The Changing Landscape of Food Innovation

Pre-processed Taste

Today popular farming methods and the production of 'big-food' brands often prioritise mass yield, commodification, shelf life, perfect appearances and uniformity, all over the expense of delicious natural colours and flavours, as well as nature's own nutrition.

In this month’s Futures Feed we look at the change in attitude towards food innovation, where the possibilities of process are no longer compromising on either appetite or indulgence. We explore the category-defying food and drink brands that are rejecting strict rules of production, or traditional retail categorisation, by cultivating flavour processes for products from the ground up.

Here are the four major themes directing a dynamic new future in the evolution of taste creation and opportunity areas for brands looking to infiltrate this exciting sector.

Four key themes of Change

1. Preseed Flavours

Elevating flavour from the ground up by exploring innovation in the growing and cultivating process of farming.

2. Rulebreaking Recipes

Creating category defying food and drink brands rejecting traditional rules of recipe creation.

3. Knowledge Pairings

Building a food industry that promotes agrobiodiversity and the variety and variability of sources.

4. Sensory Sciences

Using nanotechnology and innovation on a molecular level to enhance optimal sensory cues.

What is the opportunity in this space?

– Creating appetising science; how can we bring comfort, familiarity and deliciousness into a category that can be cold and distant? We can create change through pleasure, by using sensorial design and brand world campaigns to add texture, foodie and tactile elements that excite us instead of becoming a commodification.

– Making new uncategorised territories old traditions don’t need to define the future food industry. Brands are launching outside of traditional ‘scopes’ of a product category, showcasing how innovation is the new terroir. It is all about responding to a customer need state rather than keeping within traditional categories.

– Sourcing diversity; there is a huge amount of opportunity in uncaptured sources and unfound flavours. Instead of repeated flavours, we can create unearthed and nuanced food collections that vary in sourcing and execution.

This is just a taste of what the full Futures feed – Pre-processed Taste – has to offer. If you would like to access the full report or find out more, please get in touch below:

Image credits (from the top to the bottom of the page): Ethos Chocolate; Teranga restaurant; Deviant Distillery

How has food innovation changed?