Cuckoo for cronuts: Ten food trends that made 2013 delicious

Celebrity chefs and the popularity of cooking reality shows have catapulted the culinary arts to pop culture fame, while food entrepreneurs are more creative and business-savvy than ever, bringing home food trends from abroad.

And the internet has caused interest in food experimentation to grow in the last few years.

The result is that this year, new food crazes seemed to come up and go viral every month. This is thanks in large part to the growing community of devoted foodies and food bloggers out there who have tirelessly written reviews and taken photos of their new discoveries.

Here’s a rundown of the top 10 food trends that made a splash in 2013.

1. Cronuts

The biggest food trend of 2013, this glorious croissant-doughnut hybrid has made tongues wag and crowds line up at the first bakery that sold cronuts in Manila, Wildflour Bakery. Created by New York chef Dominique Ansel, cronuts are reported to be so big in the States that eager customers had to make do with two cronuts per purchase, while the rest had to buy at twice the price in the black market. Chef Ansel was quick to patent the name “cronut,” so other outlets had to come up up with different names and spellings like “croughnut” and “dossantz”.

2. Hybrid pastries

The success of cronuts inspired more hybrids such as the croclair (a cross between a croissant and an éclair), the crookie (croissant dough stuffed with Oreo cookies) and the brookie (a cookie on top a brownie). These hybrid pastries have gained fans in Manila, but have yet to reach cronut’s cult status.

Though I haven’t tasted all these hybrids (scared of the calories), I have them to thank for creating some of the funniest hybrid foods I have ever heard, such as “dopao” (donut siopao), “birizza” (biryani and pizza), and “flagel” (flat bread plus bagel). Can you take a guess on what’s next?

3. Cookie butter

This, for me, is 2013’s most divine. Being a peanut butter fan prepared me for the spiced shortcrust biscuit goodness of cookie butter. It became the flavor of 2013, with food businesses coming up with everything cookie-buttered: cupcakes and cakes, chocolate bars, ice cream, coffee, waffles and pancakes.

4. J.Co Donuts

This successful Indonesian donut brand arrived on our shores in March 2012, with its first branch in SM Megamall. It now has over 15 branches in the Philippines, with 10 to 12 more to come in 2014. With its soft dough and its imaginative line-up of flavors, it has trumped Krispy Crème as the new favorite challenging old-timers Dunkin Donuts and Mister Donut. It’s been more than a year and people are still lining up.

5. Ramen
    
The Philippines might be a tropical country, but our tummies always have room for a soul-soothing, warm bowl of ramen. There is, as GMA News City Editor Karen Galarpe writes, "a kick and an aaaahhh moment" you get from ramen at first slurp.

Several new ramen restaurants have sprouted up in the metro this year. And if you’re in the mood for a hybrid Japanese dish, try the ramen burger, which has been become something of a food crazes in the US.

Here in the Philippines, it’s available at Tempura Japanese grill and Wrong Ramen.

6. Breakfast food

The all-day breakfast food trend has been happening since 2010, but it deserves another nod as this year, two delicious breakfast places opened in Manila: the famous US franchise IHOP and Pancake House-owned Maple. People have gone gaga over IHOP, which created so much buzz people were sitting on mono-bloc chairs outside its first branch in Bonifacio High Street just to wait for their turn.

Internet buzz aside, at least as far as fluffy pancakes, crispy bacon and perfectly cooked eggs go, Sam of the movie “I Am Sam” was spot-on in demanding IHOP for breakfast.

7. Word-of-mouth dining destinations and hole-in-the wall restaurants

True-blue foodies will attest that part of a food experience is the adventure of looking for hole-in-the wall restaurants that others haven’t discovered yet or only a few people have visited.

The owners of restaurants such as Chef Tatung (Acacia Estates, Taguig) and The Quirky Bacon (Wilson Street, San Juan) have taken risks by avoiding commercial establishments. But if the food is good, people will come.

Getting lost and going out of your way to discover good food is part of the adventure that foodies are now looking for.

8. Food trucks

The food truck phenomenon has rolled its way around the metro, and hopefully it’s here to park for the long haul. The colorful food trucks were first sighted in Cucina Andare in Glorietta Park. In October, Capitol Commons became a new food truck destination.

Though our food trucks are not the same as those of the US, where trucks literally travel from place to place, ours are the type that park together and customers flock to them instead. It kind of defeats the purpose of having wheels and being mobile. But hey, we’re getting there.

9. Juice cleanses and juice bars

If you can’t control yourself, you can be growing the same rate the food industry is burgeoning. Growing big that is.

Thankfully, juice cleanses are also becoming the rage for people who want to fast, cleanse their colons from toxins and lose weight.

There’s the Juju Cleanse, which already has its first branch, Juju Eats, on Chino Roces Ext., Makati. Other juice bars include Pump Juice Bar in Alabang and Naked Juice Bar. Please take note that Jamba Juice is not a healthy juice bar; it has more sugar than you think.

10. Instagramming food

Before becoming a dish or a delicacy becomes a trend, someone has to take a nice picture of it and post it. Instagramming food and posting the photos on social network sites deserve a spot on top food trends for 2013, because in many cases it's what turns a meal into a must-try event. — BM, GMA News