You might say that Mike Kostyo of the Chicago-based Datassential can see the future.

As a trendologist at the data-driven research group, Kostyo works with food and beverage industry folks to help them maximize their menu offerings based on consumer preferences and predilections, which can be famously fickle.

Trends often start on a local level before spreading across the country, says Kostyo. Take, for example, Old Bay Goldfish Crackers. Released by Pepperidge Farm and Maryland-based McCormick & Co. in May of this year, the crunchy snack coated in the regional spice has gained traction outside the Old Line State.

“Old Bay is the best example of a Baltimore trend that has moved to national recognition,” says Kostyo. “Old Bay is nearly 40 times more likely to show up on menus in the Baltimore metro area than national menus, but it has grown steadily on national menus over the past decade. Today over half of the country says they have tried it.” (In fact, the limited-edition summer snack sold out online within nine hours of its release.)

In 2022, the fastest-growing trends in our region included tres leches cake (sold at Clavel in Remington and Dulceology in Mt. Vernon, among other restaurants), Tajín (a mildly spicy chili pepper-lime seasoning), oat milk, and Hazy IPAs.

Probably the biggest trend was birria tacos—a pan-fried taco dipped in a consommé broth found at such spots as Cocina Luchadoras (pictured above) in Fells Point and San Pablo Street Tacos in Mt. Vernon—which is seemingly on every area menu.

“We didn’t think we’d see it grow because it traditionally uses goat, which is not something that the average consumer eats,” says Kostyo. “But now you mostly see it on menus using other proteins that consumers are familiar with, like chicken or beef—and even the chains are doing it.”

Nationally, the single-biggest growing flavor profile is Ranch Water, a margarita-like cocktail with Topo Chico, lime, and tequila, that is believed to have originated in Mexico and brought to Texas from Mexican workers and immigrants. It recently hit the menu at Wet City Brewing in Midtown.

“For the longest time, when we were tracking trends, we would track the coasts and then we’d track Chicago,” says Kostyo. “It would start there, then slowly filter to nearby locations to those secondary markets. Now, we’ve seen chefs who priced out of those cities, and they moved to what we might have called second-tier cities—now that’s where a lot of the cool stuff is happening.”

As for what the future holds, when Kostyo looks into his crystal ball, he predicts that tacos will loom large. According to Kostyo, while boomers favor Italian cuisine, millennials prefer Mexican fare, and Gen Z is the first generation to prefer Mexican and Chinese cuisine over Italian.

“When you look at foods and flavors growing on menus, they’re almost all coming from Latin and Asian cuisine, and that’s only going to continue,” he says. “It’s a good way to see what’s going to happen as these consumers get older and purchasing power increases. In the way that you might put pizza on the menu as the go-to comfort food, I don’t think there’s any doubt that tacos will replace pizza in the future.”