So, This Is What the Future Tastes Like

Unilever Food Solutions Future Menus 2025 helps chefs, operators and food service leaders to stay relevant and be three steps ahead of the competition. 'Because when their kitchen thrives, UFS' purpose comes to life,' says Kulnipa Lertpimonchai, managing director, UFS SEA Mainland.

- LAI S. REYES

BANGKOK—What happens when cultures clash and flavors mash? It results in the creation of "food that moves us."

You'll find them here in the bustling streets of culinary powerhouse Bangkok, renowned for its vibrant street food culture; in ryokans around Kyoto that serve a multi-course kaiseki dinner; in one of the noodle stalls in Hanoi's old quarter; or in the ancestral homes in the Philippines where each dish tells a story of its people and its culinary heritage.

Or if you were lucky enough like me, you'd find and savor them all under one roof: at the Samyan Mitrtown in Bangkok, to be exact, where the Future Menus 2025, the much-awaited industry-leading report from Unilever Food Solutions, was unveiled last May 23. Here, Bangkok's iconic sticky mango rice comes in the form of a tart; the lowly Pinoy pares is served in a soft taco shell paired with a piece of sisig and kare-kare-flavored chocolate; and the suan cai yu, a popular Sichuan fish dish, is reinvented by blending Singapore's multicultural culinary DNA with bold Peruvian flavors.

Indeed, the possibilities are endless when you're surrounded by chefs on a constant discovery journey—combining techniques, identities and experiences—to create something new but still anchored on authenticity.

FOOD IN MOTION

Blame it on globalization, migration even. But for these culinary whizzes, food should not only taste and look good. It has to tell a story—about cultural traditions or familial love. It's about giving a simple meal the power to become not just another food trend, but a lifelong memory as well.

Incidentally, "Food that Moves Us" is the central theme behind this year's Future Menus.