Keen cooks can buy more high-tech kitchen gadgets and gizmos than ever before, and supermarkets launch dozens of innovative forward-thinking products every year.
But when it comes to entertaining guests in our own homes, Brits are taking inspiration from the past, according to new sales figures.
Formal dinner parties are out and retro buffets are back in, as sales of jelly moulds, vol-au-vent cutters and cheese-and-pineapple hedgehogs soar this year compared to 2017.
That means 1970s favourite blancmange is back on the menu, as well as bite-sized canapés and other nibbles that have transformed from naff to cool again.
Buffets are one of the biggest trends of this year, as retro entertaining becomes more fashionable, sales figures have shown
Home cooks are also opting to use the microwave more for cooking, in a throwback to the decade of convenience food: the 1990s.
Trend experts at Lakeland say it launched a new Lekue Microwave Grill this year in response to soaring sales of the appliances.
The kitchenware store has also seen sales of kitchen tools that are used to make very retro dishes rise this year.
Jelly mould sales have shot up by 293 per cent compared to 2017.
Blancmange was a favourite of the Seventies but now it’s become cool again, with sales of jelly moulds up by nearly 300 per cent
Lakeland has also released a ready-made ‘hedgehog’ to replace the foil-wrapped baked potato traditionally used for the classic throwback party centrepiece: cheese-and-pineapple sticks.
The dish is often referred to as a hedgehog as the sticks represent the spines on the countryside-dwelling creature.
Lakeland also highlights its vol-au-vent cutters so that keen cooks can make their own at home.
Samm Swain, buying and merchandising director at Lakeland said: ‘It’s amazing how trends come, and go and 2018 is most definitely all about retro entertaining.
‘Our customers are looking back for nostalgic ways to host the ultimate dinner party or buffet, with cheese and pineapple sticks, vol-au-vents and blancmange all helping to create that retro feel.’