The days are brighter AND the long Easter weekend is here. Celebrate those fresh, cheery springtime ingredients, and expand your foodie vocabulary with the new flavour profiles we reckon will be taking over this year…
What's your flavour?
Gone are the days of five flavour profiles – our tastebuds are expanding, and so should our vocabulary. We’ve identified four flavour combos set to dominate plates in 2026: swavoury, swoasty, picklish and fricy.
DINNER TONIGHT
A brine-lover's dream
Are you a bit ‘picklish’? This smoky bigos dog, loaded with sauerkraut, cheese, mustard and gherkins, is sure to tickle your pickle cravings. A bank holiday fakeaway awaits...
SIP OF THE WEEK
Punching upwards
Made by the same South African producers as the iconic Chocolate Block, this good-value fruity Shiraz has similar luxurious spice and oak notes. A glass of Easter red? Cheers to that.
SHOPPING
Things we're buying this week
SHOPPING
Things we're buying this week
Waitrose cook Charmaine Katz lifts the lid on what’s in her basket this week.
No.1 Wild Garlic Sausages
“’Tis the season for wild garlic madness. You don’t have to get down on the banks and fill your pockets, though, as these make a juicy substitute.”
Ottolenghi Miso Pesto
“This is rich and luxurious, and I don’t like to share it unless I have to. Stir it through noodles and top with a poached egg and green veg for a quick dinner.”
Seafood & Eat it Fifty Fifty Crab
“This is good value for crab, and the half and half means you get the best of both crabby worlds. I love mixing it into an omelette and finishing with whatever soft herbs I have in the fridge.”
Clearspring Organic Furikake
“One of my pantry staples. It adds texture and umami to noodles, omelettes and rice topped with fried eggs. It has become a game of ‘what can’t I put it on’?”
IN MY BASKET
Cooks' Ingredients Ketjap Manis is a taste of home for Petty Pandean-Elliott
A spoonful of ketjap manis transports Petty Pandean-Elliott’s cooking to Indonesia – try it in her pan-seared duck breast with pak choi & soya sambal.
“I turn to ketjap manis (sweet soy sauce) when I want cooking to feel nurturing rather than complicated. A splash, combined with spices and citrus, transforms simple dishes into something special. Its aroma carries me back to street-food stalls and shared family meals. For me, it’s a taste of home.”
Pages and pages of flavour
Waitrose’s April flavour fest continues over in this month’s issue of Food magazine – pick up a free copy in store with a My Waitrose card.
Join the club
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our BEST recipes
Fancy expanding your repertoire? Discover weekday wonders, fabulous feasts and chef-tested gems.
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Dish
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