(tapping)
(frying)
(upbeat music playing)
- Hello and welcome back to Sorted food.
- Today we are exploring
more weird and wonderful food trends from across the globe
- [Ben] As always this is not a hashtag ad.
We'd let you know if it was.
We have purchased all of these items with our very own money
because we think they instigate interesting discussion.
- Interesting.
- Are you ready to share some opinions?
- I have opinions and I will share them wildly, oh.
(upbeat music playing)
Starting the morning well.
- I haven't had breakfast yet
and there's alcohol in front of me.
- [Jamie] Why's it rimmed?
- [Mike] For pleasure.
For viewing pleasure and that is for--
- Did you rib that?
- Yes.
- Ebbers that is so extra but also well done.
(Jamie roars)
- That.
(Mike roars)
- Citrus and ginger.
- Is it like a fermented fruit juice?
- Try them all.
See if you can try and work out what the trend is
that we're investigating here.
- Rubarby?
- Sangria
(upbeat music playing)
They've all got a fizz to them
but it's not like a sweet soda
like lemonade - Carbonated fizz.
- Yeah it's not a carbonated fizz,
it feels more like a fermented fizz.
- They've all got a slight tang to them,
like they've been fermented.
- Do you like them?
- Yeah, I really like those
- They don't necessarily taste alcoholic,
but sitting here I feel slightly more wild
than I did before we started.
- [Ben] These are Three Spirit drinks.
The functional and healthier booze alternative
designed by plant scientists and bartenders.
- [Mike] Three Spirit drinks say that they're on a mission
to show the world alcohol free doesn't mean pleasure free.
After years spent in libraries, labs, bars, and fields
we created plant based alternatives to alcohol.
Let's celebrate what you put into a drink
rather than what you take out.
- Delicious.
I'm confused by what you mean by--
Are these mixes?
- I think you can do all sorts of things with them.
The recommended is the way we've served them.
So the front one, the nightcap that is just over ice
with a twist of orange, I've added the blood.
The second one is with tonic and orange slice.
The third one is with ginger ale and grapefruit.
So the drinks have been featured
in Forbes, BBC good food, Vice,
and there are stats that suggest from Bacardi themselves,
that there's gonna be a 400% increase
in demand for low or no alcoholic drinks
in the next four years.
- Love the branding. I love what they're trying to do.
I think it is nice to have a few
like alcohol free alternatives at home.
So you can mix it up a little bit.
The nightcap especially... one that stands out to me
I think I would enjoy to wind down with.
- I'm quite surprised at how familiar
particularly the second one was as sangria.
That just tastes like sangria to me
- Which is interesting
because the flavours are watermelon, pomegranate.
That particular one is served with tonic waters.
It's got a slight--
That's where the carbonation that you're tasting
we added that
but it's got all sorts of other things
that as a social elixir gets the party going
including lion's mane mushroom, Yerba mate and damiana.
- They're sort of marketed like elixirs and mood boosters
and, you know, using all that sort of
almost mythical language.
- It's that botanical and alchemy bit jumps out to me.
And you can imagine a very natural, Herby spa-like design.
- I'm glad that I tasted them first.
Cause I really, really enjoyed them.
And that would then make me want to go and buy them.
I don't know if I would have done it the other way round.
- You said before, you knew what they were
they were giving you a buzz.
Some of them are highly caffeinated.
On a night out they are giving you that
without, as they claim, the calories,
very, very low calories compared to alcohol.
And if you read through the active ingredients list
on their website and actually dive in a bit
it's like reading a botany encyclopaedia.
It's fascinating.
- How much do you think one of these bottles is priced at?
- I'll go for my favourite, the nightcap
and I'd be happy to spend a ten on that.
So I'll go a little bit higher and say 12 pounds.
- Well branded, high-end looking nice drinks,
20 pounds a bottle.
- So they are 25 pounds a bottle.
If you buy all three you get a saving of 10 quid
at 65 quid for all three.
- 25 quid might be pushing it a little bit too far.
It feels expensive.
- Do these quench your thirst
or would you rather be reimbursed?
- Or there's no doubt about it
they definitely quench my thirst.
- That really quenches my thirst.
(upbeat music playing)
Can I be honest with you Ebbers?
I'm not sure putting it on a brown, wooden plate
has done it any favours
because it just blends in a little bit.
- Is this like jerky of sorts?
(everyone chuckling)
- Ebbers!?!
- Starts off like you're eating a piece of leather,
then it gets sweeter and some spices are released
and the after taste is lovely.
- There's a warmth like a spice to it as well.
Yeah, not jerky, but jerk jerky-ish.
- [Ben] This is King's veggie jerky.
So based in North of England in York
it is a plant based jerky.
So it is also vegan,
even though they put veggie on the packet
UKs leading supermarkets are selling some of this now.
