2025 Food Predictions: Mocha Mousse, Brown Sugar, and Michelin-star food brands
This year’s top recipes, next year’s sweetest trends—and a peek at my latest saved posts and recipe obsessions.
This Week’s Highlights
Sweet News: Brown Sugar is 2025’s Flavor of the Year - From baked goods to savory sauces, it adds depth to everything from brown sugar lattes to craft cocktails. With its natural molasses content, brown sugar’s warm, rich color and complex taste make it a favorite among foodies and influencers alike.
Pantone’s 2025 Color of the Year, Mocha Mousse, is where food and design meet. This warm, rich brown—reminiscent of indulgent chocolate and comforting coffee—highlights how the culinary world shapes trends far beyond the table.
NYTimes’ Most-Loved Recipes of 2024 - I’m always scrolling the NYTimes cooking app for quick dinner inspo, so this list immediately caught my eye. I’ve tried a few already, and let me tell you—the Sticky Miso Salmon Bowl is next-level. Don’t sleep on it!
If you want to know what we’re craving, cooking, and obsessing over, just look at Google’s top food searches of 2024—it’s a snapshot of our collective appetite. From chia water to sleepy girl mocktails and the viral cucumber salad, I’ve definately contributed to the search volume. There are definitely a few dishes I haven’t tried yet that I’m now curious to experiment with.
Iconic Flavors, Now Within Reach: As a grocery shopping enthusiast, seeing Michelin-starred brands on the shelves is a win. From Carbone pasta sauce to Momofuku noodles, it’s a cheaper thrill than dining out when you can bring those iconic flavors home. Food Dive nailed it when they said it’s a smart move for these brands and I’m sure we will be seeing alot more of this in 2025.
From My Feed to Yours
First, it was ginger shots, and now it’s immunity cubes. With everyone catching something this season, maybe it’s time to start making these.
This DIY wine rack with a pop of color is everything I love. Cin cin!
Tips & Tricks
Just a quick tip this week! As we gear up for holiday chaos, it’s always nice to have a few easy appetizers up your sleeve for unexpected guests or casual weeknight hangs that need a little snack with flair.
We recently had some friends over for a midweek dinner, and I wanted to put something out before the meal to curb our hunger. Without wanting to make a last-minute store run, I took stock of what I had on hand. I remembered I had some delicious Castello olives left over from dinner club and recalled watching Allison Roman’s YouTube video about elevating olives to impress your guests. (Watch the full video here and skip to 8:58 if you’re only in it for the olives)
In under 5 minutes, I had the chicest, yummiest appetizer that everyone loved! Check out her recipe [here] and let me know if you give it a try.
Note: I veto’d the orange, opted for red pepper flakes, and halved the olives for just four people.
Tools I’m Loving
I’m surprised I haven’t shared this in the newsletter sooner, but if you’re already in my network, you probably know how much I swear by my butter bell. Originating in France, it’s the perfect way to keep butter soft and spreadable. The bell-shaped design is placed in a base filled with water, creating a seal that keeps the butter fresh and prevents it from going rancid. A simple yet brilliant tool that has stood the test of time.
What I’m Working On
I'm really excited to share this update with all of you! When I first launched this newsletter, it was sent to friends and family only—my wonderful test group—to gather honest feedback and fine-tune things before sharing it more widely.
Since then, I’ve been casually plugging the newsletter on Instagram (with my very lovely and modest audience of 105 followers—love you all!), and it’s been amazing to see some organic growth. I’m thrilled to say we’ve welcomed 17 new subscribers since launching in November—hi and welcome!
To keep things moving in the right direction, I’ve been working on a quick survey to gather your feedback. I’d love to know what you’re loving, what you might be skipping, and what you’re looking forward to each week. As a thank-you for filling it out, you’ll be entered to win a little package of my favorite kitchen ingredients.
No matter if you’re in Seattle or Saskatoon, I’ll find a way to get it to you (fingers crossed this Canada Post strike wraps up soon!).
Here’s the link to the survey (LINK HERE)—it should only take about 5-10 minutes to complete. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts!
You may now be excused!
Hannah