2024’s Best Food, Books, and Travel Destinations

EDITOR’S NOTE

Happy Saturday. Few things boost our dopamine quite like sharing an excellent rec — which is basically what we do every weekend when we send the best recipes (see: this ooey, gooey Lemon Butter Cake), the most captivating books (if you haven’t read A Love Song for Ricki Wilde, you’re missing out), and the dreamiest travel destinations (looking at you, Todos Santos). But before we bid bon voyage to another year, we’re taking a look back on some of our favorite finds. Who knows, we might finally convince you to take our favorite trip of the year: an epic, just-trust-us weekend in Norway. Let’s go.

— Taylor Trudon / Writer, Culture & Lifestyle / Brooklyn, NY

Your favorite recipes:

1. Broma Bakery’s Single Serve Fudgy Brownie is a genius solution for late-night chocolate cravings — or, really, any time of day.

2. PSA: You can still get a taste of the French onion renaissance, starting with Wandering Chickpea’s savory and decadent One Pot French Onion Pasta. 

3. In addition to being exceptionally easy to make, Pinch of Yum’s Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cake features subtle spicing, a stick-to-your-fork moist crumb, and soft pockets of fruit — all topped with a crispy cinnamon-sugar layer.

This year’s top trends:

We thought food mash-ups peaked when Smash Burger Tacos went viral last year, but 2024 took the hybrid trend further, with even more chaos. Case in point: scrambled pancakes, Le Crookie craze, French onion everything, Sour Patch Kids Oreos, Kraft Ranch Flavored Mac & Cheese, and pickle cupcakes (respectfully, no). As for what else dominated our For You Pages? Seemingly endless riffs on humble ingredients, thanks to content creators like “Dense Bean Salad girl” Violet Witchel and “Cucumber Guy” Logan Moffitt — whose recipes were so popular, Iceland experienced a cucumber shortage. And we saw “Girl Dinner” evolve into the perfect “It Girl” Dinner. We raise a martini — and French fry — to you, 2024.

What experts told us will be trending next year:

• “I’m calling it: 2025 will be the year of sour cream and onion, which will be the new cacio e pepe, which was the new everything bagel. In fact, I recently saw a Sour Cream & Onion Martini on the menu at [NYC hot spot] The Corner Store. It even came with a little dish of potato chips.” — Julie Vadnal, Food52 editorial director

• “I’m seeing passion fruit all over dessert menus, and I’m thrilled it’s in its natural form — meaning pulp, seeds, and all. I also think we’ll see more regional Indian restaurants offering dishes you don’t typically find [dining out].” — Priya Krishna, food reporter for The New York Times

• “[Prepare for] the laminated pastry evolution. Variations on croissant-like treats have been adding layers to everything from pizza crust to cookie dough. In 2025, expect more gorgeous and innovative pastries, like those from chef Laura Cronin of Eleven Madison Park, whose mystifying plant-based, cream-filled [Madison Squares] have [people waiting in] long lines.” — Jamila Robinson, Bon Appétit and Epicurious editor in chief

• “We’re loving chains again, particularly the nicer [ones] we constantly revisit for the mixture of nostalgia and consistency. There’s been a bit of a rejection of the millennial [focus on] all things artisanal and craft, as the national attention swings back to mainstream brands and chains.” — Stephanie Wu, Eater editor in chief

Your favorite books: 

1. All Fours by Miranda July is a sexy coming-of-age story about a 45-year-old woman whose cross-country road trip takes a slight detour when she has an affair.

2. Jenny Hollander’s twisty thriller Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead follows a successful magazine editor who’s haunted by an awful event she witnessed at her elite grad school nine years earlier.

3. At the heart of Claire Lombardo’s masterful family drama, Same As It Ever Was, is a 57-year-old woman finally settled into middle life — until a series of events upend her peace.

This year’s top trends:

The only thing steamier than Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet? Romantasy. The wildly popular genre combines elements of fantasy (fairies, dragons) and romance (spicy sex scenes, tropes like enemies-to-lovers) and is hotter than ever, thanks in large part to BookTok-approved authors like Rebecca Yarros and Sarah J. Maas. Fairies aside, 2024 was also the year of unexpected literary influencers, like Teen Mom’s Kailyn Lowry and Dakota Johnson (one of many celebs who adopted the books-as-accessories aesthetic). Finally, “cookbook clubs” (in which everyone gets together and shares dishes from the same cookbook) have continued to heat up across the country. Because, let’s be honest, we all know the best part of book club is the food.

What experts told us will be trending next year:

• “The joy of owning a bookstore is getting to read things in advance — and what I’ve already seen is that novelists are taking on the problems of our country by changing the time frame. Alice Austen’s marvelous debut, 33 Place Brugmann, is ostensibly about a group of people living in an apartment building in Belgium at the dawn of WWII, but it feels awfully relevant to our own divided nation. Laila Lalami’s brilliant and anxiety-provoking novel The Dream Hotel … makes you question why we aren’t doing more to protect our privacy right now.” — Ann Patchett, best-selling author and owner of Parnassus Books

• “There’ll be more bookish gatherings that go beyond the typical book club. Things like: a swap where everyone brings something they’ve already [finished]; ‘no-homework book clubs’ where there’s no required reading and instead everyone talks about their recent reads; and cozy reading parties where people gather to read together in silence.” — Kayla Kleinman, social media manager at Bookshop.org

Your favorite destinations:

1. Oregon’s Willamette Valley is quietly becoming the coolest wine getaway in the US.

2. The northern lights, evening snowshoe hikes, a sprawling reindeer camp — there’s simply no place more magical than Tromsø, Norway.

3. Boone, North Carolina, is the low-key Asheville alternative that’s just as cool, just as charming, and less crowded.

This year’s top trends: 

“Coolcations” (or, traveling to destinations that offer a reprieve from the stifling heat and overwhelming crowds of, say, the Mediterranean in August) became increasingly popular, with many headed to places like Canada’s Vancouver Island or Italy’s Dolomites. Meanwhile, travelers also went all in on elevated health and wellness experiences: To accommodate a growing number of sleep tourists, hotels added AI-enhanced smart beds, specially designed suites, and other amenities to help guests get some rest. As “fitness bootcamps” became the “new luxury vacation,” properties offered a range of high-tech exercise and recovery equipment, wellness screenings, and revamped food and beverage menus. Plus, wedding-related travel has officially outdone itself (hello, “earlymoons,” “friendmoons,” and “solorettes”).

What experts told us will be trending next year:

• “Thanks to a few incredible eclipses in 2024, more travelers are seeking out ‘astrotourism’ opportunities — heading to destinations with clear night skies and prime stargazing spots, like dark-sky parks and observatories, to experience meteor showers, the aurora borealis, and other celestial wonders.” — Jacqui Gifford, Travel + Leisure editor in chief

• “Taking it easy and focusing on being present while traveling is something we’re thinking about. The ‘how’ is flexible — maybe that means going the long scenic route, strolling through a garden, or taking up bird-watching — but it’s about experiencing the natural world and escaping from stress and screen time.” — Deepa Lakshmin, director of social media at Lonely Planet

• “Fueled by the 2024 Olympics in Paris and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, event tourism will be a huge trend in 2025. People are excited to plan an entire trip around a major concert or sports event and are committed to doing whatever it takes (and spending as much money as needed) to attend.” — Oneika Raymond, TV host and travel expert

Unleash your competitive side with today’s games and puzzles. Choose from an anagram word search, digital jigsaw puzzle, or crossword (with a twist). Better yet: Try them all.