NRN Interactive Industry Update - Summer 2023

10 food trends to watch FOOD & BEVERAGE

Bret Thorn Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Plant-based proteins may dominate the headlines, but they’re not the only ingredients and products trending on menus. See how pretzels, premium meats and more are making waves

https://youtu.be/J1l4jNBW0Ok

Five years ago at the National Restaurant Association show, if you were looking to alternatives to conventional food, you would have found a wide range of items that were free of gluten and other allergens, as well as a fair number of items that were vegan. At this year’s show (and last year’s) what you would have found instead was a staggering array of plant-based items, mostly plant-based protein that were stand-ins for beef and chicken, and increasingly for seafood, as well as dairy-free alternatives for milk, eggless egg substitutes, and some items that were called plant-based for no particular reason other than that that’s a trendy thing to call food. (Plant-based dumpling wrappers were

on display at the show, colored with beets and other vegetables, as though dumplings were normally wrapped in meat.)

But much more than that is available at the show, including premium items — which tend to do well in sluggish economies as wealthy consumers trade down from big purchases to three-hour vacations in restaurants — and plants being exhibited as the best versions of themselves rather than substitutes for something else.

Here are 10 trend-forward items from this year’s show.