Like every year, 2024 was a year of trends. We had Brat Summer, the Olympics, and Wicked, just to name a few cultural phenomenons. But in the food world, there were also plenty of trends. It felt like every week, there was a new recipe or food product taking over my feed. It was almost hard to keep up with how many new trends were emerging. Suddenly, everyone on TikTok was a chef and dabbling into new recipes and creations. Some of these trends looked delicious, some seemed intriguing, and some were just outright unappealing. Although I wasn’t able to try every single trend that emerged in the past year, I’ve seen enough TikToks and posts to know which ones were the best, and which ones need to go. I’ve ranked this year’s top food trends, from best to worst, based on how likely I’d be to try them.
1. Cucumber Salad
The best food trend of 2024 was started with just a few words: sometimes you just need to eat a whole cucumber. I’m talking about the cucumber salad trend. People were slicing an entire cucumber into a jar and then adding various ingredients to make different variants of a cucumber salad. It was started by TikToker Logan Moffitt, but soon people were taking his recipe and adding their own twist to it.
People made all different kinds of cucumber salad with so many creative ingredients. One of my favorite recipes is by TikToker Abby Baffoe. She adds soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, toasted sesame oil, garlic, chili oil, and sesame seeds. It’s spicy and savoury and mirrors the iconic Din Tai Fung cucumber salad. There were California roll cucumber salads, feta cheese cucumber salads, and even peanut butter cucumber salads.
Cucumber salads take the number one spot for the best food trends of 2024 because of how creative people can get with it. And, in my opinion, it’s so much more than a trend: cucumber salad has become a staple side dish for so many people.
2. Dirty Soda
After The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives came out, everyone became obsessed with dirty soda. Dirty soda had been a popular beverage in Utah, where there is a large Mormon population. Mormons, who are a part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, are not allowed to drink coffee or alcohol, so they drink dirty sodas.
Dirty sodas consist of soda and cream, as well as different flavored syrups and sometimes even juice. In Utah, there are dirty soda chain stores, like Swig and Sodalicious. But, this year, people took it upon themselves to make their own dirty soda at home.
Ex-mormon TikToker Nicole Mitchell shared how she makes her dirty sodas at home. She uses Dr. Pepper, lime juice, coconut coffee creamer, and some vanilla syrup. It’s essentially a DIY version of the Texas Tab, a drink you can order at Swig. You can make dirty soda with any soda, though, like Sprite, Mountain Dew, or Fanta. You can also use any flavor of creamer, like French vanilla or caramel.
Protein Diet Coke, a variant of dirty soda, also went viral a few months ago. Meredith Hayden (or Wishbone Kitchen on TikTok) became obsessed with making Protein Diet Cokes. It’s just a mixture of Diet Coke and protein shake, and according to Hayden, it’s pure deliciousness. Like other dirty sodas, it tastes similar to rootbeer float.
Dirty sodas are a trend from this year that I think is going to stick around for a while, if not forever. They’re delicious, and you can make them at home with a few simple ingredients.
3. Girl Dinner
Girl Dinner is a term that has become a permanent part of my vocabulary. TikToker Olivia Maher coined the term, referring to a minimal-effort meal that typically consists of cheese or crackers. Her video went viral, and soon, everyone was eating girl dinner and posting it.
Girl dinner is the opposite of what’s considered a typical dinner: it doesn’t contain your necessary food groups, and honestly, it can be a little strange. TikToker Danielle Fewings’ girl dinner consists of string cheese, strawberries, and a hard boiled egg. Another popular girl dinner is plain pasta with butter and cheese. I know I’ve had that one quite a few times.
Girl dinner earns the number three spot on my list because for me, girl dinner is a lifestyle. I was eating girl dinners before it was even called girl dinner. I will forever be a fan of girl dinner.
4. Nara Smith
Nara Smith blew up on TikTok for being the queen of making things from scratch. From yogurt to Takis to Coca Cola, Smith can literally cook anything and everything. People became obsessed with her ASMR-like cooking videos, where she cooked homemade gourmet meals from scratch for her famous model husband and their children.
People on TikTok became inspired by her commitment to making things that would be easier to just buy at the store in her own kitchen. Some people even dressed as her for Halloween, like TikToker Gabrielle Pope. She posted a parody of one of Smith’s tutorials, making cookies out of Hallowen candy for her imaginary toddlers. Her impression is so good, I thought it was Smith herself when I first saw it.
Nara Smith lands near the top on this year’s ranking of food trends, because not only did her meals look delicious, but they also inspired so many people to put down their Grubhub app and use their own kitchen.
5. Moscow Mule Nails
Obviously, this is not a food item, but a beauty trend with a foodie name. Moscow Mule nails were the premiere nail design this fall. It’s essentially a brown chrome manicure, but it was given the name Moscow Mule because it mimicked the copper color of the iconic Moscow Mule glass.
TikToker Noor Hamouda coined the term Moscow Mule nails, and soon enough, they were taking over nail salons everywhere. Even the nail polish brand OPI had to hop on the trend, showing off its new Metallica Mega Mix polish collection.
