Social media and consumer trends making waves, from themed desserts to the new iced coffee

Let’s dive into the start of the silly season with a run-down on the food trends leading us into summer, from chilled desserts to chilling themes.  

Themed foods, from Halloween (obviously) to the Christmas countdown  

We don’t mean to alarm you, but there’s only ten, nine, eight… weekends until Christmas. And that means the arrival of epic celebration food, beginning with all things spooky and Halloween and stretching right through summer to Australia Day treats. 

“Halloween has certainly taken off in Australia in the last few years,” says Kirsten Tibballs, Chocolate Queen of Savour Chocolate and Patisserie School, who will appear this November on Dessert Masters for Channel 10.  

“It’s certainly growing here in Australia, and I think that will continue,” she tells InSeason. #Halloweenfood currently has 784.5 million views on TikTok and 386k on Instagram - and that number is rising rapidly.  

But we’re not just getting spooky with #booboards (205.6k TikTok) and #scarecuterie (325.2k TikTok), plenty of people are moving past that and straight into #christmasfood (830.6 million TikTok).  

“When we make foods for special occasions, we make them for others,” says Tibballs, explaining the love of themed desserts and sweets. “When it’s for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, it’s actually to share with others. You're creating it for other people and that's a huge part of why we love it.”   

According to Tibballs, themed treats allow us to really get our creativity on, as well as build anticipation and lean-in to gifting.  

“It’s a buildup of excitement; hang it on the tree, eat it on Christmas eve, share it with loved ones.”   

The themed treats themselves are becoming more and more varied, with older generations sticking to traditional foods - like pudding - while the younger generations are about variety and creativity, looking for something fun, new and expressive for the season. So, expect more melting snowman cookies and Christmas tree shaped #buttercreamboards.   

Chilled fruit is served up as the Korean cold fruit bowl 

The frozen shaved fruit trend that slid across from a US summer and into our warmer months is continuing strong, with the chilled fruit trend expanding into savoury options like frozen tomato and milky cheeses, including burrata.  

The next chilled trend is the Korean cold fruit bowl, a sweet treat called #hwachae (425.3 million TikTok views).   

#KoreanFruitBowl is up to 43.5 million views on TikTok, doubling its number from September. The great thing about this trend is that it’s no-cook and is as easy as mixing your favourite chopped fruits (think strawberries, dragon fruit, mango, grapes, blueberries etc.) with ice cubes, a soft drink of your choice like lemonade, and some flavoured milk (often strawberry). Some versions also include chopped jelly and gummy sweets. If you’re really looking to master the trend, then cutting the fruit into stars and hearts adds to the visual effect, when presentation is part of the fun.  

Budget food is what we’re all eating, and there’s psychology behind it 

The cost-of-living crisis continues to affect how we shop and eat, with #BudgetMeals sitting at a whopping 1.2 billion TikTok views and rising. But it’s not as simple as just looking for cheap meals, it’s about tapping into the wealth of ideas on social platforms when you might be feeling defeated or overwhelmed and feeling like you’re part of a community that is on the same journey.  

“Social media is flooded with suggestions for eating on a budget,” says Psychologist Sandy Rea. “Food represents so many feelings including love, family, or simply gastronomic delight. Its presentation plays into our personality, health and perhaps even our sense of generosity,” Rea tells InSeason. “The current financial climate demands consideration of how we now express these food representations,” she says.  

The benefit of finding a like-minded community on social media is that it takes something that might feel like a negative - sticking to a budget - and turns it into a positive challenge or something to be proud of.  

It helps us avoid feeling “that organising a menu to a budget is constricting”. It’s a way to eat on a budget without feeling like you’re on a budget.  

According to Rea, in this community “organising to a budget is both creative and empowering. It suggests that you have control and ingenuity,” and this plays out in finding ways to eat out on a budget too.  

Italian coffee cream is the new Dalgona whipped coffee 

During the pandemic lockdowns, the simple, budget friendly Macau treat of whipped Dalgona coffee went viral. We couldn’t get out for a good espresso, but we could take a couple of tablespoons of instant coffee, mix it with sugar and a dash of hot water and whisk it until it was intensely fluffy and velvety and serve it over chilled milk. It’s never gone away and currently the hashtag #dalgonacoffee has 1.1 billion views.  

The latest version of this is trick is #italiancoffeecream (746k TikTok views) or #cremadicaffe (18.8 million TikTok views).  

This time we’re taking our coffee (espresso) and adding icing or caster sugar along with cream, then whipping or churning it (often shaking it up in a recycled bottle) until it is thick and velvety and serving it with cocoa powder sprinkled on top. It’s shades of a cheat’s tiramisu and it’s here for summer.  

Other trends to keep an eye on: 

1. Rice paper wrapped desserts 
2. Individual cheesecake pots and tubs 
3. Christmas cocktails 
4. Chat GPT recipes 
5. Fancy ice for the holiday season