2000s Food: Top Dishes, Restaurants And Eating Trends
Gastropubs, Nigella and Jamie - cooking becomes a hobby rather than a chore.
Below: the dishes people actually ate in the 2000s, what was new at the time, what the kitchen had in it, and honest notes on cooking any of it now.
Useful for a themed party menu, a reminiscence session or working out what to cook for someone's milestone birthday.
Shop the cards that go with these
Shop prints and posters Look back to 2000 Look back to 2001 Look back to 2002
Cards and prints, drawn and printed by us
Funny cards, kitchen and milestone art prints and pin badges, printed in the UK. Order on a working day and it usually goes out the same day.
Happy Valentines Day, Bab (Valentines Day Card)
£3.87
"Woof Woof" Sausage Dog Valentines Day Card
£3.87
Happy Valentines Day Card From The Cats
£3.87
Happy Valentines Day, My Love (Valentines Day Card)
£3.87
You're Purr-fect To Me (Cat Valentines Day Card)
£3.87
Happy Birthday Papa (Happy Birthday Card) (Multiple designs)
£3.87
Years covered in the 2000s
- 2000 - The Millennium Dome, the fuel protests and Big Brother arriving from nowhere. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2000
- 2001 - Foot-and-mouth, 11 September and the first iPod. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2001
- 2002 - The Golden Jubilee, the death of the Queen Mother and Pop Idol fever. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2002
- 2003 - Iraq, a record-breaking heatwave and England winning the Rugby World Cup. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2003
- 2004 - Strictly and The X Factor both started, and the year ended with the tsunami. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2004
- 2005 - The Olympic bid, the 7 July bombings and the Ashes coming home. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2005
- 2006 - Arctic Monkeys, the Wii and another World Cup penalty shoot-out. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2006
- 2007 - The iPhone, the smoking ban, the floods and the run on Northern Rock. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2007
- 2008 - The banking crash, a brilliant Olympics and Lewis Hamilton on the last corner. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2008
- 2009 - Recession, MPs' expenses and a Christmas number one campaign that worked. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2009
- That is every 2000s year we have written up so far: 2000 to 2009.
Classic 2000s dishes
- Slow-roast pork belly and confit duck on every pub menu.
- Risotto, which everybody made and half of us over-stirred.
- Sushi and noodle boxes as ordinary lunch food.
- Cupcakes, brownies and the first wave of bake-at-home everything.
- Chorizo in things it had no business being in.
- Sticky toffee pudding as the default restaurant dessert.
Food trends of the 2000s
- Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on television constantly.
- Jamie's School Dinners (2005) changes school food policy.
- Gastropubs replace the carvery.
- Food blogs and recipe websites start replacing cookbooks.
What the kitchen looked like (2000-2009)
- Range cookers, big islands and kitchens as the room you live in.
- Nespresso and bean-to-cup machines at home.
- Silicone bakeware and the stand mixer as a status object.
- Online supermarket deliveries become normal.
Eating out in the 2000s: restaurants, cafes and takeaways
- Gastropubs everywhere, and the Michelin guide starts noticing them.
- Coffee shops on every high street, with the flat white arriving late in the decade.
- Jamie Oliver's Fifteen (2002) and the rise of the chef with a cause.
- Chain casual dining at its height: Zizzi, Ask, Cafe Rouge, Gourmet Burger Kitchen.
- Street food markets start pulling crowds, Borough Market chief among them.
- Takeaway ordering moves online with Just Eat's UK launch in 2001.
Cooking these now: honest notes
- Risotto: warm stock, a ladle at a time, and stop a minute before you think it is done.
- Pork belly needs long and low first, then blasting at the end for the crackling.
- Buy one good knife rather than a block of six bad ones.
How to use this
- Themed party: pick three dishes, not ten - one thing to pick at, one main, one pudding everyone remembers.
- Put the 2000s playlist on while you cook and the theme does half the work.
- Reminiscence session: food smells prompt more conversation than photographs do.
- Milestone birthday: cook what they ate at eighteen, not what was around when they were born.
Found your words? Now find the card
Shop prints and posters Look back to 2000 Look back to 2001 Look back to 2002
How to write it so it lands
- Write the menu on a card and put it on the table - it makes a themed meal feel deliberate.
- Cook one dish nobody has had for thirty years; that is the one people talk about.
- Check for allergies before you build a menu around pastry, nuts or shellfish.
Where to shop next
- Look back to 2000
- Look back to 2001
- Look back to 2002
- Look back to 2003
- Look back to 2004
- Look back to 2005
- Look back to 2006
- Look back to 2007
- Look back to 2008
- Look back to 2009
- 2000s calendar: year by year
- 2000s trivia: fun facts
- 2000s music: albums, artists and songs
- 2000s fashion: clothes, hair and accessories
- 2000s books, films and TV
- 2000s party playlist
- The 2000s: the whole decade
- Retro gift guide: the 2000s
- 00s quiz questions
- Dial-up, MSN and MySpace
- Adverts we can still recite
- Decade music round questions
- Decade history: key events, politics and culture by era
- Decade books: best novels, authors and reading trends
- Decade recipes: dishes and food trends by era
- Music by decade: albums, artists and songs
- Decade fashion: clothes, hair and accessories by era
- Decade guides: books, films and TV by era
- Decade calendar: every year from 1920
- Decade trivia: fun facts by era
- Nostalgia gift shop
- Retro party supplies
- Guess the year quiz
- Milestone birthday cards
- Planning the party? Birthday party ideas
- How to make a balloon arch
- Photo booth prop ideas
- Pin badges
- All guides
Frequently asked questions
What food was popular in the 2000s?
Slow-roast pork belly and confit duck on every pub menu. The full list above covers the dishes that turned up week in, week out, not just the special-occasion ones.
What were the big food trends of the 2000s?
Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on television constantly. The rest are listed above, including what was arriving in the shops for the first time.
Where did people eat out in the 2000s?
Gastropubs everywhere, and the Michelin guide starts noticing them. The eating out section above lists the restaurants, cafes and takeaways of the decade.
Can I cook 2000s recipes today?
Yes, with small adjustments. Old recipes assume more time and different kit, so the honest notes section above tells you what to change - mostly seasoning, cooking times and which ingredients are hard to buy now.
Do you sell food or recipe books?
No. We make greeting cards, art prints and pin badges in the UK. This page is free to read, print and copy for a party or a care-home session.