It’s a Tuesday winter morning in the Brisbane suburb of Yeerongpilly.<\/p>\n
Long-distance friends, old work colleagues and families sit at Adonis Cafe’s outdoor tables, soaking up the sun.<\/p>\n
The inescapable pistachio stands out on the cafe’s menu, among a large offering of Instagram-able food and drink.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The bright green colouring of pistachios makes them very Instagram-able.\u00a0 (ABC News: Liana Walker)<\/p>\n
The bright green nut has found its way onto menus worldwide and is hyped as a must-try across social media.<\/p>\n
So, how did pistachios suddenly rise in popularity? Will they just be replaced by the next fad in six months? And what is the next big thing?<\/p>\n
They’re the, questions Adonis owner Anthony Kekkou constantly asks.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pistachios may be popular now, but it’s unlikely they’ll be trendy forever.\u00a0 (ABC News: Liana Walker)<\/p>\n
A trip to Dubai<\/p>\n
Four years ago, halfway across the world, Sarah Hamouda was pregnant with her second child when an insatiable craving hit.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, the Dubai-based mother is a food scientist.<\/p>\n
“I was looking for something unique and fulfilling that I couldn’t find in typical desserts,” she tells Falstaff magazine.<\/p>\n
Hamouda told the wine, food and travel publication, she wanted a chocolate bar with different textures and flavours that offered a satisfying and rich experience.<\/p>\n
So was born the first Dubai Chocolate: a milk chocolate bar filled with pistachio-tahini cream and chopped filo-pastry kadayif.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dubai chocolate has become a must-try item on social media.\u00a0 (Instagram: fixdessertchocolatier)<\/p>\n
Hamouda’s chocolate, titled “Can’t Get Knafeh of It” is near impossible to get a hold of.<\/p>\n
Its limited supply can only be purchased during a two-hour window via a delivery app, and despite its 68.25 Emirati Dirham ($28.13) price, the bar almost always sells.<\/p>\n
About this time, Adonis owner Kekkou was travelling through Dubai, searching for the next big thing.<\/p>\n
“I find a lot of people play safe and look locally for other trends that the neighbours are doing,” he says.<\/p>\n
“As opposed to us, while we’re still on the global platform and we’re looking for new ideas.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Looking globally can help inspire food trends locally.\u00a0 (AP: Kamran Jebreili)<\/p>\n
When a TikTok video of an influencer showing off the colourful chocolate’s bright green insides went viral, Kekkou knew pistachios were it.<\/p>\n
While social media can be a trend indicator, it’s not the only gauge.<\/p>\n
Art and science<\/p>\n
Back in Australia, Amanda Spry lectures in marketing at Melbourne’s RMIT University.<\/p>\n
The rise of pistachios is high on the academic’s radar.<\/p>\n
“It’s a bit of a mix of art and science, of culture and data,” Spry explains.<\/p>\n
“Experts would certainly be looking at things like global food innovation, flavour trend reports, retail sales data and cultural and consumer behaviour shift.<\/p>\n
“But I think with something like food and, especially, when that’s very closely intertwined with social media, your social and aesthetic cues play a really big role here.”<\/p>\n
Generative AI, social media tags and search trends help guide marketers.<\/p>\n
Globally, searches for pistachios began to rise in 2021 \u2014 the same time Dubai chocolate was created \u2014 and peaked again in late 2023.<\/p>\n
Like fashion, food trends can be cyclical, seasonal, and follow both high-end and street style taste-makers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Chanel models wore pistachio at Paris Fashion showing off the fall\/winter 25\/26 collection.\u00a0 (Reuters: Sarah Meyssonnier\u00a0)<\/p>\n
Spry says social media connects what is in vogue to the masses.<\/p>\n
“If you want to get onto a trend now \u2026 that doesn’t have to necessarily be a pistachio dessert at the most high-end, premium restaurant in Melbourne, it could be a pistachio croissant at your local cafe,” she says.<\/p>\n
But by making pistachios so prominent in the market, it’s started to make them harder to get.<\/p>\n
Pistachio growth<\/p>\n
Pistachio farmers around Australia are preparing for a large harvest this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The gentle sounds of water flowing down Wakool River hum in the background of Chris Joyce’s Kyalite pistachio farm on the New South Wales side of the Murray River.<\/p>\n
To the untrained eye, the bare orchard trees may look close to death, but it is going through a chill period; about 1,000 hours below 7 degrees in the winter months.<\/p>\n
“You need very, very hot summers, very cold winters and access to water and little rain in particular in February, March during the harvest period,” Joyce says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pistachios are sold in multiple forms.\u00a0 (Supplied)<\/p>\n
This year Joyce is expecting a big harvest from the biennial bearing trees. And he will need it to keep up with demand.<\/p>\n
Collectively, Australian pistachio growers are expecting to harvest 5,000 tonnes this year, just meeting Australia’s expected consumption.<\/p>\n
“Up until now, the total demand in Australia has been supplemented with imports,” Joyce says.<\/p>\n
“Over the next two years, we would expect Australia to be supplying virtually all of Australia’s domestic requirements, and we will also be exporting some as well.”<\/p>\n
Pistachio demand in Australia is supplemented by overseas produce.\u00a0 (AP: Chan Long Hei)<\/p>\n
Pistachios are sold in two forms: in shell or kernels.<\/p>\n
Kernels have seen a massive spike in demand, increasing 40 per cent in the past six months, while shells remain steady, Joyce says.<\/p>\n
He says it is clearly connected to the hype around the nut, as kernels are predominantly used by the food service industry for their aesthetic.<\/p>\n
While there is sales growth in kernels, the volumes are not substantial, and the price of in-shell remains far more profitable for growers.<\/p>\n
“Personally, I think Dubai chocolates are sort of like striped toothpaste \u2014 it’s a fad,” Joyce says.<\/p>\n
“Will this last seven years? I don’t think so, but I’m a grower, not a marketer.”<\/p>\n
He’s not the only one questioning the pistachio’s staying power.<\/p>\n
Fads or trends?<\/p>\n
Back in Brisbane, it is food futurist Tony Hunter’s job to answer that question.<\/p>\n
Hunter works with some of the largest global brands, including KFC and Pepsico, to stay ahead of trends.<\/p>\n
“We have to separate our fads and trends,” Hunter says.<\/p>\n
“Fads are very short-term. They come and they go, but they can be part of longer-term trends.”<\/p>\n
Popular spices can be fads that emerge from the wider trend of more flavoursome food.<\/p>\n
Likewise, pistachios are a fad that has emerged from the trend of indulgence \u2014 or little treat culture.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some bakeries have embraced the pistachio trend.\u00a0 (ABC News: Liana Walker)<\/p>\n
Knowing what the next thing is requires a lot of research, including reading industry newsletters on everything from ingredients to food technology, watching flavours transcend across food and drink and observing new businesses.<\/p>\n
“If I see one thing that’s, Oh, that’s interesting. I see it twice, three times. Then I’m going, ‘OK, this is now,'” he says.<\/p>\n
“We don’t know what we’re looking for until we see it.”<\/p>\n