Toward the end of every year, the National Restaurant Association surveys about 1,500 top chefs to learn what the hot food trends will be for the coming year. Of course we always check the list of about 200 top trends, to keep our fingers on the pulse of whole grains. You can read the full survey here, or read our blog about it on our website. 

Some of the top whole grain trends in this year's survey include:

• Ancient grains continue to be the top whole grain trend, with 68% of chefs calling them "hot" and 10% a "perennial favorite."
• "Whole grains on kids menus" stayed strong, about even with last year. Let's start kids on the right road early!
• Quinoa isn't the only popular whole grain - farro, black rice, and nonwheat flours (like buckwheat or teff) are edging ahead of this ubiquitous ancient grain, spelling good news for grain variety.
• Interest in gluten free is waning - down 8 pts, one of the larger drops in the survey.

What chefs think matters, because whole grains continue to be less evident in restaurants than they are in homes and supermarkets. Promoting whole grains in restaurants and foodservice will be a main theme of the WGC in 2016. We'll be enlisting consumers to look for whole grains everywhere they eat next year, and to spread the word with the hashtag #SpotWholeGrains whenever they find great whole grain choices.