To say it’s been a tumultuous 12 months for many people is maybe an understatement. However when requested to survey the world of meals and drinks during the last 12 months, it was simple to search out some shiny spots. These are the meals traits that Eater employees have been most grateful for in 2024, from small aesthetic pleasures to bigger nostalgic comforts.
Cookbook golf equipment
I’ve been part of a cookbook membership for the reason that center of final 12 months, however this 12 months, they actually blew up, with my pal Steph Lau’s cookbook membership repeatedly going viral and even incomes an look on Good Morning America. (She now connects folks with native golf equipment by means of her e-newsletter.) The enjoyable of a cookbook membership is the collaborative effort: You’re assembly new folks and connecting with mates in a setting during which everybody has contributed one thing to the unfold. A cookbook membership is a implausible method to determine whether or not a cookbook is for you, however the setup is simply pretty much as good for making a frightening cookbook approachable: It will take me months of concerted effort to bake by means of Natasha Pickowicz’s Extra Than Cake, however by means of cookbook membership, I tasted virtually each recipe, all for the trouble of a single flan. — Bettina Makalintal, senior reporter
Zombie eating places
In 2024, beloved eating places across the nation resurrected after years of being both closed or dormant. Take Baroo in Los Angeles, which revived as a fancier tasting menu restaurant with a neo-Brutalist look 5 years after it closed in 2018. Following a three-year pause as a result of hurricane injury (other than promoting its beloved sandwiches in native markets), New Orleans icon Central Grocery lastly reopened in December 2024. New York Metropolis’s oldest French bistro, Le Veau d’Or, sprung up on the Higher East Aspect after years away from the zeitgeist due to the intrepid duo behind town’s trendy It bistro, Frenchette. And whereas not a direct resurrection, Souplanation gained a “dupeplantion” lookalike, known as Soup ‘n Contemporary, in California’s Inland Empire. What this development’s percolation means, greater than something, is that nostalgia nonetheless guidelines. In a time when concern, uncertainty, and inequity have infiltrated each facet of American life, seeing the return of the restaurant that sustained your loved ones after soccer matches in center faculty, or the French bistro the place your grandparents went on date nights, is one thing to carry onto when a lot feels misplaced. We will’t let go of the previous, and now, greater than ever, we don’t must. — Nicole Adlman, cities supervisor
Gummy mania
As a gummy sweet connoisseur, I really feel like I’m all the time on the hunt for the subsequent nice, bouncy confection and 2024 actually confirmed out. New sweet retailers opened and we unapologetically consumed candy treats within the type of sweet salads. TikTok fueled the proliferation of Swedish sweet in flavors like pomegranate strawberry and caramel banana, in addition to spicy gummy worms glazed in chamoy; and what’s arguably the biggest gummy sweet of all time, Nerds Gummy Clusters, reached peak reputation. I can solely think about what new improvements 2025 will carry. — Kat Thompson, affiliate editor
Nostalgic dinnerware
Earlier this 12 months, Jaya Saxena wrote about the current uptick in French meals fandom which brings to thoughts the brasserie plate — , those with the restaurant’s identify written across the rim, or these sporting scalloped edges. And because the mismatched china development continues on, I feel we’re going to begin seeing extra memento plates thrown into the combo. Consider it as the subsequent pure step for the restaurant matchbook and pen collectors. For the one that buys a restaurant memento plate, they function a reminder of that one superior journey someplace or an important day dinner out, and so they’re a fantastic dialog starter at dinner events. Notice to eating places with notably eye-catching plates (and glassware too): My recommendation could be to think about promoting a few of these earlier than the pocketing of 1 post-meal catches on. — Nat Belkov, design director
Fluted drinkware
This 12 months, I actually appreciated simply how a lot eating places throughout the nation relied on fluted glass ingesting vessels. Ridged finishes present an accessible magnificence that aligns with a broad vary of design types and ideas, and it’s simple to search out extra reasonably priced however equally beautiful dupes and plastic iterations that also maintain their very own on the tabletop. In eating rooms from Burlington, Vermont to Japan, fluted glass was an everyday that deserves to stay round some time. — Jesse Sparks, senior editor
Nonalcoholic drinks on each restaurant menu
I do know there have been complaints in regards to the unreasonably excessive costs of many alcohol-free cocktails, however a visit to Europe — when the nights I didn’t wish to drink left me with the selection between flat or glowing water — made me respect the true breadth of choices we have now round nonalcoholic drinks at eating places. Firms like Seedlip and St. Agrestis have made it simple for American bar applications so as to add a minimum of one enjoyable alcohol-free drink to their menu, however more and more eating places are getting artistic on their very own. Shrubs abound, and at a current dinner at New York Metropolis Korean restaurant Moono I completely loved a “botanical splash” of persimmon, perilla leaf, lemon, and mint. And certain, typically the spirit-free cocktail is only a fancy juice, however I’m selecting to embrace the flowery finish of the equation. — Monica Burton, deputy editor
Concha celebrations
For higher or worse (let’s say worse), virality has change into an more and more weighty consider diners’ willpower of a dish’s success. That is maybe very true in terms of pastries, which in lots of instances have developed to exist solely to be photographed. However this 12 months’s nationwide adoration for conchas was a long-deserved celebration of the various Mexican immigrant, first-generation, and Mexican-American bakers whose ardour for ancestral bread led to improvements within the style. Incorporating peanut butter and jelly-fueled nostalgia, and even pumpkin spice, new — and scrumptious — riffs on these traditionally humble and reasonably priced baked items drew crowds of aggressively on-line and unplugged diners alike, proving that zeal initiatives actually can repay. — JS