Consumer food trends

Rose petals and orange blossoms are turning up in yogurt and the newest drinks touting antioxidants double as high-octane cocktail mixers.

If you haven't seen these products yet, you will.

Exotic and extremes foods like these and many others are turning on consumers' appetites, according to food trend experts appearing here at the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting & Food Expo. Look no further than the explosion of bottled water that's packaged, priced and marketed into vastly different consumer categories.

“You can find it from simple to premium: 12 cents a bottle to $38 Bling,” said Lu Ann Williams, senior analyst with Innova Market Insights based in the Netherlands.

“For every trend there is a counter trend,” said pointing out several international trends affecting U.S. food. Japanese staples such as sushi and sashimi are everywhere, and Japanese-influenced products, including lox wrapped with seaweed, are turning up in the marketplace.

In food service, restaurants with upscale atmosphere and low-end prices reflect consumers evolving preferences, a restaurant category called “polished-casual.” Ethnic flavors including Brazilian, Thai, Latin American and Mediterranean continue to influence menus as diners seek out unfamiliar bold-flavored foods, according to Joe Pawlak, vice president of the Chicago-based food research company Technomic.

Familiar products like yogurt that now include unfamiliar ingredients like orange blossom components reflect consumers' drive for better health as well as the trend to feel less guilty about eating. This allows people to enjoy food pleasures while giving them a few nutrients in the process, according to Barbara Katz, president of HealthFocus, a Florida-based health and nutrition research company.

“Consumers are just more interested in food these days, whether going out to eat or cooking at home,” said Pawlak. “They're still building 1,000-square-foot kitchens with Viking stoves even if they're not using them every day.”

Now in its 67th year, the IFT Annual Meeting + Food Expo is the world's largest annual scientific forum and exposition on food. Ranked among the largest U.S. conventions, the meeting delivers comprehensive, cutting-edge research and opinion from food science-, technology-, marketing- and business-leaders; online at IFT.org/amfe. Scientific sessions conclude tomorrow with the IFT Global Food Safety & Quality conference, and IFT's Food Nanotechnology conference.

Founded in 1939, and with world headquarters in Chicago, IFT is a not-for-profit international scientific society with 22,000 members working in food science, technology and related professions in industry, academia and government. As the society for food science and technology, IFT brings sound science to the public discussion of food issues.