- I'm not the biggest fan of the flavour,
but weirdly knowing what it is helps with that
because I know what it's trying to aim towards.
And therefore the texture makes a lot more sense.
- So noted in the Veg Economist
which is a vegan business magazine.
As meat sales continue to decline,
jerky made from plants is a growing category
for food trends in 2021.
Hhmm... Ebbers, you have something to say about that, don't you?
- Well, I mean, I haven't seen their data
but I've seen other data that suggests
that meat sales continue to increase globally.
Maybe very regionally they're decreasing.
What we are certainly seeing is a rise in vegan products,
plant-based products.
And even though we covered this a few weeks ago
with Rudy's butchers, there were so many comments
and it was such an interesting topic
that I think it's gonna be one
we're gonna keep coming back to and covering it
in a number of different avenues.
- Yeah.
- From a number of different perspectives too.
MisfitFox.
I really, really loved you talking about
how we should be steering away
from the vegan healthy mentality
because actually sometimes it puts people off
if they think they can't get their favourite comfort foods.
And if you like regular jerky then you might miss out.
To counter that, Liz3 said
it would also be cool if we touched
on the environmental impact of vegan foods.
So for example a UK based product there
is using soy protein and we don't grow soy in this country
so that has come from the other side of the world is likely
There are lots of conversations to be had.
And what you can't do is pick one side of the argument
and go for or against it.
- I went through a phase of I'm not sure I like this
to I think I like it.
And after going back two or three times
I think I really like it. - I think it's really good.
- Just takes a little while to--
It's unfamiliar.
- I've got a couple of others.
These are from the US.
Primal Spirit, which is an American company
based in West Virginia.
Although those products are made in Taiwan.
Voted best new vegetarian snack by Veg News.
(upbeat music playing)
- That is lip puckeringly limey,
not in an untasty way though.
- What does jerky mean?
- I think it's the drying, curing process of slices of meat.
And it is traditionally the flesh of an animal
and it is dried and cured and often spiced
which is what you're getting a lot
of the spicing. - Yeah.
- The brand Kings started
by four international England Rugby players
do a variety of jerkies.
One of them being Wagyu.
So high quality grades of jerky do exist.
Now let's talk about price.
- I'm going to go with four pounds.
- Four pounds.
- That bag there when bought as a box of 16, two pound 10.
- Hmm yeah.
- I'm really surprised at how cheap that is actually.
- I think the Primal steak's are about the same
or be it slightly smaller. - I keep going back for more.
- I've noticed
- It's delicious.
- These products are an alternative and it's only now
that these alternatives are getting to the stage
where they, in my mind, could be a viable alternative
without me losing the pleasure,
the enjoyment, the overall feeling that I would get
from having the original version.
- [Mike] Okay I've got to ask you the question
plant-based jerkies, does it make you twerky?
- As much as it might break the internet
I feel like it makes me twerky.
- Twerky.
No... 'cos then the memes.
- Oh we got them.
- Too late mate. - Yeah move on then.
(Barry chuckles)
- [Jamie] Aw yes.
Curry.
- That's not the trend.
- [Jamie] Oh.
(upbeat music playing)
- [Barry] You do make a good curry Ben.
Not sure if I've told you before.
It looks a bit like a skin of an aubergine.
- Jackfruit?
- [Mike] What you are eating is banana skin curry.
- [Jamie] That's a banana skin?
- [Ben] It was.
- Well now what is it?
- I soaked it in boiling water, a little turmeric and salt
until that water goes completely cold,
takes a good hour or so.
Then with a fork, you pretty much run it through.
And it turns it into almost
spaghetti spiralized banana skin.
And then you cook it out in the sauce.
And what you get is a consistency
that's not dissimilar to aubergine.
- I do enjoy it.
I'm not tasting banana.
- There's no flavour from them though.
- Not a huge amount of flavour.
There is a slight subtlety, but to be honest with you
it just becomes a great vehicle
for all the spices and flavours of the curry sauce.
- [Mike] So the trend that we're discussing here
is up cycled food.
So this banana skin curry was featured by Nigella Lawson
in her latest TV show and book.
So this is her recipe.
Nadia Hussein bake-off winner
made burgers using banana skins as well.
And so as the world looks to cut down on food waste,
this is a really interesting one.
- The key to this is big business and corporations
who use bananas throughout their manufacturing process
finding a way at industrial scale
to use those banana peels, to do something sensible with it.
But how did you get that on the scale
that it can actually make a difference
to the food waste issue?
- It's us normal little people demanding it and wanting it.
- No, but it's a vicious circle
because if we don't know about it, we can't demand it.
- That's where it starts.
- [Ben] If you allow the big corporations to do it.
There's a chance that all you do
is introduce another ultra processed food
with another big factory that's gonna be transported
all around the world before it gets to you.
