The American Culinary Federation National Convention included an educational summit and opportunities to try different foods. Photo by Jesse Garrett

“Food, Glorious Food” was the opening song in the hit Broadway musical “Oliver!” as well as the award-winning movie by the same name. Yes, food can be well worth singing about, especially if it tastes good.

Since it’s a biological necessity, interest in food is universal, but food preferences vary widely throughout the U.S. and the world, and trends change.

Ed Manley, president emeritus of the International Food Service Executives Association, founded in 1901, has watched the evolution of food choices over many years. He’s also president of his own company, the Foodservice Institute, as well as president of the Veteran’s Support Network, all based in Las Vegas.

It’s hard to know exactly how many chefs there are in Las Vegas, but Manley estimates at least 2,000. What he’s hearing from the ones he stays in touch with is that diners now seem to want to get back to basics. They’re tired of overly fancy food and less enamored of French cooking and plates of amuse-bouche: one-ounce bites that are more decorative than substantive. They want food that tastes good and is presented well, but the trend is toward heartier meals and more familiar food.

Manley feels it’s especially true for conferences or conventions. People come from not only all over the country, but from other countries as well, many of whom are not used to eating fancy food, he says.

“Don’t spend a lot of catering money trying to out-fancy them. Attendees are there for the training and exhibits and perhaps shopping for products or vendors, not for small portions of gourmet this and that,” says Manley.

There’s a bell curve to everything, including chefs, ranging from not great to superb with a wide swatch of reasonably good in the middle. For that reason, Manley advises anyone in charge of a conference or convention to make sure to taste the food being proposed before booking a chef.

That’s relatively common knowledge, but what isn’t, he says, is that chefs will often “fancy up” what they make for their own creative satisfaction, but that isn’t what people are looking for these days.

Manley suggests making sure items on the menu are appealing, but not what you’d get at a $200 dinner. Some people are used to eating that sort of a meal, he says, but a lot of people aren’t. “Now if you’ve got all rich people at your event, then all bets are off, and by all means do the fancy food.”

For the upcoming chef’s convention, Manley and the other planners will be pulling out the stops. Chefs are accustomed to eating free from their own commercial kitchens, so the food has to be very high-end to impress them, he says.

But if it’s regular folks, he suggests that finding out as much as possible about where they’re from — whether they are mostly from the East Coast, Midwest or West Coast — and what they do for a living will help point both planner and chef toward what food they’re likely to want.

Depending on the average age group of attendees, the menu will by necessity vary. “An AARP convention will require a different menu than for the hall full of 20-somethings you had last week for a different convention.” It’s also increasingly important to be aware of food allergies and gluten intolerance.

In terms of trends, Manley says that fish is really popular these days. “Back in the day, it was beef, beef, beef, beef, but people have kind of gone off that, and they’re tired of chicken. I would say seafood options probably are more popular today.”

Christopher Tanner, executive director of operations for the American Culinary Federation (ACF), is both a 30-year member and the first federation member to lead the organization. Based in Jacksonville, FL, his depth of experience, formal culinary education and ACF leadership combine to make Tanner one of the foremost authorities in the country on food trends.

He began his career working in restaurants, clubs and hotels. From there he leapt ahead, becoming corporate executive chef for the Americas division of Campbell Soup Company, where he led the culinary research-and-development team for their retail product lines, including all soup brands, as well as Pace, Prego, Swanson, V8 and Pepperidge Farms, which are also a part of Campbell’s.

Later, he developed products for Griffith Foods in Chicago and Rubix Foods in Jacksonville, introducing trends — such as taco kits, rotisserie chicken, adding pimento cheese to sandwiches, and garlic sauce and ghost pepper sauce for french fries — to big-name quick-service restaurants.

In addition to his imposing experience, Tanner says he earned an associate degree “to learn how to cook, a bachelor’s in Business Administration to learn how to make money cooking, and a master’s degree from Boston University in Gastronomy and the history and sociology of food to understand why people eat what they eat.”

Things have noticeably changed during his 30-year career. When he first started in the industry, green bell peppers were available, but red and yellow bell peppers were exotic. Button mushrooms were available, but shiitake mushrooms were exotic. Now, he says, you can pretty much get whatever you want.

More recently, pre-COVID and post-COVID food choices changed dramatically. New foods were being embraced at a steady pace, but when COVID hit, everyone wanted comfort food they could eat at home.

Food trends are finally headed in new directions again, he says, and he’s optimistic about international flavors being embraced. “It’s still comfort food, but with a global twist.”

America has always been a melting pot, and it’s true now more than ever, Tanner believes. In graduate school, he learned that every time there’s a conflict somewhere in the world, people from those conflict areas come to the United States and bring what they eat with them.

He says there is a common arc in the diets of newcomers to the country. The first generation eats what they ate where they came from. The second generation, born in the U.S., wants to Americanize and eat what’s popular here, but the third generation starts to re-embrace their family heritage and identify not just as Americans but as a blend of both their present culture and culture of origin.

Now, with conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, he’s seeing trends in those cuisines. He’s also seen a 10-year direction toward more authentic Chinese food and regionalized Chinese cuisine from individual provinces, instead of the Americanized Chinese takeout menu that’s everywhere.

“Now you’re seeing Szechuan restaurants and Cantonese restaurants. Dim sum is huge, and Indian cuisine is gaining popularity. It’s ethnic flavors we’re talking about.”

