5 Food Trends That Will Define ‘New Normal’ Post Covid-19

Coronavirus: Will the COVID-19 pandemic be the final nail in the coffin that makes the world switch over to healthier eating alternatives and practices?

A growing trend was seen last year of plant-based eating, as people were made aware about the multiple health conditions associated with a meat-based diet. The food industry has gradually shown interest & started adapting to mock meat and meat alternatives, with the biggest food chains opting for it to be part of their menus. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak in China, people have begun to think how they consume food. The ‘thinking’ involves getting to know more about how their food is sourced, made & finally delivered.

The world saw a transition from industrial animal production for consumption to more sustainable, animal-welfare forms of agriculture, as well as a reduction in animals raised for food. This also gave a significant push to the ‘vegan food industry’ and brought it to the forefront of the health trends of 2019-2020.

But will the COVID-19 pandemic be the final nail in the coffin that makes the world switch over from meat? With people being more conscious about their lifestyle choices, they are now making more thoughtful purchasing decisions, and opting for sustainable alternatives. People today are getting increasingly curious about how and where something is made, as well as its impact on the environment.

Being part of the hospitality industry in India, here is what I think will be some of the food trends that will takeover the Indian F&B sector post lockdown:

Here Are 5 Food Trends That Will Take Over The Food & Beverage Space Post Covid-19: 

1. Chef Driven Delivery Restaurants

Many chef-driven, fine dining restaurants which were earlier focussed on providing customers a dining-in experience, will now venture into the delivery business. In the long term this will completely change the landscape of the delivery business in the country.

Customers have always connected better with brands who have a consistent story and have been transparent with them about the team and chefs that work behind the scenes to make their food. This was earlier missing from the delivery business model in India, but will now make a comeback. Curating a better experience right from hygiene & safe, to packaging & customer centric content will put forward a new wave of doing business in the food delivery sector.

2. Vegan & Healthy-Food Delivery Brands

There was a strong shift indicated in 2020 towards vegan & organic food. But with Covid19 taking the globe by storm, this trend will soon become a lifestyle for many. People will be more conscious about the food they eat and this market will see a rise in ‘vegan only‘ brands. Many SME’s have come up in the product space across the country promoting plant-based products, foods & more.

In late 2019 and early 2020 we saw many smaller cafes spring up; focusing on healthy, farm-to-table and vegan menus. As Indians, a lot of our diet is already vegan-friendly, hence, it is not too difficult for us to adapt. However, with the availability of vegan cheese, mayonnaise & mock meats in India, the transition seems easier.

3. Gourmet Street Food

India is known for its street food and people love it. However, with hygiene and cleanliness being the primary area of concern after COVID-19, street food is not going to be people’s preferred option for eating out for months to come post the pandemic. Thus, we will see a rise of many gourmet street food brands in the organized sector that can provide great taste coupled with hygiene and convenience of delivery.

4. Meat Alternatives & Mock Meat

With people switching from an animal based diet to a plant based one, we will see the popularisation of mock meat and meat alternatives. Many restaurants will give their customers an option to opt for mock meat instead of the real thing, hence allowing them to add the required protein content to their meal rather carb heavy vegetarian and vegan diet food options. This industry has already seen great potential abroad, and will probably make a big impact in the post COVID-19 era in India, in both F&B and retail.

5. At Home Experiences

Due to physical distancing being strictly enforced in India and around the world during COVID-19, a lot of the people will opt for enforcing this even after the pandemic is over to deal with the fear of another outbreak. Even after lockdown is over, restaurants will not be allowed to operate at more than a 30% capacity, hence there will be more and more F&B brands providing ‘At Home’ experiences.

This trend was earlier being explored by a select few players in India, and will now see a major rise. Most hospitality brands will provide private catering services that will have the option of ‘cooking at home’, and will cater to groups of 8 to 20 people who would like to have an indulgent gourmet experience indoors post the pandemic.