And it's gonna be wrapped in plastic.
Now that has to happen as well.
And it has to tick all the biodegradable packaging
and responsible sourcing and all of that.
But "my opinion can't make a difference".
Doesn't work when there's 7 billion of us.
- Mm.
- If more people knew about that and tasted that
they would definitely give it a go.
It's a really nice texture.
I'd expect it to be a lot tougher and chewier,
but I guess cause they've been marinaded
and they've kind of broken down a little bit.
They pull apart like a soft pepper.
I'm guessing it's a really good source of fibre.
- Brilliant fibre, great nutrition
from potassium, manganese, good amino acids,
loads of vitamins.
It's super, super, super good.
And yet normally we either throw it away or compost it
- How do I get six banana skins at the same time?
Because I only eat one banana at a time.
- Yeah bang on so much like we say,
with the wet bits of tomatoes
or the woody ends of asparagus,
throw them in a freezer bag in the freezer.
And when you've got enough do something with it.
Banana skins will freeze.
And then when they come out,
they're already a bit more mushy
because they've been through that
frozen and defrosting point and they're even better to use
- So up cycling as a trend.
Is this a tasty peel or just not your deal?
- Absolutely blown my mind.
It's a delicious peel.
- Tasty peel all the way.
- And that's from a man who doesn't like bananas.
- Right.
(upbeat music playing)
- Oh, oh that looks delicious.
- What's that?
That is a okra.
- Okra.
- What you have there is an okra and lamb peanut stew.
But actually the trend we're talking about is the grain.
- Is it chickpeas?
- No. - Right cool.
No.
- It looks a bit like couscous.
(upbeat music playing)
- It's cooked a bit like couscous.
- It's incredibly light.
- [Jamie] It feels like it's popping on my tongue.
Like a popping candy.
It has a slight bite to it, but very, very soft.
- It's Fonio
- Polio?
- Fonio. - Fonio.
- Fonio?
Phone what?
- Fonio.
- Nio?
Fonio?
Fonio. - It's just fonio.
- [Mike] This is Fonio,
the most nutritious grain you've never heard of.
That was actually the title of a film
by the national geographic.
It's been grown in West Africa for over 5,000 years.
- [Ben] We're beginning to see it pop up
because of all of its nutritional benefits
and the way in which you can support the communities
where it is traditionally grown.
- Okay.
- [Mike] So for example, quinoa in the areas
in which that's farmed,
not many of the communities get to actually eat it anymore
because they've been priced out of it.
Aduna the brand of this particular Fonio,
they ensure that a large quantity of the Fonio
is kept back for the people who produce it
and need it from those local communities.
- So the dish you're eating is from Senegal.
It's kind of a mafee
which is the peanut and lamb and okra stew.
- How good is it by the way?
Isn't it amazing? - That's outstanding.
- [Ben] And the grains have a look,
couldn't be easier to cook.
Much like couscous, you can do it in a microwave
or in a pan.
It's basically absorption method.
- Knowing that it's as easy to do as the alternatives
but it's also potentially doing something
to help the local communities where it's grown,
it's got that story.
It's got that ethical stance behind that.
That does make it a really interesting alternative.
- It is a grass but unlike couscous it's gluten-free.
It's ideal to be grown in areas of drought
especially as we get into more climate change, even more so.
And it grows in places where there aren't pests
because it's so arid
that it doesn't need things like pesticides.
So it ticks a lot of boxes.
- Dare I say, I think I prefer it to couscous.
I think I just love how light it is.
- Well, let's talk price.
- Hmm?
- So that's a 250 gramme bag.
Now, if we give you a benchmark for something like quinoa
of the same weight, you're looking at about one pound, 80.
- Three pounds.
- One pound 50.
- 3 pound 50.
- Okay. - [Ben] For that bag.
However, there's about 10 portions in there
because when you cook it, it fluffs a real deal.
I just cooked 50 grammes and that was ample
for you and Barry.
- So for me, that's still fairly, fairly cheap
but what makes up a big, big part of your meal.
- [Ben] Is it worth the fame or just another grain?
- Worthy of fame.
- Worth the fame for me.
I'll go out and buy a packet of that.
- That's a clean sweep.
- You like them all.
- I love them all, they're brilliant
- So over to you guys. You've seen four trends today.
Which of those would you love to give a try?
- Also if you seen any cool food trends up and coming
that you'd like to share with us, comment them down below.
- Plus if you keep an eye out on Twitter,
we're gonna start to upload some of these food trends
before we film them to get all of your thoughts and opinions
that we can put into the video.
- Please do continue to share your opinions
whether or not you agree with us.
We're a big community.
We want to talk.
We should talk about everything
and we should be willing to change our opinions as we learn
- Folio.
Hmm interesting.
(static)
- [Ben] First do the King's one.
(Mike laughing)