The Future Of Food Looks A Lot Like The Past

With every new year comes a new outlook. There is something about that feeling of a fresh calendar start that empowers us to take the steps we need to improve our perspectives, our habits and our broader lifestyles. While there are inevitably some quirkier trends that come and go with each passing year, some tend to stick: deciding to be healthier or happier are a few of the usual go-tos come January.

We see the same attitudes applied toward food, as well. While we are inundated on a daily basis with fleeting fads of miracle cures or secret super-foods, the new year and this notion of a clean slate allows us some time to step back and reflect on the state of the food industry as a whole and our relationship to it. We’re given an opportunity to truly consider where we’ve been, and where we’re headed.

Luckily, 2016 is looking bright. Society is paying much more attention to where food comes from, what it consists of and the ways which we consume it. This new found elevated consciousness means we will be continuing to see a “less is more” mindset dominate. We’re heading back to our simpler roots, something we at Acornseekers know a lot about.

With that, as we make our way into 2016 and beyond, we’d like to take you through a few of the reasons why the future of food is beginning to look a lot like the past.

Fewer additives and GMOs

The days are numbered for foods whose labels read like chemistry textbooks. Who has time to ponder why an endless cavalcade of unpronounceable chemicals like butylated hydroxyanisole and potassium bromate are lurking in our food? Fast food chains like Subway, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut are in the process of purging their foods from artificial preservatives and additives. In general, restaurants such as these are increasingly taking accountability for their food by publishing their full ingredient lists for public inspection. In fact, Panera not only publishes the ingredients it does use, but also the ones it’s getting rid of. This “No No List” includes hydrogenated starch, maltodextrin and sucralose (and those are amongst the more pronounceable words on the list).

This chemical revolution is largely a result of an increasingly conscientious consumer base. As consumers become more ingredient-literate and ingredient-aware, they’ve become more demanding of their foods. Nielsen’s 2015 Global Health and Wellness Report found that roughly 40% of consumers consider it “very important” for their foods to be absent of GMOs (43%), artificial colors (42%) and artificial flavors (41%).

Ingredient-light recipes and restaurants

Again, “less is more” will be a food mantra of 2016. In addition to paring down the additives in individual ingredients, we’ll also be using fewer total ingredients in the recipes we follow. By thoughtfully selecting fresh foods that are wholesome and flavorful, there’s no need for a miles-long shopping list to create a meal fit for a king. Ultimately we’ll save money with the added bonus of being able to reliably track what’s going into our bodies. A win for wealth and health! The increasing popularity of websites and cookbooks with 5-ingredient recipes — even some 3-ingredient recipes — will accelerate this trend in the year to come.

The ingredient-light trend has recently manifested itself in Paris as “monomania,” or the popularity of restaurants and bars that singularly focus on one ingredient. For example, if you’ll be spending your evening at Eggs & Co in the Latin Quarter, I hope you like to eat oeufs! Even Chipotle is taking a page from the “less is more” cookbook, announcing last year that they are developing a tortilla with just four ingredients — water, oil, whole-wheat flour and salt.

Ethical sourcing

Free-range. Cage-free. Sustainability. These used to be mere buzzwords, but in 2016 they will come to define how a rapidly expanding base of consumers source their food. As our consciousness of food practices increases, we are becoming more concerned with not only what foods we are eating, but where these foods are coming from. Consumers are increasingly more likely to support companies that treat their food sources ethically and that produce food in an environmentally mindful manner. 35% of consumers prefer sustainably sourced food.

Though many would suspect that ethical sourcing will mostly affect small niche brands, chain restaurants are actually getting in on the action as well. Wendy’s, Panera and Starbucks have all committed to go cage-free by 2020, with McDonald’s and Subway following suit by 2025.

This rise in ethical eating is largely due to Millennials, a generation which has shown a greater sense of global awareness than any before. This has manifested itself as an interest in supporting companies with ethical business practices. In fact, 47% of Millennials shun businesses with a poor track record of labor practices.

Homemade / Homegrown

Herbs, small gardens, alcohol — you name it. With the internet and social media exponentially increasing our access to how-to tutorials and step-by-step guides from experts on any topic imaginable, building your own more sustainable lifestyle has never been easier.

Waste Not, Want Not

One of my favorite trends from Technomic’s 2016 Food Trends report is what they call the “use it all” mindset. This relates to the rising use of previously undesirable leftovers, animal cuts and even animal species. Less popular cuts of meat like cheeks and shins and so-called “trash fish” like dogfish and scup are beginning to win their place on plates across the globe.

Using alternatives and scraps doesn’t have to mean down-scaling, however. Last year, chef Dan Barber temporarily turned his restaurant into wastED, a pop-up that experimented with byproducts of fisherman, farmers and other food processors along the production chain. The restaurant served lox from dark cuts of salmon, seasonings from bagel crumbs and fish collar. More permanently, the Brooklyn-based restaurant Saucy by Nature crafts its rotating menu based on leftovers from catering events.

By taking ingredients from new, and sometimes unexpected sources, everyone from amateur home cooks to professional chefs get the opportunity to stretch their creativity and experiment with exciting new flavors and textures, all while doing good for the environment. As Technomic writes in their press release for their report, “How about a veggie burger made with carrot pulp from the juicer?”

So there it is. Fewer additives. Less waste. Homegrown deliciousness. The state of food in 2016 will be a return to a quainter time, in which the all-natural flavors of foods — all parts of them — will be allowed to sing, unfettered from all those artificial components we’ve heaped on over the years.

This is excellent news for those of us in the business of creating great food by nature. We’re taking steps in the right direction and returning to the time-honored ways of the past. Of course we have a long way to go, but 2016 will be a landmark year for those who love the taste of purity (or jamón).

Sergio Marsal Colom President & CEO, Acornseekers