In 2024, ACF launched its first trend report. The second trend report was released in January 2025, and Tanner offered a sneak peek.

Surprisingly, one of the trends he’s seeing is pizza. Although one might think that pizza has never not been a trend, Tanner calls it a global pizza renaissance. Originally, he says, pizza was Italian, and New York pizza was the benchmark, but then it became Americanized and was the same everywhere. Now, the trend is toward regional pizza styles being offered everywhere.

“Here in Jacksonville, I can get Detroit pizza and Sicilian pizza. I can get Grandma’s pizza which is a Brooklyn thing. I can get St. Louis pizza which has a Midwest cracker crust, and I can get any type of California pizza. Then there’s New Haven, CT, pizza, which is a coal-fired, thin-crust Neapolitan pizza, and Chicago has at least three styles of pizza including deep-dish, stuffed and thin crust.”

Tanner has the opportunity each year to try out the trends he sees at ACF’s national convention. Held in Phoenix in 2024, this year, it will move to Las Vegas, where he will host 1,200 attendees and 150 booths, as well as national competitions for pastry chef of the year and other titles. ACF also holds a MasterCraft Summit series each year in selected cities. The Barbecue Culinary Summit arrives in March to Overland Park, KS.

Douglas Ramirez, director of special events at the Entertainment Community Fund (formally known as The Actors Fund), also has his finger on the pulse of event food trends. He ought to; he oversees planning 60 to 80 events a year.

Held coast to coast, from New York City to L.A. and multiple cities in between, events range in size from private dinners for eight or 10 people, to their annual star-studded gala.

The Fund’s mission is to support those who work in theater, film, television, radio, music, dance, opera and circus, whether on stage, on camera or behind the scenes. Headquartered as it is in NYC, their events often include Broadway shows and sometimes pre- or post-show receptions, such as the Fund’s one-night-only “Ragtime In Concert” celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Tony-winning musical’s Broadway premiere.

Tickets for the Fund’s gala in April sell for $1,750 per person, including a full dinner with appetizers, main course and dessert served to 800 guests.

There aren’t many venues able to hold that many people with unrestricted sight lines, Ramirez says, which is why the Times Square Marriott Marquis has been selected as the Fund’s official hotel. In addition to a huge ballroom with a built-in stage, it also provides a complete lighting package that turns the ballroom into a theater. He says, “Because of who we are, we make sure the gala is short on speeches but long on talent. We always have lots of performances from Broadway shows plus singers and comedians. It’s a very, very fun night.”

One of the most significant trends, Ramirez says, is the need for event planners to make sure they offer enough food variety to cover the dietary restrictions and requirements of their attendees. “Everything from meat-and-potatoes kind of people who want a hearty meal, to more sophisticated tastes. But you have to remember that you’ll also need vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options,” he says.

He has to grapple with that at all of the Fund’s events, but it’s especially challenging at the gala. Although Ramirez and his staff makes an effort to find out in advance if ticket buyers have dietary restrictions, it’s not always easy, especially when people purchase tables for a group whose guest list is unknown. “Upon being served, there will always be someone who asks if there are any alternatives because they’re vegetarian or gluten-intolerant or have some other dietary issue.”

To cope with that, he works with the culinary team to secure alternative main courses in advance. Like Manley, Ramirez finds it’s essential to have a fish option at the ready. Aside from the logistical challenge of providing all those options, it’s expensive and puts a financial strain on charitable nonprofits in particular.

Now that the pandemic is over, it’s not surprising that he’s also seeing a trend toward experiential food. Artisanal cocktails are all the rage. Given his audience of highly creative individuals, he’s finding that, especially in New York, one-night-only curated culinary experiences are extremely popular with true foodies. “You’ll have a chef who’s eager to try something unique that’s maybe a little outside the paradigm or brand of the restaurant where they work,” says Ramirez.

Or it might be a mixologist or even a florist. Smoked drinks weren’t a thing until someone decided to experiment by putting a cocktail and a source of smoke under a cloche just to see what would happen, and now they’re all the rage.

Sarah Higgins, member education and events director for the New York State Restaurant Association located in Albany, NY, hosts five signature events a year, ranging from 150 to 300 attendees, as well as a variety of regional events.

One of the association’s notable occasions is their hospitality summit, which is held in partnership with the New York State Hospitality and Tourism Association and taken to various locations across the state.

She agrees with Manley and Ramirez that awareness of food sensitivities and allergies is crucial. In order to be accommodating and prevent guests from feeling awkward about having to ask what’s in the food, she lists ingredients of both plated and buffet offerings.

Another trend Higgins is seeing is a subtle but noticeable move toward nonalcoholic beverages. “If we offer a signature cocktail at an event, I want to make sure we also have a signature nonalcoholic cocktail. We want to be as inclusive as possible.”

She sees another trending direction: awareness and concern about food waste, with a goal of reducing the carbon footprint. Although practices toward that end have yet to be put into place in her organization, she’s looking toward moving in that direction in 2025 and 2026. “We believe it’s globally important,” she says.

Along with most meeting planners, inflation is making Higgins’ job more challenging. “Like everyone else, we’re trying to be mindful of where our money is going. Food costs have gone up so much that we’re all having to be more frugal while at the same time trying not to skimp on what our audience gets to eat.”  | AC&F |