What's In & What's Out for 2026

Okay hipsters, here's the gear you either need to be getting on to, or be getting off of.

In

“Support Farmers not Pharma” – Jacinta Dalton’s vital path to wellness.

Thursdays – Who can wait for Friday?

Protein counts – What the young people are reading.

Cinéma vérité – We’re talking Instagram Reels.

Substack – Simon Harris, Keir Starmer, Kamila Harris et al are Stackers now.

Neven – The Global Domination Phase has begun.

Everything – on everything. Why settle for less than everything spice?

Black Chickpeas – kala channa has fibre, iron, protein, and they’re chic.

Rare Breeds – You’re back to eating meat, but you only eat Moiled and Wagyu now.

Fine-Dining Freezer – Defrosting starry chefs food is here.

Female Farmers – Doing it all, and better.

Brazil – Get ready to be a Lulista.

Limes – Because Brazil.

Biohacking – Common sense really.

Gravy – But not granules, please.

Fibermaxxing – This year’s protein.

Zero Proof Cocktails – the Faux 75, not the French 75.

Tomato kimchi – Maximalising every single taste.

Nostalgia – Mammy knew how to do it just right.

Multi-sensory dining – How’s That gonna work?

Cultural Storytelling – Getting the history and the heritage onto the plate.

Out

Fridays – Sorry, exhausted after Thursday.

Focaccia – Nope. Now it’s Strazzata or Sfincione; Messinese or Azzano.

The Breakfast Buffet – We live in hope.

Dubai Chocolate – Everything Dubai is out, actually.

Vegan Restaurants – Suddenly and all at once.

AI – The dream turns out to have been just hype.

Caviar – No longer cool.

Pre-made cocktails – Nope. Get them made for you, and in front of you.

Qr Code Menus – You have to spell it out for us.

Petrol Station dining – The forecourt got rolled over by the food truck.

Influencer Scoffing – No-one has ever looked good putting food in their mouth.

Mince Pies – See you again next year!

The Coolest Thing we saw all year…

Spotted at The Coop, Ballydehob, just off the N71 in West Cork: Ogham bread scoring

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year, and thank you for reading The Irish Stew.

Here’s our New Year Playlist - Songs about Time.