Modern consumers are increasingly becoming selective in their shopping and eating habits. With easy access to information about lifestyle diseases, sustainability, and global cuisines, consumer food preferences have shifted, leading to new food trends worldwide. More people are making conscious decisions to purchase foodstuffs that are more nutritious, and lead to a better quality of life.
Unlike in the past, modern food consumers are driven by comfort, healthy, sustainable, and diversity. From trying new flavors, and lesser-known cuisines, and embracing food from different cultures to using science to create healthier foods, consumers have played a significant role in developing new, healthier, and sustainable food trends across the globe. In this article, we will discuss food trends and explore popular food trends worldwide.
Popular food trends in the world
The following are food trends in the world.
Shift towards whole ingredients
In the last few years, food consumer trends have shifted towards whole-grain diets. To escape from processed food and the dangers they can have for health, due to the large amounts of salt, sugar, or fats they contain. The term “whole ingredients” or “whole food” refers to items that are very close to their natural state, like meat, nuts or minimally processed dairy products.
Rise of exotic and sour flavours
Technology and global tourism have facilitated access to exotic and new flavours that were previously unheard of or too difficult to access. Food merchants can now access flavors from different parts of the world, giving consumers a wide selection of rich and exotic flavours to choose from.
Whether you are looking for African, South American, Arabic, European, or Caribbean flavors, you can get them at your local food store or order from a delivery app. The demand for new, foreign, and exciting flavors has made them popular, making flavors one of the most popular food trends.
Diverse cuisines
Have you ever sampled Vietnamese cuisine? What about Moroccan dishes? For a long time, the food market was dominated by a few cuisines such as Italian, French, Indian, Thai, and Chinese dishes. However, as consumer demands shift towards diverse cuisines, dishes from different parts of the globe have become a hit, especially in metropolitan cities.
Food lovers are willing to explore cuisines from different cultures, leading to the popularity of cultural foods in the hotel industry. Whether you are seeking to sample Ethiopian, Hungarian, Malaysian, Filipino, Turkish, or Lebanese cuisine, you can easily get what you are looking for. Hoteliers are keen to cater to emerging customer trends to survive in the hospitality industry, which is competitive.
Organic meats
We are in a world where the consumers are more conscious about what they eat, and how the food was treated before its in their plate. Nowadays, food lovers prefer to eat organic meat which is known as healthier and tastier meat, and where the animals have been grass fed and free ranged.
Is sustainable food consumption important?
Yes, sustainable food consumption could not be more important in the changing global climate. Sustainability involves responsible use of natural resources and reduction of pollutants to protect the interests of current and future generations. Food sustainability involves producing and consuming food that is healthy for us without harming the environment. Sustainable eating promotes the production and consumption of food in a manner that protects healthy living, the environment, and the well-being of future generations.
Food trends are continuously changing across the globe as consumer tastes shift to meet their evolving needs. As more consumers become conscious of the safety, health, diversity, sustainability, and nutritious value of foods, there is a significant shift in purchases, resulting in new food trends.