Food trends in Toronto usually appear gradually and then suddenly permeate across the city. Sometimes, these former novelties stick around - take tacos or macarons for instance. Mostly, however, these items fade away into obscurity (I'm talking about you cronut).

Here are five food trends likely to hit Toronto menus soon.

Kolaches
These central European pastries are popular in areas of the States including Texas, Nebraska and Minnesota. They're becoming more popular, as Bon Appetit notes, with outposts such as Kings Kolache in Brooklyn serving up meat, veggie and even nutella-filled balls of dough.

Freekeh
This Middle Eastern grain started to gain attention earlier this year. With a smoky taste and nutty texture, it's flavourful and also high in protein, fibre and iron making it a perfect substitute for quinoa, which might just lose some of its lustre with a competitor on the block.

Fermented Foods
These already exist in Toronto, of course. We were ahead of the game on kombucha, but get ready for the flood. You may have seen the study suggesting that fermented foods, such as pickles, kimchi and kefir, may help individuals deal with social anxiety. Now you can count on seeing (a lot) more of these probiotic-filled foods on menus throughout the city and the inevitable rise of Yakult in Toronto.

Draft Lattes
Toronto cafes have already jumped full force on New York's cold brew trend. Along with simple, icy coffees, we also got cold brew tonics. Let's hope we continue following our neighbours because draft lattes could migrate over next. The American chain La Colombe started offering these scrumptious looking (and ice cube free) beverages in June.

Iced Coffee Lemonade
Everyone knows, and loves, a crisp and refreshing Arnold Palmer, a.k.a. iced tea and lemonade. However, what about a cold brew coffee and lemonade? The idea of combining coffee and lemon sounds terrifying, but it's apparently refreshing and delicious. Since we already have cold brew tonic, it seems only natural that cold brew lemonade will proliferate Toronto cafes next.

Let us know what food trends you think are destined for Toronto in the comments.

Photo by William T Hornaday