Upcoming Food Trends in Review

Image courtesy of Sixybeast Flickr
Here's a review of the 2009 predictions by The Food People, a food trends agent in the UK.

1. Comfort food
• Nostalgia, feel good foods, treats.

2. Scratch cooking and home baking
• Raw ingredients, cheaper cuts, more cakes, sponges.

3. Local (also see no's 6 & 9.)
• Local regions, traditions, ingredients, breeds and species.

4. Less protein
• Meat is expensive. Eggs are not, so eggs are in.

5. Head to tail
• Eating more of our fish, meat and vegetables and reducing waste.

6. Sustainable varieties of meat and fish
• – rock fish, gurnard, flounder, mahi mahi.

7. Changing drinking habits
• Drinking at home rather than out in pubs and restaurants, beer, cider and cocktails

8. Thirst for food skills and knowledge
• Entry level cookery schools teaching the basics and how to's.

9. Restaurant and farm alliances
• Restaurateurs partnering with farms (farm to plate) engender trust and local sustainability.

10. Miniaturisation
• Smaller – greater choice, less cost, more variety, cute factor.

11. More customisation
• Customised or tailored goods, products or services.

12. Health
• Instant nutrition, ultra low calorie, natural ingredients.

Food Market Research

Centro Commercial Food Market, originally uploaded by auntjojo.

Growers, chefs and factories market their food to those customers who really want to buy their products. Market Research enables food producers to create products that their customers will buy. Alot of this research is interviewing, polling and observing customer's buying and eating habits. Sophisticated software including data visualisation tools have sped up and refined this consumer information gathering process.

HealthFocus International Trendscan. This 2007 USA report has been compiled by a team of market researchers for the food and beverage industry. This group particularly focus on consumer health and nutrition. The HealthFocus Trendscan is a biennial publication this is a source from which food media reports . The 2009 report is yet to come out however . It will cost $US thousands. Instead use Basic Trend Search and Beyond Basic Trend Search to discover for yourself what might be covered in Trendscan 2009.

In summary-HealthFocus has identified 7 major areas of interest in health and wellness in the 2007 HealthFocus Trend Study.

The areas tracked are:
1) The Pursuit of Balance in Life & Diet, Daily Energy & Stress Reduction
2) Growth of Functional Foods & Functional Ingredients
3) Interest in Organic, Sustainability & Fair Trade
4) Weight Management
5) Food Safety Concerns
6) Well-being of Kids
7) Prevention & CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine)

Lesson Idea DIY Trend Scan

Rainbow Bento Lunch

rainbow bento lunch, originally uploaded by tiffanywashko.
The Food People have put out another PDF on Kids for a bit of retrospective food trend watching. But its far from nostalgic.

The food trends concerning kids are all about patching up the wonky health patterns that are apparent after a couple of generations of fast food product development/marketing, not to mention water soil and air contaminants. What does it really mean to promote healthy food choices? Have you noticed the urgency to be seen by consumers as healthy or green?

What really is a healthy food or beverage product? Is it the label that says so?

Bento Lunch Boxes originate from Japan.

Superfoods and Superlative Fruits

Açaí, originally uploaded by Breno Peck.

Acai Berries (high in antioxidants) from Belém (on the banks of the Amazon estuary, in the northern part of Brazil) sold to the local acai shops who smash the berries with water, the seed is then extracted to serve a thick health giving juice.

Super Foods

The Food People have summarised their Super Food findings in a downloadable pdf.

• Superfruits including pomegranate, blueberries, goji berry, lulo fruit, mangosteen, aronia, blueberry, seaberry, cranberry, mamey fruits and saberry too...as you can see once a market dictates a trend it goes out to find it and reinvent itself over and over!
  

• A beautiful list of edible flowers and for goodness sakes eat your broccoli!

• Salmon has got to be an all time favourite super food. Omegas and omegods.

Free Food

The Food People have a PDF that promotes the idea that 'free food' foraging has become more appealing...here in Tasmania we have wild samphire, mussels and oysters plucked from the shoreline for serving the same day. Raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants also.

Functional Food Trends

Top10 Functional Trends.pdf

Sloan Trends has provided a downloadable pdf of the Top 10 Functional Food Trends 2008. Functional Foods are those that are considered to have added benefits upon consumption. For example health benefits in particular, such as organic, reduced fat, high fibre, hormone free, reduced calorie and added nutrients.

It is essential when reviewing such trends to understand why the industry is marketing these and why the consumer desires them. Why do these products provide health solutions and do they?