It is now fashionable at the beginning of each year for experts to outline the nutrition map that will concern us in the coming months.
Based on the trends that emerge and are established every year, but also the infallible factor, the Consumers, can prophesy where the world will go in terms of food and drink.
Of course, this is not a crystal ball where new consumer habits are predicted, but for industry experts and market players who analyze the respective fashions with numbers and statistics.
New ingredients that steal the eye, healthier eating patterns and the constant search for more and more taste are the topics that will concern us in 2020, according to the meters of gastronomy but also the colossal directors of the space.
Even food trend professionals are now recording their data in comprehensive reports.
So let's see what they all prophesy for the new year…
According to a Nielsen report, 66% of children intensify their efforts to reduce alcohol consumption. A trend that has caught the beverage and soft drink industry with new series of drinks with low or even zero alcohol content.
Many such preparations are now available on the world market. Even flavored teas beer you will find. The same goes for caffeinated beverages, which listen to the new trend and reduce the content of the active substance. Non-alcoholic beers tend to be established, as are the so-called "Mocktails", cocktails without a trace of alcohol.
A similar study by Whole Foods confirms that young people are abandoning alcohol en masse and turning to the subversive and fruitful solutions of supermarkets and restaurants. How do you like chrysanthemum tea?
The trend was recorded in 2019 and experts expect it to reach the ceiling in 2020. The fact that more and more restaurants and supermarket chains are turning to the production of their own items for kitchen. Fresh products for which you will soon be able to follow the whole path of their production, from the purchase of the seed to the harvest.
As the world changes and we become more and more environmentally sensitive as consumers, the more firms are forced to take an interest in the ecological footprint of the production and transportation of products. We are not just talking about the continuation of the trend of organic products, but about a really new model of cultivation and processing of food, both plant and animal production.
Especially since many chains have committed to zero carbon footprint in the coming years. The change in the production, processing and marketing of the food we put in our mouths is just around the corner…
The superfoods revolution is a story that has been going on for a decade and experts are now predicting new items that will immediately concern us. What if last year we had her quinoa, this year kale and farro are coming dynamically. Foods with high nutritional value and few calories will be sought even more frantically in the new year and kale (a type of cabbage), but also cereal farro (zea in Greek) will be the kings.
According to Market Watch, superfoods are expected to increase significantly by 2024. And not only that, but also foods that have re-entered the map for their beneficial benefits. Like cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, the new trend in health and wellness.
If we believe the report of Transparency Market Research, ginger (ginger) will have its honor this year, as well as fresh and tasty snacks. For vegetable sticks he tells us about carrots or cucumber.
One of the absolute trends that plays loudly in almost all analysts is the meat broth, a secret they know well there in NBA. Homemade bone broth, which is rich in trace elements, has even been targeted by the market, as in many parts of the world you can order it even online.
Experts expect a real boom in its popularity in the coming years and swear that it is the best place to bet your money. Bone broth is of course an old nutritional history, but nowadays it knows new glories because of its beneficial properties…
They call it "alternative meat" as it is not meat. It is a product that has the taste and texture of meat, but its preparation is very environmentally friendly, as it leaves aside livestock. Soy sausages are made by, say, the Vegetarian Butcher, which was bought by Unilever, meat is made from plant materials, and Impossible Foods, which has the support of Bill Gates.
Experts predict that the meat substitute market is the fastest growing in the industry and talk about a history of 6 billion dollars by 2022. In 2020 they expect that it will be the defining moment of alternative meat. You will now find Impossible Foods by Impossible Foods even at Burger King!
Vegetables are here and they will stay, Whole Foods predicts, and a real business is already trying to grab market share. That's why some (Beyond Meat) make pea protein. The meat from… air!
People are increasingly turning to non-dairy substitutes milk, herbal alternatives that connoisseurs are waiting to reach the ceiling in the new year. Oat milk is now experiencing great times, as the Marketplace tells us that its sales skyrocketed in the US in 2019 to $ 29 million. Where in 2017 they did not exceed 4,4 million.
Oat milk has outperformed almond milk and soy milk in the world market, but in the new year it will be under pressure from other milk substitutes, such as coconut milk and rice milk. But one more thing that comes to mind as we speak: pea milk.
2019 was finally the year we saw the use of plastic reduced. And not as an expectation anymore, but as an act. Experts expect the trend to generalize in the new year, with California pointing the way here. Not only in straws and plastic bags, as even plastic water bottles are no longer banned at San Francisco International Airport.
Food packaging is in order, the market predicts, and a number of companies are already working on the next day of maintenance and storage of goods on supermarket shelves without disposable plastic.
According to a survey by Food & Beverage magazine, 31% of chefs admit that it is no longer enough to include gluten-free dishes or vegetarian options on their menus. The world has become more nutritionally complex than that, let alone all sorts of diets they impose and finally impose their own norms.
Gluten-free dishes, dishes without dairy products, even dishes that harmonize with the keto diet (ketogenic diet) we will soon see in our favorite restaurants. Which will follow the second trend that is rapidly established in the area, dishes from different national cuisines to coexist in the same menu. Chinese and Peruvian in one place…
At the time of the vegan continues to divide the world and vegetarianism is also polarized, humanity has found something new to compromise. Flexitarians now call themselves those who basically insist on a vegetarian diet, but also taste one in both animal products and dairy.
Nielsen even tells us that 37% of people who resorted to alternative meats in 2019 said flexitarians, a trend that everyone believes will grow in the new year. Naturally affecting the nutritional habits of the planet. The more their number increases, the more the market stretches its ears.
The biggest fast food chains now offer options that harmonize with the new customs. Not just vegetarian choices, but also burgers, for example, with a high content of plant-based beef burgers (such as mushrooms).
Michelin-starred chef Paul Welburn believes that this flexible eating habit will be quickly captured on restaurant menus, with dishes aimed precisely at flexitarians. "Meat will no longer be demonized, but will be consumed more consciously"…