Bold Foods and Flavors Feed a Need for Newness and Adventure

Now that the world has opened up again, revenge travel and revenge dining are real things. But so is inflation. For so many consumers faced with leaner budgets and financial concerns, cooking with bold foods and flavors is helping them feed a need for newness and adventure.

It also gives consumers ways to expand on the food preparation skills they learned during the pandemic, and to make at-home gatherings even more special.

Everything from restaurant data to trend forecasts and social media feeds point to incredible interest in global and regional cuisines, bold flavors and unique fusions. The fascination with unique flavors is common across all generations, but is especially pronounced with Generation Z and Millennials.

“No matter where we look, there’s a quest for flavor, a quest for variety and a quest for fusion going on in the marketplace,” Leigh Ann Schwarzkopf, co-founder of Project Partners Network, told attendees at The Inspired Home Show 2023.

Trending Styles and Flavors

Food influences are coming from around the world. OpenTable says their platform’s top trending cuisines have Latin roots: Colombian (up 224% in 2022 compared to 2019) and contemporary Latin (up 68%). Grubhub cites an incredible boost in orders of Australian dishes (up 531% in ’22 over ’21), and South African food (up 294%). The National Restaurant Association expects Southeast Asian, Caribbean and South American cuisine to increase in popularity this year.

There’s also considerable interest in region-specific cuisine (say San Francisco-style Vietnamese food) or specific styles of global cuisine (like Latin American street food), says Schwarzkopf. She’s also seeing some unusual mashups of seemingly different styles of food and decor, such as Japanese and Italian.

Many of the ingredients on Datassential’s top list for 2023 have global influences, including ube (the purple yam from the Philippines), yuzu (Japanese citrus fruit), birria (traditional Mexican stew), salsa macha (Mexican chile crisp) and soju (Korean alcoholic beverage).

Bold flavors in general are also “hot.” Even comfort foods like macaroni and cheese are getting amped up with different spices, and consumers are experimenting even more with different varieties of hot peppers. Hot honey and spicy maple are trending sweet and spicy combinations.

Opportunities in Home and Housewares

Makers and sellers of home and housewares goods can help support consumers looking to prepare bold foods and flavors at home in a number of ways:

• Equipment – What cookware, kitchen appliances or gadgets do you offer that can help consumers experiment with global cuisine? That could mean a product to help with a certain type of international food, like the Cuisivin Easy Sushi® roller or the Joyce Chen dumpling steamer basket from Honey-Can-Do International. It could also be a spice organizer like this authentic Indian one from Mayur Exports.

• Tablescape – A big part of entertaining is the presentation. Round out your assortments with tabletop items and servingware that echo the bold flavors of the food being served or help tell their international story. This Day of the Dead collection from Prepara captures the flavor of everyday Mexican fiestas and special events.

• Content – Consumers truly want to learn about different types of cuisines, different flavors and how to bring curated restaurant experiences into their home. Boost brand engagement and loyalty with information, recipes and classes to help them make the most of their equipment and ideas.

• Partnerships – To bring it all together and increase your reach, consider partnerships with chefs, regional experts and specialty food companies.

 Audio recordings of the session on food and flavor, as well as many other education sessions from The Inspired Home Show 2023 can be accessed online.