Over the past few decades, high-street menu-scribbler Wagamama has become a rare beacon of actually-very-nice-food among a sea of uninspiring spicy chicken, Giraffes, and Five Guys (arguably, simply too many guys). It turns out Wagamama has some pretty big-name siblings: Mayfair’s Michelin starred, celebrity-beloved Hakkasan; Thai stalwart Busaba; Cantonese eaterie Yauatcha; and Turkish restaurant chain Yamabahce all sit within the...
There has never been more awareness of allergens and inflammatory ingredients, with lupins and sulphites now on the mainstream radar alongside common culprits like gluten and dairy. At the same time, nostalgia and anemoia (‘a feeling of yearning for a past that you never experienced’) have become driving forces shaping contemporary tastes. Direct-to-consumer cereals neatly bridge a gap in this...
‘Dinner ladies’ doesn’t have the most glamorous connotations in England – depending on your experience at school, it likely conjures up memories of scoops of greying, tepid mash-adjacent slop unceremoniously plopped onto a plate; something to do with turkey dinosaurs; a troop of formidable but visibly jaded people responsible for making every school smell like on-the-turn cottage pie from around...
It’s not often that BP&O covers record label design. Unlike sectors such as fintech or FMCG, record labels naturally lend themselves to the more creative side of design and branding – they have far more niche audiences, and usually don’t have to work as hard as something aimed at the supermarket shelf to stand out or appeal to mass audiences....
Demand for dairy alternatives continues to surge. In the United States, plant-based milks and proteins are reportedly popular among a third of adults thanks to their perceived health benefits, as well as consumers’ increasing environmental awareness and plant-based lifestyles. Soy, of course, was the OG substitute, until almond milk came to dominate the market. But now, it’s all about oats....
Since the pandemic, sexual wellness offerings have carved out a space on the shelves of beauty and pharmaceutical retailers, from Sephora to CVS in the US, and even Boots in the UK (founded 1849). According to business insight platform Crunchbase, that’s thanks to ‘an increased cultural shift that embraced sexual pleasure as a crucial component of physical and mental health’....
For the rest of the world, Canada is synonymous with a few things – maple syrup; Celine Dion; wholesome, generally nice people; Neil Young; and when it comes to the realm of food, poutine (fries with cheese curds and gravy, for the uninitiated). Having opened back in 1969, Ashton is the oldest poutine chain in Canada. With 23 branches in...
Suburban pool party culture is rather alien to us in the UK, where only the exceptionally wealthy have pools, and we muddle along in a climate that defaults to ‘grey, fair to middling’ most of the year. But we’re becoming a little more attuned to the joys of an open air funsplash: over the past few years we’ve seen the...
With trend-forecasting agency WGSN identifying ‘multi-species homes’ as one of the ‘top trends of 2024’, the global market for pet products is project to hit £28.75 billion by 2025 – and this excludes the food category. Even furniture design is increasingly influenced by the penchants of our four-legged friends. Catering to this pet-first design movement, Liberty London, Prada, Louis Vuitton...
There has always been something borderline magical about the fields of beauty, makeup and skincare – a hint of esoteric or mystical knowledge. When it comes to visual storytelling, this association offers plenty of rich inspiration, along with established style signifiers that are easy to follow. Nods to old-school apothecaries abound in the likes of Typology Paris and Le Labo,...
If nostalgia is a powerful force, arguably ‘fauxstalgia’ – that sense of longing and yearning for something that we never actually experienced – is even more so. Fauxstalgia isn’t the same as trend cycles – the baffling realisation that Gen Z is suddenly, unironically, into Nu Metal, for instance – it’s an internal sensation rather than an external observation. It’s...
Who doesn’t love a cheeky cocktail, especially one designed to grab and go? According to WEEKEND drinks, its cocktails are eight times faster to serve than it would take to make the same mix from scratch. With ready-made drinks – that’s ‘RTD’ in marketing slang – becoming increasingly popular, WEEKEND aims to ‘cut through the noise’ with a ‘laid back...