Need to know 01 : 08 : 17

London – The newly opened restaurant in St James’s Market serves high-end West African cuisine, with a particular focus on typical Nigerian ingredients. Featured on head chef Jeremy Chan’s and owner Iré Hassan-Odukale’s menu are dishes such as wild Nigerian tiger prawn in Banga bisque, a variation on traditional Banga soup.

‘We are creating our own experience and menu that is inspired by some West African ingredients rather than cooking or re-creating existing West African food,’ Chan told Amuse.

Although West African food in London is not new, Ikoyi’s carefully curated menu and contemporary interior by Studio Ashby repositions the cuisine as fine dining. For more on how brands are promoting change in the culinary landscape, buy our Food and Drink Futures Report 2017 here.

US – The womenswear and accessories brand has collaborated with artist Harley Weir on a new film for non-profit-making organisation Planned Parenthood. The four-minute short, A film for Planned Parenthood of New York City, features models Amber Valletta and Hanne Gaby Odiele, actress Jemima Kirke and musician Grimes, among others, discussing ideas such as gender, sex and shame.

‘Now more than ever we feel it is important to use our voice and platform to speak out in support of the things we care deeply about,’ explained Proenza Schouler designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez in an official press release.

In recent times, brands have been standing up for what they believe in regardless of whether their actions provoke controversy. For more on how Brandstanding has evolved over the past year, see our Backlash Brands macrotrend.

The Tasty One Top is a connected induction stove aimed at fans of BuzzFeed’s Tasty food channel, which attracts 2.3bn video views per month, according to Tubular Labs, offering an established, engaged audience for the new product. The stove connects to a dedicated Tasty app that contains 1,700 recipe videos from the channel, and will raise and lower its temperature automatically in synchronisation with the films. The stove can cook using a variety of different methods, from sous vide to slow cooking and pan frying, enabling consumers to create restaurant standard meals in the convenience of their own homes.

The Tasty One Top appeals directly to Millennial consumers’ desire to use technology to help them explore a broader range of food culture. Read our Convenience Culture microtrend for more.

As explored in our Adulting Ads microtrend, Millennials are, contrary to popular belief, interested in car ownership. The YouGov Affluent Perspective 2017 report found that in the US, 40% of affluent consumers from this demographic plan to buy a car in the next year, and in line with the rise of the sharing economy, there is increasing interest in group purchasing among friends.