Next Food Trends for 2019

After extensive research, Studio Bordewijk has identified 5 important food trends for 2019, which will influence our buying, cooking and eating behavior. Here we will some food trend for trends for 2019:

1 #masculine plant powered

Traditionally men are big fans of meat. But today we see more and more creative chefs and vega cooks doing their utmost best to seduce these carnivores with umami rich and juicy plant based dishes. On social media a bomb of inspiration has erupted to cook with plants as never before. The edible flora is prepared with many meaty cues. It is smoked, grilled, roasted, marinated until the meatiness splashes from the picture. Plant Pusher Derek Sarno is a great example of this with his blog and book ‘ Wicked Healthy ‘. He has been working with TESCO and developed a range of ready-made dishes such as the BBQ pizza, carrot pastrami wraps and mushroom bolognaise. In the period from January to June 2.5 million vegetable meals were sold. In the Netherlands, our vegan of the first hour Lisette Kreischer will come with her latest book Man. Eat. Plant. where she and Maartje Borst will seduce the meat lover with eggplant dogs and epic roasts. Sure, she will make the reader forget about meat.

2 #the new packaging

More and more people are beginning to get annoyed by the large quantities of plastic that we take to us every day and throw away. The plastic soup is a thorn in the eye and the growing awareness that plastics break down in micro and nano plastics frightens us. That is why a growing number of people people is trying to decrease the amount of plastic in their lives. It is not easy though. Our food system is addicted to plastic. It takes a total new system to create change. Simultaneously with our resistance, we are very much attached to the convenience of fresh, ready-to-go products that almost always require plastic solutions. On the other side, plastic prevents food waste, which is a different kind of environmental pollution we need to decrease. But the urgency is growing, and more and more packaging and food companies are starting to think seriously about other solutions. The Dutch retailer Ecoplaza started with a plastic free pop-up store, Mc Donald joined forces with Starbucks and recently called out for a design competition to create environmentally friendly coffee cups, and more and more research is being done into bio-degradable new plastics. such as plastics made from crab and shrimp peels, seaweed, algae, kombucha and agricultural waste. We are still far from there, but a new packaging system will eventually be a pure necessity. It is expected that we move towards a system with more bio-degradable plastics on the one hand and better recycling and multiple use systems of those non-degradable materials on the other. To achieve this goal, we will have to work hard across the boundaries of individual food producers and retailers. Consumers, businesses and governments will all need to contribute to make it happen.

3 #Shroom it!

Connected with trend 1, we will see a more prominent role for mushrooms. Mushrooms are naturally rich in umami and have a meaty bite. Cool chefs call these hooded friends more and more often shrooms, as an abbreviation of mushrooms. And then it’s not just about the ordinary mushroom. Many experiments and cooking are done with a growing range of species, from Shiitake, Enoki, Portobello’s to the even more unknown maitake and eryngii. We are sure that in the coming years the assortment of mushrooms available will grow and many more products will come that use mushrooms as an ingredient like pulled shroom sandwiches, burgers, or taste bringers to replace, for example the Maggi bottle.

4 #Food swaps

The cauliflower pizza crust, zucchini-spaghetti, broccoli-rice, chickpeas crisps and nice cream (ice cream of banana and avocado) are all examples of products that were created by a smart ‘ food hack ‘ in which an unhealthy component was replaced by a more fibrous, protein richer or less calorie-rich ingredient. Often by a vegetable or a fruit. Yeah, let’s face it! …unhealthy snacks such as pizzas, crisps, candies and ice cream, continue to have a giant appeal to people. But if health gains can be achieved without sacrificing too much on sensory delight, one can count on success as a producer. For example, the cauliflower pizzas of Magioni are now flying over the counter. Halo Top in the USA has managed to conquer a large market share from scratch. When food swap takes place by a recognizable fruit or vegetable instead of tinkering complex ingredient formulas, innovation will best suit the needs of contemporary consumers.

