Doing it for the gram since 2010.
Instagram is celebrating its 10th birthday this week, and in honour of the occasion, delicious. is rounding up 16 of the biggest viral Instagram food trends from the past decade. Stuff yourself silly on this sweet, delicious, gram-worthy goodness.
Instagram is ten years old! Can you believe it? On one hand, it feels like just yesterday that I discovered it and –– mistakenly believing it was just another photo editing app –– started spamming my friends with over-filtered, grainy, blurry, poorly lit (but beautifully framed) photos. And on the other hand, I can’t imagine life without it. What did we do with our food before Instagram existed? Eat it straight away? How… quaint.
Naturally, there are those who look down their noses at the rainbow square or shake their heads at people who check the gram before they check their messages or emails *raises hand* but there’s no denying the impact that it’s had on food, restaurants and culinary trends.
10 of the biggest Instagram food trends from the past ten years
“We love how Instagram has been home to so many foodie trends over the past ten years,” said Zaac D’Almeida, Instagram Australia Spokesperson.
Instagram is a melting pot for creatives and hub for trends. The image-based platform is often ground zero for new culinary creations, unique perspectives and unusual aesthetics that may not be seen elsewhere. These are some of the biggest foodie moments and trends from the past ten years.
1. Cloud bread
Tasty, fluffy and very aesthetically pleasing? That’s an Instagram trifecta. Like dalgona coffee, pancake cereal and other dishes that rose to prominence during the COVID lockdown period, Cloud bread got its start as a quarantine cooking craze. Even better? It only requires three ingredients.
2. But first, frosé
Just in case you’ve been living under a rock: It’s rosé. But it’s frozen. Frosé spawned a whole family of frozen wine cocktails including frosecco and freezling, but hey, nothing beats the OG.
3. Everything is cake
Everything is cake may be one of the best things that 2020 has given us. The trend, which was inspired by the hyper-realistic work of Turkish food artist Tuba Geckil, picked up speed with the COVID quarantine baking craze and really hit its peak around June or July, with soap cakes and toilet roll cakes. It also spawned some absolutely hilarious memes, which really captured the cakes’ ability to leave people absolutely dumbstruck.
4. Avo toast
The world’s favourite breakfast might be as simple as avocado and toasted bread, but –– just like everything’s bigger in Texas –– everything’s a little more extra on the gram.
5. Freakshakes
Food trends don’t get much more OTT than the freakshake. One part milkshake, one part nutella filled donut, one part pre-prepped #foodporn post, the freakshake is one Instagram food trend that just won’t die. No matter how much some of us might want it to.
6. The watermelon cake
Created by Sydney’s Black Star Pastry, the world’s most instagrammable cake has since spawned countless imitations and variations, including the Dragonfruit cake, among many others.
7. Açai bowls
The berries are packed full of antioxidants, fibre and healthy fats, and they taste great too. But they taste especially great when presented in their most instagrammable state: in an açai bowl.
8. Latte art
Remember when coffee was just coffee? In case you’re too young for that: pre-nineties, your latte didn’t come with an aesthetically pleasing visual flourish. Latte art was popularised by Seattle’s David Schomer, who used the heart pattern in his coffeehouse Espresso Vivace. He later also developed a rosette design, basing it on something he’d once seen an Italian barista do.
9. Matcha madness
Matcha lattes, matcha crepes, matcha popsicles, matcha pancakes, matcha soft serve and matcha bliss balls. The Japanese powdered green tea that boasts three times the antioxidants of regular green tea shows no signs of slowing down as a foodie trend.
10. Japanese soufflé pancakes
The pancakes owe their impossibly light and fluffy texture to a process that involves first whipping air into the egg-white batter, then steaming them on a low heat. Osaka based chain Gram Cafe & Pancakes –– one of the chain’s that spawned 2019’s biggest food trend –– opened recently in Australia.
