Expect to see global flavors continue to influence menu trends, artificial intelligence use to alter dishes and menus, and protein and GLP-1 drugs reshape restaurant offerings in 2026. That’s according to the 23rd annual Baum + Whiteman Food and Restaurant Trends Forecast for 2026.

Specifically, the report forecasts a higher profile for cardamon, kimchi, “warm” spices, Caribbean and upscale Indian cuisine and regional wine bars and coffee houses.

“Most of the ethnic food we eat is pretty spicy because vast numbers of people are coming from palm-tree countries, so that’s in large measure influencing what we eat, and we all have become national ‘pepperheads,’” said Michael Whiteman, president of the food and restaurant consulting company. “You can do an interesting exercise, which I did a few years ago, but you can go to any of the food websites … and get the top 50 restaurants of the year — in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans — and what you’ll discover is what you used to call the American restaurant is somewhere fourth or fifth down the list.”

The global menu trend includes the addition of “warm spices,” such as cardamon, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, which Whiteman called “just as valid” as the others because they add flavor to a dish without a lot of heat.

Emerging cuisines

The report identified a surge of upscale Indian, new-wave Caribbean and international steakhouses as consumers seek new flavors and unusual food and beverage experiences.

The high-end Indian restaurants are moving from England and feature menus “unambiguously flavorful and regionally focused,” according to the report.

Caribbean ingredients and dishes are branching out from immigrant communities and appearing in menus featuring tropical staples such as roti, guava, plantains and jerk seasonings.

On the steakhouse side, some with “serious ethnic menus” are expanding by combining the familiar US steakhouse menu with an international one, according to the forecast. The results are premium Mexican, Argentine, Korean and Japanese steakhouses and Thai, Chinese and Israeli chophouses.

Integrating AI into menus

The forecast sees AI applications breaking further into the food and restaurant space and mentions the technology’s ability to come up with a menu item in six seconds. The tool also may address consumers using weight-loss drugs.

“If I were a restaurateur, I could ask AI to look at my menu and recommend three dishes that would be suitable for people who are on Wegovy, and I have every confidence that AI would have given me a good response, and generally AI would then ask me further if I’d like recipes for these dishes,” Whiteman said.

He noted that some positives about the technology for chefs who may be “lying awake nights wondering what (they’re) going to do with this weight-loss thing” include saving time, money and reducing food waste.

Restaurant companies, including big chains, are trying to address the GLP-1 issue, Whiteman said, and it’s likely to require menu overhauls and different messaging to acknowledge users of the medications without leaving out others.

“I don’t think anybody has made a big move yet in terms of redoing their menus, and it’s an issue that’s difficult to come to grips with because you really don’t want to have a section on the menu that says, ‘Here’s for GLP-1 users,’ so I think it’s going to take some innovation in developing the proper messaging,” he said, adding, “You might have a section called ‘high-protein bites,’ but you can’t distort what a menu is supposed to do by calling too much attention to that because there’s all the rest of us.”

Allergen and ingredient alerts

Menus in some California restaurants will be carrying allergen alerts starting next July, and chain restaurant menus in New York are currently posting symbols indicating excess sugar or excess salt, according to the report.

Whiteman said it’s an example of increasing state and local regulations that often target fast food.

“If you walk into a fast-food restaurant and there’s a dish with excess sugar in it or excess salt, there will be a symbol on the menu for it,” he said. “That symbol has to be no smaller than the largest letter describing the dish.”

If a diner wants to learn more, the New York law requires the restaurant to have an app describing the symbol, he said.

Whiteman said the internet “causes a lot of panic and fads” when it comes to food, and we’re currently seeing some of that play out with the ongoing controversies over seed oils and vegetable oils and how they and other food products are processed.

“I have two children, and when I’m with them and their friends, I discover that they really don’t understand processed food,” he said. “They don’t understand the difference between processed food that’s okay to eat and processed food that’s not.”

Reflections on evolving trends

In 23 years of producing the forecasts through travel, reading and research, Whiteman said the most profound change he’s seen is less freedom for consumers to choose where and what to eat.

“This sounds counterintuitive, but 23 years ago, consumers were making their own discoveries, egged on by the then-limited food media,” he said. “Since then, the tsunami of bloggers, critics, pseudo-critics, reservation apps, TikTok and influencers have exerted such a gravitational pull on the eating-out market that consumers aren’t aware how their choices have been subliminally predetermined, and this is one of the reasons why menus today are discouragingly similar."

Source: Cathy Siegner, Food Business News