5 #Speeding up innovation!
The innovation speed in food is accelerating. The time that the world was dominated by large A-brands that were only aiming to fill their production lines is over. Albert Heijn calls in their visionary book ‘Appie Tomorrow’ for more ‘doing’ than ‘thinking’ ‘… and that 80% is good enough to try it. Learn by falling and standing up, through more experiments, by accepting failures and learning how it can be done better. In the end, the impact of innovation will be bigger. There are many similarities with design thinking, which is now more and more in the spotlight. Food producers need to go along with this increased pace and should speed up their innovations with more guts and entrepreneurship.

9 ways millennials are changing the way we eat

 

If you’ve noticed a positive change in food trends over the last 10 years, thank a millennial. Loosely defined as people born from the early 1980s until about 2004, millennials are the largest U.S. age demographic, and as such they are key tastemakers. Their food preferences are helping determine what you’ll find in grocery stores and restaurants across the country.
Millennials are in college, starting new jobs, getting married or having kids. Right now, there are more millennials in the workforce than any other age bracket, and their consumer choices matter. Here’s how this generation is influencing the way we eat. ( These are generalizations based on statistics, and not necessarily true for every millennial you know.)
They want the truth from food manufacturers. Big food producers are starting to listen to consumer demands for transparency about ingredients and sources, and this request is largely driven by millennials who want to know how their food is made. We all benefit from seeing more informative food labels on grocery store products.

They love customization. Millennials don’t want the same sad burger that everyone else is eating. They want to custom-design the flavor and personalize their meal. And why not? They are paying for the food; it may as well be exactly what they want. If you notice more quick-service restaurants offering customizable options that you love, thank a millennial for that.

They want easy. According to the International Food Information Council’s 2017 Food and Health Survey, 55 percent of millennials say convenience is a top driver when buying food, while baby boomers say taste matters more. Millennials are the drivers behind meal kits, grocery delivery services, food trucks, online ordering and the growth of heat-and-eat options at grocery stores.

They want better baby food. When my daughter was born 11 years ago, feeding a baby was all about powdered rice cereal and jars of mashed green beans. Have you strolled down the baby food aisle lately? You’ll find gourmet blends in convenient pouches — organic chicken risotto and portabella mushrooms, anyone? Becoming a parent changes food habits more than any other milestone, and millennials tend to focus on food quality once they realize they are responsible for feeding a little person. While some of the products are outlandish, the variety and quality has certainly improved because of demand.

They value the planet. While older shoppers still read labels for information about calories and fat grams, millennials are more interested in how the food was sourced and grown, and how that affects their carbon footprint. Sustainability is a priority for them when buying food at grocery stores or restaurants. Millennials’ awareness of environmental issues has influenced food manufacturers to institute better earth-friendly practices.

They love to snack. Because some millennials graze instead of eating large meals, snack options have exploded, and there are many healthy offerings, such as chia seed pudding, roasted chickpeas and popped sorghum. Millennials have also pushed food companies to meet their need for convenience by demanding food packages that are resealable, easy to open and portable.

They love the keto diet. According to IFIC, 47 percent of millennials say animal protein is healthy, whereas just 26 percent of older cohorts say this. And millennials are more likely than older cohorts to say saturated fat (found in keto-friendly coconut oil, cream and butter) is healthy. Whether you love or loathe the high-fat keto diet, millennial interest is driving researchers to take a closer look at it, so we will have some evidence-based answers about its efficacy soon.

They will try anything. Millennials are described as open-minded and curious. They like trying new flavors, love ethnic cuisine and won’t shy away from vegetarian and vegan options. As menu choices expand and you try new things, know that’s driven by millennials.

While there are many positive changes in food and nutrition because of millennials, there is one troublesome statistic to note. According to IFIC, about 40 percent of millennials say that friends and family are a top source of their nutrition information (only 21 percent of boomers give that answer — they trust doctors and dietitians more).
There’s no way to know how trustworthy someone’s sister’s nutrition information is. Plus, millennials rely heavily on websites, bloggers and social media fitness professionals for health information. This can spread nutrition myths (like their love of organic food), and can be harmful for future generations, including their very well-fed babies.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com