2018 Food and Beverage Trends

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Health and wellness was one of the top trends driving new product innovation in 2017. 2018 won't be drastically different. Instead, these movements will become more mature and specialized—and inspire beverages that are hyper-personalized to give consumers a range of options.

The panel draws perspectives from retail, foodservice, strategic marketing, and culinary education.

Each year around this time, food experts of all types publish their best guesses as to what culinary trends may hit the scene in the coming year. As trend-spotting is a combination of science and art, “trendologists” not only gather underlying data and insights from other credible sources, they also layer knowledge of food, flavor and cooking technique to arrive at more than just a list of the most “googled” foods of the year. 

Although green might be the symbolic color of nature, red is definitely the color of the Back to Nature flag. This has nothing to with leftist politics; natural reds have been at the forefront of the tidal shift from artificial to natural colorings in foods and beverages, pushed ahead to replace the now-spurned Red Dye #40 and bug-derived cochineal colorants.

More conscious than ever about making responsible food choices, 4 in 10 US and UK consumers increased their consumption of “healthy foods."

Whole Foods Market’s global buyers and experts announced the most anticipated food trends for the year ahead. Floral flavors, functional mushrooms and root-to-stem recipes are just a few of the picks expected to take off in 2018. The seasoned trend-spotters thoughtfully compiled this list based on more than 100 years of combined experience in product sourcing and studying consumer preferences.

Spurring the segment's growth will be plant-based dairy alternatives, which are expected to come to represent 40% of the combined total of dairy and dairy alternative beverages, up from 25% in 2016 when dairy alternative beverages alone accounted for barely $6 billion in retail sales.