Gotta say that as a former food trend commentator and publisher of similar material that this list from Mintel is not as rich as one would desire. But, it is interesting to see that they have identified climate change as an influence on product developers.
That said, I've only read the summary. Perhaps the full report is more robust and inspiring.
Hi Dana, Thanks for sharing. Glad to see Upcycled Foods making it onto another list. Whole Foods ranks this as a growing trend and Sobeys has listed Upcycled Foods as an important part of their sustainability initiative! There is plenty of opportunity in this rapidly growing segment
Got another report for you YODL-ers! This one is on Global Food Tech Trends from the brainiacs at France’s DigitalFoodLab. FYI - I posted about some of their other free reports in another thread. Use #foodtech to find them easily.
Great list - interesting how two of the trends have resulted from Tik Tok creators inspiring big companies to jump on the idea. If social media is going to be the source of our inspiration, we maybe need a “plan B”? I have a feeling Tik Tok might become more of a political hot potato in the not too distant future.
@Michelle Brisebois interesting point on tik tok. There are many companies now that are doing fantastic social listening/scrapping of the web to consolidate data and info from all over and point to trends. I suspect these will be the less “lazy” way of looking to grassroots influence on food service and CPG product development (primarily manifested as flavours).
Thank you for sharing, it’s very interesting. I like comparing them with previous years to play prediction bingo. Along the same lines, here is the BDC food sector report. It contains its share of trends; I always keep in mind that what people say is not always what they do…
To cap off this thread, I’m going to share my list of top trends I’ve observed emerging that will affect Canadian food businesses and Canadian consumers next year. If you want more detail about this list, let me know or, tune into your local CBC radion one station this afternoon and catch me chatting about them. I’ll be popping into about a dozen stations across the country.
Dana’s 2023 Trend Predictions:
Sea Vegetables: expect to see kelp and seaweed will be used in recipes to add flavour and in food products as a source of nutrients
Net Zero Eating - climate conscious conumers will start to ask companies to be more transparent about their climate offset and decarbonization plans
Dining as Theatre: with the economy impacted by inflation, people will go out to eat less and when they do, restaurants with great service and flare will be their first choice. Think blowtorch whiskey cocktail trolleys and menus that use technology to show you the dishes your ordering instead of telling you about them
New Ethnic Cuisines: Regional Ukrainian, Nigerian, and more! Immigration fueled foodservice trends are always evolving in Canada and with our country now looking to welcome over 460,000 new immigrants each year, expect to have more access to foods from the top countries where we expect to source newcomers: Asia, Middle East, India
Local/Community Centric Food Choices: it gained momentum during the pandemic and local is not slowing down! It seems our national and regional pride of place are driving purchase decisions more often which is great for our domestic economy and food system resiliency.
Home Entertaining- now that we're allowed to gather, expect dinner parties and pot lucks to resurge as Canadians try to reconnect with friends and watch their expenses.
Silver Economy Products: expect more foods designed to allure the 60+ crowd to open their pocket books. Package sizes, health claims and flavour profiles that appeal to our aging population will be more and more common.
Gut micro-biome: Following on the success of kombucha and fremented foods like kimchi, expect more talk about gut health and how foods can impact your body and mind.
Diet trend to watch: The Livy Method. Ontario-based Gina Livy's new take on moderating people's hormones for wellness and weightloss has gained tremendous traction among menopausal women in that province and with +13K members in her Winter 2023 facebook group and +60K Instagram followers, she is off to a good start to be Canada's diet queen.
