This year was full of controversial and creative food trends, from charcuterie boards to “proffee,” but Food Network’s Kardea Brown isn’t sold on all of them.
“You never know when people are doing things to troll, or if it’s real,” Brown, 36, told Us Weekly exclusively ahead of the Elf on the Shelf: Street Showdown season finale. “But the dump-and-bake things, pouring orzo pasta into a dish and dumping cheeses and things and baking it all. … Let’s not bring that into the new year.”
Before making it big on the Food Network with Delicious Miss Brown, which is heading into its 10th season, Brown was working as a social worker and a teacher — and she could not be more grateful for the chance to share her passion for food with a wider audience.
“Food has always been a way for me to release,” Brown told Us. “It was therapeutic for me, but I never thought in a million years that this would be my life. I cook and literally eat for a living.”
While she may want to leave bake-and-dumps behind, Brown would love to see some of the other food trends continue into the new year.
Charcuterie boards, an assortment of meats, cheeses and other appetizers arranged on a wooden or stone slab, have increased in extravagance this year — and Brown is “all for it.”
“It’s such a good way to bond with your guests,” she told Us. “It’s a really great way to get the conversation started because everyone is picking over things and it gives you a variety of different cheeses and meats.”
While she isn’t a coffee drinker herself, Brown thinks the trend of adding protein powder to coffee (a.k.a. “proffee”) is here to stay. “If you work out early in the morning and you’re a coffee drinker, it’s a good way to add your protein in at the beginning of the day,” she said. “It’s a good replacement for creamer.”
Kombucha, or fermented mushroom tea, has been around for years, but kombucha bars have seen a recent surge in popularity. “I am for kombucha, I love it, because it’s a great way to improve your gut health,” Brown noted. “But to go to a bar … I’m not sure about that. Just leave bars for the alcohol.”
On the topic of spirits, Brown appreciates an espresso martini — but she has a gripe with its name. “From my understanding, martinis are supposed to have gin or vermouth in it. It has neither,” she explained. “I think it’s delicious if you’re a coffee drinker, and if you love espresso, it’s wonderful. But is it really a martini? I don’t know.”
As 2023 comes to a close, there is one trend Brown predicts will dominate 2024: solo dining. “[Eating alone] is not weird at all,” she told Us, predicting a solo dining “revolution” in the new year. “I’m such a big advocate for it.”
Brown is rounding out her year as a judge on The Elf on the Shelf: Sweet Showdown, which sees six teams of dessert wizards compete for $25,000 by creating magical, edible showpieces. She stars alongside cake artist and pastry chef Ashley Holt on the festive series.
“We’re not only asking our bakers to make delicious creations, beautiful creations, but they had to tap into their magic bag,” Brown teased of the holiday competition. “That was really fun about the show.”
The season 1 finale of The Elf on the Shelf: Sweet Showdown airs on Food Network on December 17 at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
