The Wall Street Journal has a story about 10 food trends that we're likely to see in the coming 10 years. Among them:
• Less booze consumption (quarantine habits aside), as people embrace "aperitif culture, adaptogen-infused mocktails, non-alcoholic spirits, session beers and low-ABV wines."
• Families more frequently will eat and cook together, "a silver lining of pandemic lockdown," as "remote work becomes more prevalent, the ritual will continue, advancing a whole generation’s kitchen skills for the long haul."
• Regionalism will grow, as people look into "hyperspecific food concepts, those driven by authentic personal narrative and/or a highly particular cultural context."
• "Following on Covid-era business pivots, restaurants will continue to find new ways to serve their communities, extending their purview beyond sit-down dining to offerings like meal kits, cooking classes, wine clubs and food retail."
• "Waste-consciousness will go mainstream, with consumers demanding better biodegradable delivery packaging, composting at home and buying from burgeoning waste-reducing grocers such as Imperfect Foods."
• "As the term 'organic' continues to be diluted, evolved eaters will instead seek out ingredients labeled 'regenerative': grown and raised using methods that improve the soil, capturing carbon and encouraging biodiversity."
• "Plant-based meat and dairy substitutes will improve and proliferate."
- KC's View:
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There are two predicted trends that I really liked in the Journal story…suggesting that "restaurants and food brands will be headed by a more diverse group of chefs … talented women and people of color who have been shut out of leadership positions to date … (and) a proliferation of new flavors and ideas will follow."
Which sounds wonderful.
The other one is that "ethical employment practices will take root," with consumers paying as much attention to how businesses take care of their people as to how they source their food.
I think that's really important. (And one of the subjects of part two of my interview with Benjamin Lorr, which will run on MNB tomorrow.)
