Woolies here.