Surge in vegan options, bone broth and home deliveries.

We all like to think we’re immune to food and drink trends, but whether we’re tuned in or not, they creep their way onto our plates and before you know it we’re buying things from the supermarket that started out in the research and development kitchen of a top restaurant. Diners in gastropubs, for example, might order something made with the now-ubiquitous salted caramel, thinking merrily that it’s simply a nice flavour for a pudding, yet only a few years ago it was being made by London’s most exclusive chocolatiers. Is it surprising, then, to hear that more cookbooks with vegetarian and vegan subject matter are being commissioned at Octopus Books? As this part of the market “has increased significantly – more than doubling in the case of vegetarian and vegan titles between 2012 and 2016,” says group publishing director Ms Denise Bates, it’s time to accept that the country’s fastest-rising food trend has gone mainstream.

We’re all implicated somehow, so do listen up: here are seven ways we’ll be consuming food and drink in 2018.

If street food inspired simplified restaurant menus, the next stage is food courts which, according to Kerb London’s Ms Alison O’Reilly, “meet many of the cultural and social tendencies of the modern consumer” while still giving people “the ability to experience the making of food.” Research by real estate specialists Cushman & Wakefield shows that 200 food courts are expected to arrive in Europe over the next decade, and London – where Street Feast’s model is proving successful ­– is well on its way: arrivals include Mercato Metropolitano, Bang Bang Oriental Foodhall, The Prince pub in southwest London, and Harrods’ brand new food hall.

Don’t say veganism lacks fun, flavour or filth. Biff’s Jack Shack and Club Mexicana do a great line in messy mimic burritos and burgers made with pulled jackfruit; newcomers Young Vegans offer seitan-based vegan pie and mash, Waitrose has launched tikka masala and lasagna made from plant proteins, while the hit at Ms Gizzi Erskine and Ms Rosemary Ferguson’s Pure Filth pop-up at Tate Modern was a bean burger in a beetroot bun. Following sellout vegan supperclubs at Mr Marcus Wareing’s restaurant Tredwells, chef Ms Chantelle Nicholson now serves dangerously good vegan puddings on a more permanent basis.

Not requesting bones from your butcher means missing out on stellar stockmaking opportunities. And we’re getting wise to the fact. Sales of bones are up 13.24 per cent year on year at Whole Foods Markets, while Mr Tom Richardson Hill of butcher Hill & Szrok says they’re among his customers’ most-ordered items. “St John restaurant started it, but the catalyst was the obsession with bone broth in America, which trickled over here,” he says. Alongside requests for chicken, lamb and ox hearts “because they’re steak relatable and restaurants have started putting them on their menus,” he sells 80kg of bones and 80 litres of bone stock weekly.

Do Asset Light Models mean anything to you? Food tech adviser Mr Chris Fung believes that since “we’re about to move into an increasingly difficult consumer period,” 2018 will see more food businesses running with reduced front of house labour. “Expect increased use of ‘dark’ – delivery-only – kitchens servicing brands via a platform such as Deliveroo or Uber Eats, and smart [posh] vending, such as Mr Lee’s Noodles,” he predicts. Following on from this will be “internet-native restaurants," such as at the Twisted London pop-up, where customers order food via Deliveroo, and more postal food businesses like Pasta Evangelists and Whisky Me.

2018 will allow non- or part-time drinkers to swap boring lime and soda for more interesting alternatives. Firefly Drinks sold out of a botanical soft drink made by cocktailer Mr Ryan Chetiyawardana while Seedlip – a non-alcoholic spirit brand – has enabled bartenders to mimic alcoholic cocktails, and it continues to innovate. Others include intriguing NA cocktails at Sager & Wilde Paradise Row, and Spirit of Zing’s fig, bitter orange and clove spritz, available at Jamie’s Italian restaurants. The drinks that do contain alcohol are making a little go a lot further: “We’ve seen a huge rise in interest for our Spritz-style cocktails, which are lengthened with prosecco or soda for a long, light and refreshing cocktail,” says Zing’s Mr Pritesh Mody. “We’ve tripled sales of our blackberry and tamarind rum spritz and our bitter orange, strawberry and ginger spritz this year. I expect these to be top sellers in 2018.”

Single-spirit bars focusing on whisky or gin were hot this year, and in 2018 we’ll see more mixers to accompany them. Selfridges has bought in more than 2,000 bottles of rosemary water, Fever-Tree branched into the craft cola market, and Square Root Sodas has released two tonics as well as a bespoke tequila mixer for London Union. Sekforde Tonics’ botanical-led mixers designed to go with whisky, rum and gin, are now in 50 bars and restaurants including Mr Jason Atherton’s The Blind Pig, with 100 more coming. Having recently tasted what she calls “a fantastically innovative range of artisanal tonics by Peter Spanton,” in flavours including lemongrass and salted paloma, Harrods' head of food innovation Ms April Preston predicts “we will see more of these in future.”

Familiar with Taiwanese steamed buns? Spend 2018 delving further into the cuisine: there’s Bao’s grown-up restaurant, Xu, and new Good Friend Chicken in Chinatown, whose owners are selling more than 200 daily portions of Taiwanese fried chicken (marinated, coated in three different flours, fried to order). In January, Bao’s Mr Frank Yeung opens Daddy Bao in south London’s Tooting, inspired by his father, while at Kerb Camden Market, Ms Alison O’Reilly emphasises that the “popularity and performance” of Bian Dang – known for its classic Taiwanese lunchbox – has grown, “as there’s a constant quest among our customers for interesting food options, with more emphasis on authenticity.”