Move, foie gras. The food spotlight has shifted to food trucks, corner grills and bustling township pop-ups. The white chefs meet street corners and all the dishes are plated like art.
As part of the Future Menu 2025 Report, Unilever Food Solutions has declared that much of the food world doubts. Think about it: Smoky Mealy with whip feta, surgical accuracy folds the taco, yes… Sisa Nyama Sosati adds fine nutritional prosperity.
Street Food Couture is one of four global megatrends outlined in this year's report, based on insights from over 250 chefs in 75 countries, online behavioral analysis, and growing demand for fast, affordable, highly creative flavours. And while it may be humble at root, it has no effect.
“This trend isn't about removing your soul from street food,” says Unilever Food Solutions Chef Mary. “It's about respecting where the flavor on the streets lives and giving it a stage that deserves. We're hanging it a bit.”
And dress it up, they have.
The world, and even at home here in South Africa, chefs are rethinking roadside classics for the spotlight. From Cape Town's Bao Pan filled with Cape Murray Chicken Curry to Job Hague pop-ups offering bet coke sliders with truffle cheese, Street Food Couture is challenging what the elegance of the plate really means.
It is also extremely visual, infinitely adaptable, deeply personal, perfect for diners who value culture, creativity and experience.
“Street food is rooted in emotion. “When a chef enhances it with modern techniques and ingredients, it becomes a new thing without losing its identity. That makes it very powerful on today's menu.”
Why do food stall couture work?
According to Motloung, this trend has gained momentum as follows:
Low cost, high flavor: Perfect for both diners and operators. Storytelling on the Plate: Every dish tells a cultural story (the chef just becomes pop!) Social Media Magic: It's beautiful, bold, shared.
Street food may have stepped onto the runway of cooking, but discovering its true essence means understanding what makes street food couture unique.
What is street food couture?
It enhances the blend of authenticity and innovation, a taste of bold, tasteless flavours, culture, memories and affordable luxuries rooted in social media gold.
What is street food couture?
A versatile approach to “fixing” street food for trendy stick food to be trendy, or for the cultural meaning of high-end restaurants exclusively for high-end restaurants… it celebrates it
“We have long understood that South Africa's most memorable flavours often come from the most humble environments. We've completed on the street corners and incorporate generations before breathing creative life into these traditions,” Motlong elaborates. “Street Food Couture amplifies it, honors it, and shares it with the world in a way that respects its origins while inspiring the next generation of food lovers. When you experience street food couture, you taste our history and future on the same plate,” she concludes.
Featured Recipes: South African Lamb and Apricot Society
Put your beloved local street food in the spotlight with this promoted take on Braai Classic.
material
For marinade:
125ml Plain Yogurt 100g Apricot Chutney 5G Robertson's Turmeric 5G Raja Medium Curry Powder 15ml Knorr Professional Concentrated Beef Flavor Stock
For SOSATIES:
Stand up 1 kg of lamb legs, 100 g of dried apricot 1 red onion and cut into skewers (soak if it's made of wood)
method
1. Prepare the marinade: In a large bowl, combine yogurt, chutney, turmeric, curry powder, beef stock, lemon juice, grated onion and garlic. Mix until smooth.
2. Marinate the lamb: Add the cubes of lamb to the marinade and mix well to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
3. Assemble the Society: Cover the marinated lamb cubes on a skewer with threads and alternate with a mass of dried apricots and red onion.
4. Grill: Grill under a warm oven grill on top of medium hot coal, until braai is cooked warmly burnt and regularly (10-12 minutes in total).
5. Serve: Plates with warm flatbread, herbal yogurt or fresh tomato salsa for a street food couture finish.
Pro Tip: To add extravagance, brush with melted apricot glaze and then decorate with microgreen or edible petals.
The Full Future Menu 2025 Report is available for free download at https://www.unileverfoodsolutions.co.za/chef-inspiration/future-menus-landing.html, and is packed with recipes, tips and chef inspiration in every kitchen corner.
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