• by Teresa Buyikian , October 15, 2026

Noting that 75% of consumers are looking forward to new food and beverage trends, the 2027 Trends Report from restaurant intelligence platform Dataessential explores the “foods, flavors, and beverages set to shape menus and retail in the year ahead and beyond.”

The report highlights Dataessential’s Menu Adoption Cycle (MAC), which tracks food trends from “inception through adoption and proliferation to ubiquity.”

“Heading into 2027, we see some later stage MAC concepts getting new life,” said Jaclyn Marks, senior publications manager and trendologist at Datassential. “Banana, anchovy, mango, deli salads and the old-fashioned, for instance, have been around forever, but enterprising operators are showcasing them in next-level applications and as flavors—think banana coffee and cocktails, or mango sticky rice ice cream and pies.”

The report also identified foods that have graduated to the “New Classics” category, “cemented as must-haves for many consumers,” including whipped feta; chili crisp, a Chinese  condiment made from hot oil and fried chili peppers; sticky toffee pudding; and dirty soda.

New trending foods and flavors include buldak, a Korean spicy chicken in a gochujang and chile sauce; doubanjiang, a fermented fava bean and chile paste popular in Sichuan cooking; falooda, a South Asian dessert of rose syrup, vermicelli and basil seeds topped with ice cream or kulfi; and kinilaw, a Filipino dish of raw fish cooked in vinegar and citrus.

In addition to the continuing popularity of dirty soda, beverages trending for 2027 include: Vietnamese lemonade made with salted preserved lemons or limes; koji milk, an alternative milk made from a Japanese mold of the same name and rice or oats; makgeolli, a milky Korean rice wine; and the cantarito, a Mexican cocktail consisting of orange, lime, and grapefruit soda served in a salt-rimmed clay cup.