Our Top Culinary Trends of 2024

While 2024 comes to a close and everyone reflects upon their goals, aspirations, and some potentially embarrassing Spotify Wrapped results, we can’t help but reminisce on the biggest culinary movements of the past year. To remember some of the wild things that took center plate, we’re rounding up our top five culinary trends of 2024 and gauging your thoughts on our prediction for trends in 2025.

Cottage Cheese

Health and fitness influencers on TikTok were some of the first to tout cottage cheese as the next big craze. Filled with protein and calcium, cottage cheese became a staple guilt-free creamy snack. Soon, what was once a dairy product destined for expiration began flying off grocery shelves. Cottage cheese found its way into party dips, spread atop crostini, stirred into pasta, and incorporated into high-protein pancake mixes. 
Sub cottage cheese for sour cream in this french onion dip or caramelized onion dip as a healthier alternative for your tailgate spread. Serve with wavy potato chips or our Southern-made favorites from Lowcountry Kettle Chips.

Martini Riffs

This past year saw a martini renaissance with everything from a surge in tiny tinis to umami-centered takes on the classic cocktail. In an era marked by the rise of low-ABV sippers and NA spirits, this counter-cultural cocktail surprised us all. And, while the traditional, boozy martini may not top everyone’s bar tab, its growing popularity is undeniable.

Find subtle twists on the classic like Seabird’s olive-washed gin martini with a peppered phytoplankton brine or opt for a fruit-forward option like Nami’s lychee martini with bright bursts of grapefruit. Tiny tinis have also made a name for themselves as an option for aperitivo hours and martini fans seeking a little less alcohol. These snack-sized cocktails have popped up at names like Coral Club in Nashville and Lillian’s Petite Market & Eatery in Charleston. And, of course, we can’t neglect the winter spike in espresso martinis. Right now, we can’t get enough of this orange blossom-infused espresso martini made with Florida-based UNA Vodka. 

Whether you’re shaken or stirred, dirty or pure, martinis are timeless and ever-evolving for a reason.

Cucumber Salads

Widely-known on TikTok as “cucumber guy,” Logan Moffitt singlehandedly made summer 2024 the summer of cucumbers. Beginning each video with the tagline “sometimes you just need to eat a whole cucumber,” he uses a mandoline (or knife, no judgement) to slice cucumbers directly into a deli container, then shakes them with various spices and sauces. If you’re unfamiliar with the plastic deli containers in use here, tossing everything in a small bowl should work just fine. If you’ve ever been part of the restaurant industry, you know exactly what containers we’re talking about (most of us still cling to the habit of using these as water glasses).

These Sichuan cucumbers from Charleston’s Kwei Fei have a cult following, and, yes, we have the recipe. Since this recipe makes enough for six, be sure to use only one English cucumber and one fourth of the remaining ingredients. Other salads that are ideal for this method and Southern heat hydration are this heirloom tomato and cucumber salad with dill and spicy watermelon salad with cucumber and feta.

Butter Beans

Beans have certainly been on the rise as protein-rich powerhouses in recent years, and these hearty, creamy beans are finally getting their spotlight. With an adaptive taste and texture, these beans lend themselves to a variety of dishes like succotash chow chow, butterbean dip with mint, basil, and lime, and a butter bean and tiny tomato salad. 

For a full write up on butter beans and five essential recipes, see: A Better Butter Bean.

Speakeasies

A desire for intimate, quiet spaces with personalized hospitality are in full demand. No more yelling across tables or haphazardly pulling chairs up to booths. Guests have begun gravitating toward spaces that feel exclusive, even elusive, most easily shown with the increases in speakeasies. Whether it’s reserving in advance, memorizing a passkey, or excavating a hidden doorway, guests are willing to jump through the necessary hoops to visit a confidential culinary hideaway. 

• Inspired by the Golden Age, Vault & Vator in Greenville, South Carolina, curates craft cocktails and small plates in a covert speakeasy. The space is walk-ins only–first come, first served. 
• At DONS Southern Social in Hot Springs, Arkansas, guests must enter through hidden doorways with a passkey to partake in chef Joshua Garland’s modern Southern dishes. 
• Named for the pogo stick unearthed during renovation, Pogo at Armour House in Birmingham, Alabama, is a playful, alluring bar with live jazz and livelier cocktails. 
• Below Louisville, Kentucky’s Whiskey Row, Hell or High Water is a subterranean lounge for intimate cocktails in their velvet-draped library and lounges. Reservations are recommended.
  

As 2025 unfolds, tune in to TLP’s Top 5 for quarterly insights on everything from the latest pantry staples to in-demand dining experiences.

Vote for the Culinary Trends You Think Will Take Over in 2025

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Dining Out

Kwei Fei

With a mantra of “loud, hot, vibes” and a menu of powerful flavors, Kwei Fei is unapologetically Sichuan and unique to the Charleston scene.

Key Ingredient

A Better Butter Bean

Whether you want a light and airy dish or a hearty meal, butter beans are the perfect Southern staple to accompany any recipe.

In the Field

3 Takes on the Espresso Martini

Garth Poe of Easy Bistro & Bar, Main Street Meats, and Little Coyote in Chattanooga, shares 3 versions of the espresso martini.