11. Cronuts
This croissant-doughnut franken-pastry was invented in 2013 by Chef Dominique Ansel at his eponymous New York City bakery. By 2015, the pastry vessel had made it into mainstream vernacular and a bakery near you. And Buttery French pastry/Homer Simpson fans everyone are eternally grateful.
12. Sushi burgers
They’re pretty much exactly what they sound like: burgers made from sushi. Everyone loves a California roll, so why not present it with a little bit more fanfare? #nom
13. Raindrop cakes
Raindrop cake is a dessert made of water and agar that resembles a raindrop. It first became popular in Japan in 2014 and went viral back in 2016. It gained notoriety because of its incredible low calorie count. And although the cake is quite tasteless on its own, when paired with other ingredients, it can be quite more-ish.
14. Mini cereal
Mini pancakes, cookies and croissants for breakfast? Heck yes. This trend began on social media during the COVID baking frenzy. And let’s be honest, any trend that takes our favourite foods, miniaturizes them and puts them in a bowl cannot possibly be a bad thing.
15. Grazing
Combining all the best elements of a cheese plate and a charcuterie board, the grazing platter is a feast for the eyes, as well as the tastebuds. Aesthetically pleasing visual display is key, so alongside foodie items like cheeses, crackers, olives and pickles, you’ll also find an abundance of freshly picked produce like figs, grapes and strawberries.
16. Cob loaf
What’s not love about cob loaf filled with cheesy dip-worthy goodness? Absolutely nothing. While the original cob loaves were filled with dips or fondue, users have since made cob creations stuffed with everything from pasta to mac and cheese, to buttercream icing.
The future of food trends on Instagram
As well as picking the brains of the gram’s best and brightest, we spent a little time chatting with Instagram Australia’s Zaac D’Almeida. Read on as we delve a little deeper into how food content on the platform has evolved over the past ten years –– and what the next ten years may hold.
We chatted delicious.com.au: How has food content changed on the platform over the past 10 years?
IG: “We’re finding more and more of our community are moving away from that perfectly placed shot, and sharing life’s moments as they happen authentically with their community. When was the last time you were out at a cafe and didn’t take a quick snap for your Instagram Stories!?
The rise of video and different formats on the platform, including Reels, Stories, and IGTV, has meant we’re seeing everything from basic DIY recipes to in-depth cooking lessons from Australia’s top chefs.
In addition, Instagram has shifted the way we discover and document the places we eat.We know our community is often checking out a cafe’s account and tagged photos, before visiting. Instagram has become a way for many small hospitality businesses to reach new audiences and find new followings. The platform has also helped Aussies discover new businesses and support our local hospitality industry.”
d: How do you think our appetites for food content have changed?
IG: “We know people are ‘eating with their eyes’ and are always looking for the next foodie spot to explore. Given the visual nature of Instagram, it’s become the perfect place to share that #foodporn content.
Baking at home appears to have been a bright spot for many over this difficult year, and our community were turning to Instagram for recipes and inspiration.”
d: How have some of the advances in technology affected the kind of food content that’s being shared?
IG: “Video continues to dominate when it comes to sharing #foodporn on the platform, and the different offerings have allowed the community to expand the ways they share their passion.
- Reels has allowed more short-form cooking tutorials, like @morganhipworth’s simple chicken burger or @lukehinesonline’s Golden Gaytime cake.
- IGTV has allowed more interactive cooking videos like @juliaostro’s cinnamon buns or @maggie_beer’s spiced pumpkin and chickpea soup.
- Stories made food posts more widespread, with increasingly more Instagram users documenting their day to day food orders/meals on Stories
As for the future of food content on the gram? Expect a lot more video, in shorter formats and some exciting things to come with Facebook’s Spark AR, including virtual restaurant experiences and AR dishes.
“The future of food on Instagram is video-first, and content with less perfection, keeping things real,” says Instagram Australia’s Zaac D’Almeida.
There’s no doubt it has certainly changed the way we eat, the way we discover food and the way we share it.
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