By now, we've all read about the surge in home-cooking. Spending more time at home during the pandemic has provided the context for consumers to explore the food preparation spectrum, from making soups and casseroles to researching global foods and flavors and of course making a valiant attempt at baking. 

March is National Nutrition Month, yet I can’t help but think of the meme currently circulating: “Welcome to the One-Year Anniversary of the Two-Week Lockdown!” The past year has been a mixed blessing, especially when it comes to health and nutrition.

There are two overarching trends greeting us as we enter the third decade of the 21st century. The first is a hyper-awareness of the foods and beverages we consume that surpasses anything preceding or predicted. The other is the synergy between food makers and consumer demands ignited by this awareness.

Amid a growing gap in performance between those that innovate successfully and those that do not, companies wishing to get ahead and stay ahead of competitors need a robust R&D strategy.

For some time now, the majority of the food and beverage industry has been aware of this shift. Food suppliers and processors have positioned their businesses to adapt to exponential future changes.

Plant-based has been the big buzz-term in food and beverage for well over a year now. With meat and poultry analogs leading the way, we split the topic into two features.

According to the International Food Information Council’s 2020 Food & Health Survey, 85% of Americans have made at least some change in the food they eat or how they prepare it because of the coronavirus pandemic. Do we expect consumers to return to pre-pandemic behaviors?

Understandably, it hasn’t been the best time for CPG food and beverage processors to unveil new products to retail customers or their consumers. Yet it doesn’t have to bring an end to strategic innovation—involving insights, ideation or product development. 

June is Men’s Health Month, and June 10-16 is designated as Men’s Health Week. It’s not quite certain how we guys landed both a week and a month at the same time, but it probably has to do with the need to be told to do something more than once. In this case, it’s needing to be nagged to take care of ourselves.

By the time I finish writing this sentence, I imagine another industry trade show will have been cancelled. In my 20 years of covering the food and beverage industry, I have never witnessed such widespread disruption to business. I don’t believe any among us have been left unaffected by the current crisis.