It's easy to dismiss trends as passing fancies, fleeting fads which come and go. It might be true of some, particularly those which blow up on social media (cloud bread, butter boards and nacho tables, we're looking at you), but others are more enduring, introducing us – and chefs – to new ingredients and recipes that become favourites, or altering the way we think about how and what we eat. Take nose-to-tail dining – though that's now an ingrained part of how we cook, at one point there were a handful of chefs (notably, of course, Fergus Henderson) pioneering what could have then been described as a trend.

As Christmas rolls around, we like to look at what we think will be the food trends of the year ahead. It's difficult to know what's on the path ahead, particularly in such turbulent times, but over the years we've forecast the rise of open fire cooking, Japanese cuisine and plant-based fine dining options. Last year, we even asked our chefs to share their thoughts on what might lie ahead; at the time, Shuko Oda expected to see more seaweed being weaved into menus, while Tom Booton believed we'd see the continued rise of laminated breads (both were, of course, right).

As 2023 comes to a close, we're back once again to peer into the culinary crystal ball and give you an idea of the trends you might be spotting while you're eating out in 2024 – hopefully, you might even be inspired to recreate some of them at home. 

While chefs might have traditionally relied on artisan charcutiers, more are reviving the art of curing and smoking and bringing their charcuterie-making in-house. Though there are veterans of the practice (Kuba Winkowski among them – see his recipes for 'nduja, a fatty, fiery spreadable Italian sausage – a great place to start if you want to cure meat at home), it's a shift that's been gaining pace in recent years. At Ollie Dabbous' HIDE in Piccadilly, there's home-cured goose with sage and fenugreek, saddleback pork with fennel and black pepper and cecina on the menu, while up in Edinburgh, Stuart Ralston's Lyla weaves home-cured trout charcuterie into a chawanmushi (Japanese egg custard) dish. Back in London, Smithfield's Origin City, which opened in summer, cures all its charcuterie in-house, and, over in Newington Green, wine bar and restaurant Cadet – where the kitchen is helmed by Jamie Smart – is co-owned by charcutier George Jephson, guaranteeing a steady supply of all things delicious. Tempted to try your own? Don't miss our guide to making your own pastrami.

Our appreciation of the nuances of and differences between the cooking of China's provinces (and, importantly, how far removed dishes often are from the Anglicised interpretations served here) has blossomed over the last couple of decades; today, we have a much clearer understanding of what characterises Cantonese, Fujian and Sichuan styles, for example (read Andrew Wong's guide to the coutry's regional cooking here). But there's always more to discover, and in 2024 we expect to see the Yunnan region move to the forefront. In the southwest of the country, bordering Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos, its cuisine is vastly varied, though not what we might expect from Chinese cooking; instead, there are fermented, sour dishes reminiscent of Thai cuisine, brimming with the area's abundance of natural produce. Among its most popular dishes are historic guoqiao (crossing the bridge) noodle soups, which come with a layer of insulating chicken fat on top. Yun Cross Bridge Rice Noodles in Brick Lane, which opened earlier this year, lays claim to serving London's first authentic taste of the dish (though Aldgate's Cloud Land, which opened after, was hot on its heels).

Foraging missions are routine for today's chefs, who are often tuned into nature and adept at weaving the plants, herbs and fruits they scour from the great outdoors into their cooking. With foraging – an extension of the farm to table ethos – here to stay, we're expecting to see chefs elevate lesser-celebrated finds, including pine. The needles are being given a starring role on the menus of chefs like Jackson Boxer (he pairs his with beeswax ice cream), Harriet Mansell and Cal Byerley (who named his Northumberland restaurant, Pine, after it). A forager's dream, pine trees grow across much of the UK all year round; even in the depths of winter when there is little else to find. Their needles add a citrusy, woody flavour to dishes both sweet and savoury and learning a few simple techniques unlocks a huge number of uses – Cal recommends blitzing them into a sugar to add into bakes, a salt for cures or a cocktail addition, while Harriet infuses them into vinegars, oils and creams.

From chilli sauces and kimchi to garums and everything in between, restaurant chefs have developed a collective fascination with fermentation, and for good reason. A pretty simple process, fermentation allows us to completely change an ingredient's flavour without too much effort or hefty kit (if you're looking to experiment, we spoke to Ramael Scully for a beginner's guide). But ferments aren't just confined to the savoury side of things; we're seeing more find their way into desserts, from the chocolate, barley koji and salted milk creation at Stuart's Lyla to the shio koji caramel flavour soft serve at south London's Milk Café and the chocolate, fermented mushroom and spent coffee dessert from Alchemilla's tasting menu in Nottingham. Fancy upping your dessert game at home? Dom Auger's apple tart with koji and hazelnut crumble and tonka bean cream is a great place to start.