Personally, I’m a huge fan of the Moscow Mule nail trend, and I hope it never goes out of style. It’s the perfect color for fall, and the chrome adds some extra sparkle. I predict there will be more food-related nail trends next year. After all, 2023 was the year of strawberry milk nails.
6. Swedish Candy
Swedish candy was all the talk earlier this year. I mean, every other video on my For You Page was someone trying treats from BonBon, the viral Swedish candy company. Soon, other candy companies were making their own versions of the candy.
TikToker Hallie Walker got her hands on a bag of Swedish candy from the BonBon location in New York City and gave it a try. Although she wasn’t a fan of the chocolates, she enjoyed the blue raspberry gummies and the texture of the iconic Bubs candy. TikToker Christina Kirkman was a fan of the candies before they went viral. Her favorite are the sour skulls, which she says she can eat a whole bag of. She argues that Swedish candy is superior to American candy, and so many people agree.
While I am not a candy lover, I have to admit that the Swedish candy TikToks have always made my mouth water. They just look so satisfying to eat, and the colors are so cute and aesthetic.
7. Olympic Chocolate Muffin
Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen introduced the Olympic Village’s chocolate muffin to TikTok during the Paris 2024 Olympics this summer. He posted a TikTok reviewing some of the foods he ate at the Olympic Village and rated the chocolate muffin an 11 out of 10. Soon, he became known as the “muffin man,” and people were just dying to get their hands on an Olympic chocolate muffin.
Since the average person is not an Olympic athlete and therefore does not have access to the original chocolate muffin, people started to get creative and made their own recipes recreating the iconic muffin. TikTok chef Danielle Sepsy created a recipe that almost perfectly mimics the original muffin Christiansen fell in love with at the Olympic Village. Some bakeries were actually able to get their hands on the actual muffins, like Isshiki Matcha in New York. It had a one-day pop-up sale over the summer where it sold the iconic muffins.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to hop onto this trend and try the delicious, chocolatey muffin, but I was living through Christiansen and the rest of the internet. Maybe one day the Olympic chocolate muffins will be permanently available in America, but one can only dream.
8. Dubai Chocolate
Dubai chocolate, also known as Fix Chocolate bar, went viral over the summer. Created by Sarah Hamouda, Dubai chocolate is essentially a milk chocolate bar filled with pistachio filling and kunafa, a traditional Middle Eastern dessert. Before it even became available outside of Dubai, people online were infatuated with how satisfying it was: the crunchy sound of the chocolate breaking and the thick, green pistachio filling got millions of views.
TikToker Sara Saadia tried the viral chocolate bar in Dubai, and she described it as phenomenal. The inside is super fluffy, but the outside is thin, crisp chocolate. Soon enough, stores outside of Dubai began selling dupes of the chocolate bar, and people even began making them at home, like TikToker Lily Huynh.
Although I’ve never had the chance to try the Dubai chocolate bar, just from the looks of it, I can see why people like it. I’m not the biggest fan of pistachio or chocolate, so I don’t think it’s for me. Even if it doesn’t taste amazing, the feeling of breaking it and seeing that green filling would be enough to satisfy me.
9. Dense Bean Salad
DBS, or Dense Bean Salad, took TikTok by storm this year. TikToker Violet Witchel is credited as the creator of this protein-filled, creative trend.
Witchel’s TikTok has a variety of Dense Bean Salad recipes with different flavors and ingredients, from marinated feta to steak chimichurri to balsamic Mediterranean. Her creative takes on the Dense Bean Salad inspired followers to create their own variations, like TikToker Madison Miranda, who created a miso dressing for her Dense Bean Salad. People began meal prepping Dense Bean Salads for the week, just like Witchel does.
While I love everyone’s creativity with the Dense Bean Salad, I just can’t get behind the bean aspect of it. I’m not a bean lover, and that’s OK. Plus, I can’t see myself eating the same thing for lunch everyday, especially if it has beans.
10. Onion Boil
An onion boil, in my opinion, is disgusting as it sounds. Even as an onion lover, I can’t imagine eating a hollowed out onion stuffed with butter and covered in seasoning. The trend was popularized by Mimi Baretelaa, who uses a yellow onion, avocado oil, garlic salt and powder, paprika, turmeric, and butter in her recipe.
After Baretelaa’s TikTok went viral, other creators tried their own take on the recipe, like @bigpapahannah, who uses Vidalia sweet onions instead of the classic yellow onion. She also uses Old Bay seasoning and Simply spicy spice garlic herb lemon pepper for an extra kick. TikToker Steph Pappas instantly fell in love with the onion boil after trying it, and she even topped hers off with a homemade garlic concoction.
In some TikToks, the onion boil does look appealing, like in Pappas’ video. But then I remember it’s just an onion stuffed with butter that was baked in the oven, and I get the ick. I don’t think I’ll ever be brave enough to try it, but I commend those who do.