Food and drink predictions for 2017

What will be the biggest food trends of 2017?

Fish heads. Sounds sexy doesn't it? Also fish collars, throats and livers. These secondary fish bits are a harder sell than boneless fillets, but in the hands of a skilled chef become highly delicious. Look for the English muffin with John Dory liver and stonefruit chutney at Saint Peter, in Sydney's Paddington.

Meanwhile, massive steaks are fast becoming extinct. As cattle prices increase due to Asia's growing appetite for Australian beef, restaurants and pubs will serve smaller steaks of better quality meat instead of slabs the size of Eddie McGuire's ego.

Also on the up: natural Australian wine, particularly natural Australian wine from the Adelaide Hills. Pho will continue its world domination. Vodka will become the new gin as small-batch producers prove the spirit can be more than flavourless rocket fuel. And the Uber-isation of food will see the opening of more no-seats restaurants catering exclusively to the home delivery market.

What will reach saturation point?

Extreme eating. That is, hyper-health focused food versus indulgent junk. For every kale smoothie posted on social media there's a fat-dripping halal snack-pack. For every activated almond consumed by Pete Evans' flock, someone else is finishing a bucket of fried chicken. 2017 will see the extremes subside and balance restored to the food force.

What will take its last breath?

The freakshake. The most insipid food trend of the last 10 years will be the first victim in the decline of extreme eating. It takes a special kind of talent vacuum to top a dodgy milkshake with pretzels, whipped cream and supermarket lollies.

What would you like to see?

An end to the coldroom war between craft-beer-drinkers and VB-guzzlers. Judging someone for their choice of beer is dumb. "I can't believe you drink Melbourne Bitter - it's mass produced swill." "Yeah? Well I can't believe you can drink that double-hopped Barfinator 3000 that smells like someone spewed in a footy sock." It's beer! Embrace it and cheers the person next to you like Australians have been doing for more than 200 years.

Melbourne food trend predictions

What are the It foods?

The fondness for food combining will continue: look out for naan pizza and banh mi bruschetta. Poke (say poh-kay) is a raw fish salad with rice and vegetables – think of it as sushi that's bowled, not rolled. It's Japanese-inspired, big in Hawaii and about to hit Melbourne in a major way. Check out the advance guard: Poked and the Poke Time food truck, which does versions with beef and chicken, and expect to see poke pop up at cafes all over town.

What am I going to be eating this year?

More vegetables and less meat. Driven by cost, environmental concerns and creative, celebratory approaches to vegetables, many chefs are turning away from meat, or at least using it more thoughtfully. Look to cafes like Higher Ground, where most dishes are vegetable and seafood-based, pumping vegan restaurants like Smith and Daughters, and fine dining restaurants such as Attica and Woodland House which ensure vegetarians and vegans feel like first-class diners.

Who's foodie and famous and coming to town?

Expect much hoo-ha for the World's 50 Best announcement of top restaurants, here in April for its first trip to the southern hemisphere. Melbourne Food and Wine has shifted the dates of its 25th festival to coincide and Fairfax is pitching in, too, making it a triple whammy of star chef events and tasty sideshow action. Big names include US chefs Grant Achatz and Wylie Dufresne, Peruvian powerhouse Gaston Acurio and cheeky Japanese master Zaiyu Hasegawa.

DANI VALENT

Drinking trends

Is whisky the new beer?

Beer consumption is at a near-70-year low (although the craft market is growing at 30 per cent annually and now has a 5 per cent hold overall), while craft spirits spike. Whisky leads that charge, with Hawthorn's The Kilburn and Boilermaker House (CUB) examples of where the bar sits in Melbourne. And with two notable December launches – Starward's new bar and distillery in Port Melbourne; and The Elsyian on Brunswick Street, a collaboration of two former Whisky & Alement bartenders – whisky's golden (sorry, amber) run looks set to continue.

Can we go back to cocktails being just a fancy way of combining booze, ice and juice?

Unlikely. In this age of Instagram, reality cooking and premium booze, it's de rigueur that bartenders – or is that bar chefs? – inject a dash of the daring. Theatre accompanies the making and shaking, with drinks set to be even more experimental – think glitter, smoke and fluorescent – and a sharper focus on the use of scent to plug into drinkers' moods and memories. In an industry of shifting sands, look for the "micro-friendship" trend – where barkeeps seek to befriend clientele in the half hour it takes them to down a cocktail – to grow.

Could the "brewpub" become the new norm?

If we're going by US trends – which dictate many of ours – then, yes. America has hundreds of brewpubs (a venue that serves beer brewed onsite) and it's anticipated that more local pubs will adopt the practice. The fast-growing crowds at the likes of Melbourne's Bad Shepherd in Cheltenham and Stomping Ground in Collingwood are testament to their popularity. Expect small-scale outfits, like the Henry Street Brewhouse in Kensington, to keep popping up, too.

DANIEL LEWIS