Lettuce has played a starring role in a few recent trends, but we're not convinced all of them have staying power – a glass of lettuce water, or handful of lettuce chips, anyone? We might be sceptical, but we do reckon we're going to be seeing more of our iceberg and gem friends in the coming months, as chefs take a typically humble ingredient to new heights, perhaps in the form of American wedge salads (on the menu and blue cheese loaded at 2023 opening Chet's, an American-meets-Thai spot in Shepherd's Bush, as well as London icon St John), or charred and blackened on the barbecue (follow our recipes for grilled lettuce or pressed caesar chicken thighs with charred baby gem). At The Grill at The Dorchester, Tom Booton has been showing his take on a Caesar salad; gem lettuce stuffed with dressing, crostinis, Parmesan and smoked sardines, while at Mauro Colagreco at Raffles, a dish of local red oak lettuce, smoked fish and vermouth sauce gives the greenery top billing over the fish in its name; Lettuce. And we can't forget Chantelle Nicholson's London red butterhead lettuce starter at Apricity; the leaves studded with crispy kale, miso aioli, shallot and floral garnishes, it's a real celebration of greenery.

We can't get enough of open fire cooking and, thankfully, chefs are more than happy to feed the fire, with charcoal and wood grills now common sights in restaurants, from Andrew Clarke and Daniel Watkins' Acme Fire Cult to Cynthia Shanmugalingam's Sri-Lankan Rambutan and Tomos Parry's Basque-Country-meets-Wales-inspired Mountain. With barbecue culture thankfully here to stay, we reckon we'll continue to see chefs pushing the boundaries and, in particular, introducing charcoal burning to their menus. Peter Sanchez-Iglesias used technique during his time on Great British Menu, and Jan Ostle does so in his herb sorbet with burnt meringue dish, in which he brands meringue with a red hot coal of bintochan, a Japanese charcoal. The Ledbury, meanwhile, has a Meyer lemon curd dessert on which includes charcoal-burnt Madagascan pepper and roasted yeast meringue and a granita of burnt honey and lemon.

Sourdough has certainly proved it's much more than a fad, clinging onto its popularity far beyond the pandemic – when there was a starter in every other home – and becoming a national favourite. But we think 2024 might be the year that ancient grains nudge it off the top spot, thanks in part to their (in most cases) lack of gluten, perceived health benefits and eco-friendly nature (they are generally hardier and thrive with lower levels of pesticides and irrigation). Having gone largely unchanged – and unrefined – for thousands of years, ancient grains – which include the likes of millet, spelt, rye, teff, freekeh and barley – are having something of a revival, appearing in breads, pancakes, bakes and cereals, as well as stews and salads. With independent bakeries like TOAD, The Dusty Knuckle and Fortitude in the capital and many others further field hitting an all-time high popularity-wise, we wouldn't be surprised to see more bringing ancient grains into their bakes, as the likes of Jolene (fifty ancient varieties go into their flour) and sister Big Jo in London are already known for, alongside pasta spot Pastaio, which uses British ancient grains. Spelt in particular has a fan in Clare Smyth, of three-star Core by Clare Smyth, who has written about it in her cookbook. 

We're well-versed in nose-to-tail cooking, a movement which has not only gone some way to make us more sustainable, but also introduced us to cuts of meat we might not have typically tried a decade ago. But its marine cousin is hot on its heels, tapping into a greater awareness of seafood sustainability which, despite its best efforts, still has some way to go to tempt diners away from prized fillets. It may be more commonplace in seafood restaurants, but we expect fin-to-gill dining to be reflected more widely next year, particularly through the appearance of less common parts of the fish on menus; southern-Thai Borough Market spot Kolae is among those adding prawn heads to its menu, for example, in their case fried with turmeric and garlic, while Marylebone's Kima, which opened in August, is all about fin-to-gill grilling, with previous dishes spotlighting fish tails and collar. Chef Masaki Sugisaki, a devotee to fin-to-gill cooking (he uses fish tails, for example, which can be tricky to work with, and turns shellfish into lobster miso) will even be leading a sustainable seafood series next year, asking four similarly-minded chefs from around the UK to cook an omakase dinner at his Dinings SW3.

Despite being a classic cocktail, negronis have enjoyed something of a rebirth in recent years (thanks in no small part to its fifteen minutes of 'a negroni sbagliato, please' fame on TikTok) – if you're yet to be initiated, they are essentially a balance of gin, sweet vermouth and Campari; sweet and bitter, a perfect aperitif. Negronis are unlikely to be dropping off cocktail menus anytime soon, and we're seeing them popping up with fresh new twists – at 65a in Spitalfields, there's a smoking barrel negroni made with Tanqueray barrel and cherrywood smoke, while Dishoom heightens theirs with dark chocolate, pear and cocoa beans and at Notting Hill's Akub, the gin is infused with sage for an extra earthy negroni.

A lot can happen in a year, and we can't wait to see which of these trends really take off in 2024.