Christmas Food & Drink Trends To Look Out For In 2021
Christmas 2020 was sadly deeply affected by COVID, so there is naturally a lot of anticipation for this year’s festivities. Families will be hoping to get together in full for some semblance of a traditional Christmas.
However, Brexit, COVID and labour shortages have all changed our food retail market considerably, so there may have to be an element of experimentation. Many people have been ordering their traditional Christmas food and drink essentials far in advance in order to guarantee they can have it - Yorkshire-based online butcher Farmison have said that orders made in September for December are up 150% compared with this time last year.
With that in mind, we wanted to write a blog exploring what sort of food and drink trends we can expect to see this year.
Christmas food and drink shopping
We were glad to speak to Helen Gordon of the Artisan Deli Market, a buyer on the ShelfNow platform, about what she is expecting to see.
“I think specialty food stores will experience a phenomenal Christmas this year, possibly bigger than ever before,” she said. “Last year’s Christmas was clearly shocking for everyone and people will be wanting to make up for it.”
Amongst all the family catching up, she believes that supermarkets will cater largely for the essentials, and that families will need to go to speciality stores to get the extra bits and pieces they need to make this Christmas special. “I think families and friends will be throwing many feasty foodie parties, all meaning a demand for speciality cheeses, charcuterie, chutneys, condiments and sweet treats that you won’t be able to find in supermarkets. Not to mention, quality wines and bubbles in abundance too.”
Christmas food and drink gifts
One thing we are expecting to see a lot of this year is gifted food and drink. “I believe luxury food and drink hampers will be in a lot of demand” said Helen at the Artisan Deli market, and we agree.
We have several brands on our platform at ShelfNow who are producing some exciting food and drink gift ideas this year.
Firetree chocolate makes some beautiful chocolate gift packs that are popular all year round, but we expect to be especially popular at Christmas.
Pentire, who make some absolutely outstanding non-alcoholic beverages, have put together a gift box which we stock. It includes a 20cl each of their acclaimed Adrift and Seaward drinks. We expect it to be a popular gift these days, especially for those trying dry January!
Continuing on the non-alcoholic theme, Boo Chi has produced an amazing home kombucha brewing kit that includes everything you need to make your own kombucha. Perhaps the ideal gift for someone who will be wanting a post-holiday season detox.
And finally, Case for Cooking has assembled a curry spice pot gift set which contains four pots of hand-blended spices and herbs, which can be used to make 10 servings each of their signature curry pastes. It includes instructions for how to make the pastes and a suggested curry recipe for each one. So if you’ve got a loved one in mind with a passion for cooking, this will make an excellent gift.
