Mintel released their top six food trend predictions for 2017 at the end of 2016.

The trends have been named as:

• In Tradition we Trust – Modern updates on old flavours and formats
• Power to the Plants – Fresh produce – natural and simple diets
• Waste Not – Sustainability via eliminating food waste and accepting less than perfect foodstuffs
• Time is of the Essence – Joe Wicks’ ‘Lean in 15’ model to remain very much en vogue in 2017
• The Night Shift – Functional food and drink in the evenings, drinks and food for relaxing and that will ‘work’ overnight whilst we sleep
• Balancing the Scales – Healthy food available for everyone and anyone, the idea is that healthy eating should not be seen as a luxury for the wealthy

Healthy and vegetarian food options in all eateries are set to rise again in 2017 according to all forecasts which is great news for us in the fresh produce industry! Health gurus will continue to encourage us all to keep eating less meat and more plants in 2017; the hashtag #meatfreemonday had great success in 2016 and that looks like it is here to stay. Vegetarian and even vegan diets are garnering more and more interest and respect in mainstream circles. The swing towards restaurants being allergen and intolerance aware should only become more comprehensive in 2017.

‘Health and Wellness’ will remain a key lifestyle trend in 2017 and what we eat plays a massive part in that. It doesn’t look like the steady stream of ‘avocado on toast for breakfast’ pictures on Instagram will be stopping anytime soon (big shout out here to @alice_living for regularly including lovely lambs lettuce on her breakfast photos). We are very much enjoying being ‘trendy’ here at JW European with out babyleaf and herb products and are hoping that the wind will change and it will stay this way.

Different kinds of breakfast recipes, spices and weird and wonderful desserts are the food trends called to happen in 2017 outside of our fresh produce ‘Power to the plants’ bubble. 2017 may also be the year that cooked insects become part of our diets.

One shock announcement at the end of 2017 was that some people are predicting the end of the dominance of the mighty kale as the mascot for the healthy eating movement. Some trend reporters have announced that we have now reached ‘peak kale’.

The new kale is apparently going to be… Seaweed. Not the salty, fried Chines takeaway version either, the real deal, from the sea, seaweed. Our office is not badly located to start harvesting this sea-leaf alongside our more standard babyleaves so perhaps we’ll get ourselves a piece of that NPD action in 2017!