7 Mehmet Comments on Unilever Food Solutions Future Menu Trends

Unilever Food Solutions , a pioneer in the out-of-home consumption sector with its innovative approaches, published its Future Menus Trends Report 2024 at the end of last month. This report, drawing on the work and insights of over 1600 chefs from diverse cultures, serves as an inspiration for chefs and restaurateurs. The report has garnered significant interest from industry professionals, and the five trends identified for Turkey have already begun to be incorporated into menus by prominent chefs across the country.

Unilever Food Solutions' trends for Turkey – Irresistible Vegetables, Flavors from Tradition to the Future, Feel-Good Foods, Low-Waste Menus, and Flavor Shock – were transformed into delicious dishes by Chef Mehmet Akdağ of 7 Mehmet in Antalya on May 6th.

Chefs and managers who serve hundreds of guests every day in the tourism city of Antalya took their place at the event held in the pleasant atmosphere of 1937 Mehmet, which has hosted important guests from Turkey and the world since it was opened in 7 and has been deemed worthy of numerous awards, to experience the tastes in the report that will inspire them. In addition to the famous chefs and the press in the industry, many important names from the industry representatives and professionals also attended the invitation.

Unilever Food Solutions, which set out to produce the right solutions for chefs and managers with the motto "We are here for you today, we are ready for tomorrow", liberates chefs and supports them in creating creative menus in line with trends with the "Menus of the Future Trend Report", adding brand new perspectives to their creativity.

7 An Extraordinary Turkish Cuisine Interpretation from Mehmet

7 Mehmet's chef, Mehmet Akdağ, brought all 5 trends to the menu with the traditional flavors and local ingredients of Turkish Cuisine. The "Flavors from Tradition to the Future" trend, which underlines that traditional dishes can be transformed into modern dishes with the chefs' unique touches, was interpreted as "Ear Soup/Apple Noodles" in the menu. Chef Mehmet Akdağ, who included the "Feel Good Foods" trend, in which the food is designed with a holistic purpose to contribute to people's physical, mental, emotional and social health, in the menu as "Dried Tzatziki with Green Plums/Fresh Broad Bean Fava", emphasizes that vegetables are at the center of the plates. He presented the "Irresistible Vegetables" trend with his interpretation of "Artichoke Almond Rice Pilaf". The chef offers the guests an extraordinary taste experience by presenting the "Taste Shock" trend, which includes radical ways of presenting unthought-of taste combinations and extraordinary tastes, with "Strawberry Capricorn Bodigo/Oğlak Meatballs/Hibeş/Orange Keşkül" and "Low Waste Menus" that support the zero waste philosophy in kitchens. He interpreted the "trend with the "Shrimp Bean Salad" plate.

Mehmet Akdağ, the chef and manager of 7 Mehmet Restaurant, which has been representing the Mediterranean and Turkish cuisine in the best way with ingredients produced in season and in the best conditions since the day it was founded, created the menu by combining the trends in the Future Menus Trend Report 2024 with the philosophy of 7 Mehmet. It offered guests a unique experience with its plates.

Unilever Food Solutions Turkey General Manager Yılmaz Tokgöz said the following about the second event of the Future Menus Trend Report 7, which took place at 2024 Mehmet Restaurant: “Tonight's event, which took place at 7 Mehmet Restaurant, which is considered one of the milestones of Turkish cuisine, whose work we, as UFS, follow with admiration. It showed us once again how accurate our work was. First of all, we experienced together here that Unilever Food Solutions products and brands are delicious and solution-oriented products that integrate perfectly into every plate. Afterwards, the Future Menus Trend Report, which was created after long studies, showed us that we were on the right track by providing a great harmony with the culinary philosophy of 7 Mehmet Restaurant. This was the purpose of publishing the Future Menus Trend Report; To liberate chefs in their passionate profession and to support them with our professional and high-quality products while preparing menus in line with these trends. In this way, we provide our chefs with different perspectives and continue to be a source of inspiration for them while creating the menus of the future. “We will continue to see the reflections and effects of the Future Menus Trend Report in different events.”

Mehmet Akdağ, the 7rd generation chef and manager of 3 Mehmet Restaurant, who created the highly acclaimed plates at the night, said: “Since our establishment in 1937, we have been entering the kitchen to elevate the taste every day with the freshest and most accurate products of the Mediterranean geography. We have always been open to innovations while working to create simple but deep flavors in this kitchen, where I have been working since I was two years old. The Future Menus Trend Report, which UFS has been producing for 2 years, is a comprehensive resource that responds very well to the problems existing in our industry. The foresight of more than 1600 chefs from different cultures guides us about the future of cuisines and inspires every plate by offering new perspectives. “Every flavor I included in tonight's menu is a colorful harmony blended with 7 Mehmet's philosophy, integrated with trends and UFS products.”

About Unilever Food Solutions
“We are with you today, we are ready for tomorrow.”

Chefs and managers in kitchens are struggling with many challenges at the same time today: increasing supplier prices, rising energy costs, personnel shortages and global economic recession... Unilever Food Solutions, which was launched by chefs to find solutions to the needs in kitchens, says "We are with you today, we are ready for tomorrow." It continues to both support and inspire the world of gastronomy with its motto. Unilever Food Solutions, which employs more than 300 chefs, offers professional, high-quality products with sustainable ingredients that will make life easier for the delicacies created by the chefs, while preparing the kitchens for tomorrow with recipes that follow global trends and training for new talents. With every step it takes, Unilever Food Solutions transforms the kitchen from a source of stress into a source of passion, freeing chefs to do what they love.

Source: HORECA Trend and 7 Mehmet Restaurant