Experts forecast sustainable seafood including fish and shellfish coming to restaurant menus in 2020.
More Seafood Making a SplashAs global demand for seafood continues to grow and health experts encourage consumers to eat more of it, sustainable fish and shellfish is increasingly being forecast as a top restaurant menu trend in the coming years.
According to the latest What’s Hot Culinary Report, the National Restaurant Association’s annual survey of chef’s top menu trends, sustainable seafood, fish and shellfish raised in a manner that doesn’t harm or deplete natural resources, ranks among the top trends in the protein category.
With nearly half of U.S. consumers saying they would change their consumption habits to reduce their impact on the planet, it will be critical for restaurants to offer sustainable seafood choices on their menus in 2020 and beyond.
Here are some sustainable — and versatile — seafood species to consider adding to, or calling out, on restaurant menus:
As with sustainability, serving more — and more types of — seafood at breakfast is a big trend for the category.
According to Datassential MenuTrends recent Seafood Keynote, fish and shellfish have grown on breakfast menus by at least 40% over the past decade.
While smoked salmon, shrimp and crab continue to be perennial morning seafood menu favorites, oysters, mussels, anchovies and cod have been appearing on more a.m. menus of late. Menu suggestions that are driving growth at breakfast include:
Beyond how the various seafood species are raised or what time of the day they're served, many restaurants are featuring seafood with international flavors and ingredients.
According to the NRA's What’s Hot Report, North African, Ethiopian and Filipino cuisines and flavors are beginning to gain in popularity on U.S. menus. Mexican and Asian — especially Japanese, Chinese and Korean — also remain of interest to chefs and operators. Below are a few globally inspired seafood dishes that are sure to be bold tasting and never boring:
Finally, in the coming years one of the hottest seafood dishes will be served cold. Poke (pronounced poh-kay), the Hawaiian-style fish salad usually made with chunks of raw tuna or salmon, was once thought of as being trendy, but is proving to have long-term staying power, say experts. Consumers perceive it to be fresh and healthy.
According to market research firm Datassential, poke today is featured on 4% of restaurant menus, which includes an increase in menu penetration of more than 17% in the last year and a 186% increase in the past four years. Popular ways to menu poke are to feature it as a side dish or in a bowl over rice or shredded vegetables.
No matter how it's sourced, when it's served or what it is prepared with, sustainable seafood has a bright future at restaurants in 2020 and beyond. Seafood choices for restaurants are plentiful, and there’s no one way or time of day to dish them out. When it comes to seafood, there’s really only one end-all, be-all rule: Be like Nike and just menu it.