The top ten most surprising Christmas food trends of all time..!

December 18, 2020

Christmas is the perfect time to eat drink and be merry… but some foods definitely make us merrier than others!

The festive season has seen its fair share of food trends, and as we get ready to exit 2020, we’d like to share some of the most bizarre trends of all time!

From weird salads to crispy sprouts, join us as we review some of the most random Christmas foods we’ve seen!

1. Christmas tree crisps

Crisps are the perfect snack to serve on Christmas day, when you’re feeling a little bit peckish but not quite in the mood for a full meal.

If the standard cheese and onion crisps are a little boring… why not open a bag of Christmas tree crisps? No, these crisps aren’t shaped like Christmas trees, but they do taste like them!

Iceland launched the unusual flavour in 2018, stating it brought a subtle festive flavour to the potato snack. Unfortunately, the public didn’t agree, claiming the snacks had a weird aftertaste and were way too salty.

We think we’ll stick to a tube of pringles!

2. A bucket of fried chicken

Although most of us enjoy a bit of poultry on Christmas day, we usually don’t want it fried and served with chips!

If you are in Japan though, it is a different story. 3.6 million Japanese families sit down to enjoy a bucket of KFC on the 25^th of December!

Why is this the case? Christmas isn’t as big a holiday in Japan as it is in the UK, and KFC saw a gap in the market. Now people order their festive bucket of chicken weeks in advance!

3. Unusual advent calendars

As we all know, advent calendars have doors you open, and there is a little piece of chocolate inside. However, if you don’t care much for chocolate, there are now a wide range of festive alternatives!

Over the past few years you have been able to get advent calendars that contain bags of tea, cans of beer and miniature bottles of wine. If you are looking for something a little more gourmet, you can get bags of pork crackling, artisan marshmallows or our favourite… mini truckles of cheese!

4. Pigs on fire

If you’re partial to a crispy, salty pig in a blanket but wish it could be a little bit spicier... then why not buy a box of pigs on fire?

These snacks were launched as part of Asda’s 2020 Christmas range and consist of spicy pork sausages and a jalapeno chilli nestled under the bacon.

Can you eat more than one?

5. Christmas candle salad

It wouldn’t be a Christmas food trend roundup with a contribution from our friends across the pond!

This *unusual* festive starter was invented in America in the 1950s. It consists of half a banana stuck in cranberry jelly. When you think it can’t get any weirder… it uses mayonnaise to resemble dripping candle wax!

We wonder if this appetiser will be making a comeback in 2020? After all, it has been a peculiar year!

6. Brussels sprout ketchup

Brussels sprouts are truly the marmite of the Christmas dinner world, with 51% of people liking them and the other 49% hating them!

If you want to add the taste of sprouts to all your food, why not try a bottle of brussels sprout ketchup? This bottle of sludgy green sauce was launched in 2019 to critical acclaim.

The makers recommend slathering it on a turkey sandwich or dipping your pigs in blankets in it!

7. Pigs in blankets tea

Christmas is a time for lots of delicious drinks. Bucks fizz, snowballs… even a sneaky glass of Baileys or two!

If you prefer to drink your food, Sainsbury’s launched a pigs in blanket tea in 2018. This brew consists of smoky lapsang souchong tea, coupled with dried apple, sage and rosemary.

Reaction to the blend was mixed, with some customers preferring to keep to the PG tips!

8. Tempura sprouts

Sprouts have made the list again! This time, they are covered in a light crispy batter.

These sprouts were launched by Iceland in 2019, claiming they were not only a delicious alternative to the standard brussels spout, but also a tasty canape. After all, we’re all used to eating other vegetables in tempura batter!

This crispy Christmas trend was extremely popular with people, even those who weren’t usually fans of sprouts!

9. Hidden orange Christmas pudding

Christmas pudding… some people love it, some people hate it.

Back in 2014, creative celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal tried to modernise the traditional festive dessert by baking it with a whole candied orange inside it. The UK went wild for it and boxes swapped hands all over eBay in the runup to the 25th of December.

The dessert proved popular with pudding lovers and is sold on the Waitrose website to this day!

10. Scotch eggs

Okay, it’s not technically a Christmas food trend, but it’s a relevant one!

This December saw a massive surge in demand for scotch eggs. This is because government ministers advised they counted as a ‘substantial meal’, allowing people to order them alongside alcoholic drinks in tier 2 pubs.

Food wholesalers across the country have seen a 10-fold demand for the meaty-snack, with customers ordering them in their thousands. Some pub groups are currently deliberating adding the snack permanently to their menus!

So, there you have it – ten unusual Christmas food trends! Which one is your favourite?

A very Merry Christmas from all at Crowbond

We’d like to wish all our customers and website visitors a Happy Christmas and all our best wishes for 2021.

2020 has been an unusual year for the restaurant industry, and we will be interested to see what the upcoming weeks and months will bring!

If you’re interested to see what the latest food trends will be, why not visit the food trends section of our website? We’ll be updating these pages regularly with all the latest industry news.

References

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