2016 Food Trends

Whole Foods Market loves wine in a can and more hot food trends for 2016

Let us toast Whole Foods Market's forecast of hot food trends for 2016.

Photo courtesy of James Kicinski-McCoy, Bleubird

While we've barely begun to reflect on 2015, Whole Foods Market is already thinking about 2016. The grocery chain's product team has pinpointed 10 top food trends to watch in 2016, from fermented foods to wine in a can.

Here are the hot trends for 2016:

Uncommon meat and seafood. Offbeat and lesser-known meat and seafood options are moving from restaurants into the American kitchen. The trend results from a number of factors including concerns over waste and an increase in butchery. New cuts include sirloin top, pork T-bone chop, and Denver steaks. Unfamiliar seafoods include paiche and blue catfish.

Wine in a can. With wine drinkers getting younger and less hidebound, winemakers are offering wine in an aluminum can. One of the first to do it was Francis Ford Coppola's sparkling Sofia, joined more recently by Infinite Monkey Theorem and Presto Sparkling. Single-serve aluminum cans are not only convenient, they're more sustainable.

Plant-based everything. Plants are playing a meatier role in a surprising number of products, not just vegan and vegetarian items, from quinoa protein in hair care products to vitamin-rich veggies in frozen dessert pops.

Fermented foods and probiotics. Fermented foods are recommended for good intestinal health, be it kombucha, yogurt, kimchi, gochujang, and pickled things such as chiogga beet kraut.

Non-GMO. The non-GMO movement continues to grow, even extending to verifying that the food fed to animals (or what Whole Foods delicately calls the "animal protein category") is also non-GMO.

Grass-fed 2.0. Currently common in dairy items such as milk, eggs, yogurt, butter, and cheese, grass-fed is expanding into packaged meat snacks and even protein powders.

Dehydrated foods. Last year, it was kale chips. In 2016, it'll be dehydrated broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and parsnip chips, plus salmon, bison, and chicken jerkies.

Heirloom ingredients. Going beyond the commonly known heirloom tomato, heirloom ingredients are popping up in packaged goods such as popcorn, chocolate made with heirloom cocoa, and even candy such as Seely's Mint Patties made with heirloom peppermint.

Alternative flours. The wheat-haters and gluten-phobes have plenty to choose from with flours made from legumes, ancient grains, teff, amaranth, and nuts. Chickpea flour is a quick riser, while other legume flours are showing up in bean-based pastas and other packaged goods.

Old World flavors. In this case, Whole Foods describes Old World as flavors from Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia, as well as Middle Eastern ingredients.

Predictions came from Whole Foods Market's team that spots trends for the grocer's stores and sources items across the retailer’s cheese, grocery, meat, seafood, prepared foods, produce, and personal care departments.

Coffee News

East Dallas coffee shop Killer Joe crackles with sharp New York style

Killer Joe

Killer Joe Coffee

A hip new coffee shop is energizing a busy corner in East Dallas: Called Killer Joe, it's a new shop at 108 N. Fitzhugh Ave. right on the northeast corner of Columbia Avenue, next to (and in the same building as) Pupusas To Go.

Killer Joe is from Christine Sweet and Christian Napolitano, who moved from New York to Dallas in 2022 in search of entrepreneurial opportunity.

"We had been wanting to open up a business in New York for a long time," Christine says. “After the pandemic, it was really hard doing business there. We were looking for a good place to move that offered an opportunity to open our business."

Christine previously worked in travel/destination marketing, living in different places around the world. Christian was in hospitality, having worked in high-end restaurants in Manhattan, most recently at Bond Street Sushi in Soho.

Their goal: to bring a little New York culture to Dallas.

“We are more than a coffee shop — we're a place for foodies and musicophiles, we are really into music and rock & roll. Our shop is not a sleepy, quiet coffee shop," Christine says.

They serve notice of their intentions on the exterior with a quirky, personal mural by Anthony Z. Padilla, rendered in taxicab yellow, with elegant line drawings of the Statue of Liberty and highway-style signs that say "Now leaving New York" and "Welcome to Texas."

The interior is casual-chic, with pale wood furniture and an original cement floor that still sports intentional patches of old paint. The walls have a mix of B&W vintage photos and the occasional cowboy hat. The space was for many years a closed-in bar called Los Dos Reales; but now, the building boasts expansive windows that look out on Fitzhugh and create a bright and sunny space.

For their coffee program, they use organic espresso beans and make their drinks in an Italian Sanremo machine. They serve all the classics plus signature drinks such as French Toast Latte, Sea Salt Caramel de Leche, and Caliente Mocha with a hint of cayenne pepper.

Seasonal drinks include a pistachio caramel matcha latte — featuring toasted pistachios like a baklava, but balanced by the earthiness of the matcha. Other specialty drinks include rose water matcha, orange blossom matcha spritz, and cucumber lemonade.

Panini at Killer JoeKiller Joe

They also serve food, including breakfast all day: steak & eggs, avocado toast, and bagels with plain, scallion or vegan cream cheese. The "Spaghetti Western" is a twist on the traditional ham & cheese sandwich with spicy capicola, roasted tomato, Calabrian pepper sauce, and chimichurri on toasted ciabatta.

Bread is from Empire Baking Company and the bagels are from Shug's.

At lunch, they serve an umami tuna melt; a "K-Pop Cuban" with ham and cheese, plus kimchi pickles and wasabi mayo; and The Texican, with soyrizo spicy sausage, cheddar roasted poblano peppers, tomato, and avocado.

Reeves Family Farm in Princeton provides fruits and vegetables, and DiveDWN brings their microgreens. Pastries are baked in house and sauces such as black olive pesto and Killer chipotle sauce are made from scratch.

“We are trying to blend our edgy New York style with a Southern Texas flair," Christine says.

They're open daily from 7am-3 pm, with a late-hour program every second Saturday featuring live DJs; people gather inside and outside the shop for music, food, and drinks.

"This community is just so great, very eclectic, and has really embraced our style," Christine says. In fact, a few customers had a tattoo made at neighbor Franklins Tattoo and Supply with the coffee shop's skull logo.

"I had to follow and get one done too," she says.

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