The fireplace is lit, festive lights adorn the house and pubs are serving mulled wine aplenty...
From Thanksgiving through to Christmas, everyone in the foodservice sphere - from fast casual to fine dining - offers up festive specials and winter treats galore. With that in mind, the menuwatching team have put their Santa hats on and trawled the menus of our favourite UK pubs, bars, street vendors and restaurants - in order to pull together a summary of key festive trends for 2018 in both sweet and savoury.
We've looked at everything in savoury from feasting menus to Christmas pizzas(!) to bring you a broad cross-section of foodie trends, including key ingredients, influences and formats. Find out more.
For those with a sweet tooth, traditional Christmas pudding is still a favourite but now we are seeing it used in very non-traditional ways - stirred through ice cream, for instance, or presented as a cheesecake. In a similar vein, we are also seeing plenty of modern twists and riffs on other classics like mince pies, poached pears and eggnog. And of course, it wouldn't be Christmas without plenty of chocolate and a few clementine's thrown into the mix! Find out more.