The annual race to predict the next year’s food trends happens earlier and earlier every year. While Whole Foods typically leads off with the first big list in October, Midwest Grocer Fresh Thyme Market jumped ahead with what I’d call a very practical and down-to-earth list.
I keep them all for when it’s time for me to throw some spaghetti of my own at the wall to see what sticks.
I usually try to bring together a few overarching themes, along with some specifics. For example, last year, I discussed the difference between micro- and megatrends, and the proliferation of sponsored content on social media.
This year, I have a few main areas of focus, but the biggest of them all can be described as “What does this food do for me?” This is reflected in so many different ways: functional, fast, fun, flavorful – the list is endless.
Let’s start with the food buzzword of the year: Protein
Protein has been featured on nearly every food trends list I’ve tracked this fall. It’s almost impossible to get away from online commentary about how many grams of protein a person should be eating based on their situation in life. And that number is usually outrageous compared to what most people are eating in a day. Once someone has hitched their wagon to the protein parade, there’s little room for anything else in their dietary conversation, and that concerns me.
I’m not a dietitian or nutritionist, but a lot of this protein-centric advice completely loses fresh produce (particularly fresh fruit) when they’re so focused on getting 30 to 50 grams of protein in every meal. On social media, I’m seeing nauseating combinations of sugar-free protein powder, pudding mix, and cottage cheese in everyday recommendations.
What can produce marketers do? Let’s talk about balance, and combining protein with fresh produce options. Can the canned chicken crusaders be convinced to add it to a salad kit? Can we mix in some actual fresh fruit with all of the blended cottage cheese or Greek yogurt recommendations?
Functional foods are still firing on all cylinders
While I put protein in a category of its own when it comes to a functional component, the functional buzz is still buzzing. The downside of this is consumers looking for the easy way out via drinks, powders, and supplements instead of good old fashioned ingredients.
Take magnesium, for example. Magnesium supplementation is extremely popular right now and search interest, according to Google Trends, has been on a sharp upward trajectory since mid-2022.
Unfortunately, all of the top related queries are related to supplements, and not foods naturally containing magnesium like nuts, avocados, spinach, pumpkin seeds, bananas, potatoes, and dark chocolate.
Supplements and powders don’t always mean consumers are skipping the actual food. Teas, powders, and supplements containing Lion’s Mane mushrooms have been a great way to spur demand for the actual item in the produce department. I regularly see the fuzzy ball of fluff alongside buttons, bellas, and shiitakes nowadays.
“Specialty” grocers are growing in popularity
I live in a fast-growing area of the U.S. – the Northwest suburbs of Austin, TX – so this may seem a little niche for me, but we’ve had several new ethnic and specialty grocers pop up over the past few years. The biggest one is from New Jersey-based Korean specialist H-Mart, which features a massive food hall that is almost always busy.
We also have several new niche Indian and South Asian specialists that have opened up in our neighborhood. The presence of ethnic grocers has caught the attention of the local powerhouse H-E-B, so much so that there’s now an established section in the produce department for Indian vegetables.
In other areas, we’re seeing strong growth in Hispanic grocers, like Cardenas Markets, Northgate Gonzalez, and El Super.
Microtrends: “Different” Pizza, beans, pickles, cucumbers, and fancy honey
I can’t do a list like this without mentioning social media influence on microtrends. This summer saw a TikTok trend for cucumbers that correlated with a double-digit year-over-year sales increase for the vegetable in the months following.
Other trends I’m seeing: “Dense bean salads” are extremely popular with consumers looking for nutritious, meal prep-friendly options. Beans in general have been trending for their low cost, high payoff on the nutrition side; “Different” pizzas are flavors far beyond pepperoni and mozzarella. Think dill pickle, potatoes, artichokes, and even chicken tenders; and honey with flavor profiles like “hot honey,” lavender, citrus, and more as a drizzle of flavor and not just a sugar replacement.
Trendy fruits and vegetables for 2025
More than one trends list picked peppers, mangos, and mushrooms to be trendy in 2025, and I agree. We’re seeing a lot of new options in these categories, focused on flavor and function.
The number of stores I’ve seen expand mushroom categories over the past few years is definitely worth notice, with blends of sliced mushrooms, exotics, and higher-end mushrooms in more markets.
The mango category has been on a steady uptick in popularity, and different varieties are gaining ground with consumers, like keitts, kents, and ataulfos, in addition to new branded specialties like Pink Elephant, Sapurana, and Baby Sugar Mangos.
