Healthy Food Trends 2020 The Future Of How And What We Eat

We love researching and writing our trends posts and with such a futuristic sounding year coming up (ummm hello, how on earth is it nearly 2020!) we’re super excited about what might be emerging in the food market. And so, as the year starts drawing to a close we take a look at some of the healthy food trends that are heading our way in 2020.

Plastic Free Packaging

Our awareness and active conscientiousness about reducing the amount of single use plastic we use has quite literally been blown out of the water this year, but there is still lots to be done and 2020 will see further changes to our food packaging preferences and our food prep and food shopping habits.

Compostable packaging and ‘bring your own’ style services will increase, thus making it easier as a consumer to make the right choices. 2020 will see a rise in designated refill areas in shops as well as stand alone refill stores and market stalls, which allows consumers to bring their own containers to decant produce into. Items such as fresh fruit and veg; dried produce like rice, pasta, pulses and cereal; meat and fish; shampoo, shower gel and other hygiene products; as well as washing liquid, detergent and other household cleaning products, can all be bought in this way and this is an excellent move forward in our war against plastic and unnecessary packaging – let’s not forget that it isn’t just plastic that is the problem here.

It’s not a problem that is gong to be solved overnight, however day-by-day, year-by-year we can slowly but surely start to make a difference and next year we will continue with this plight.

Clear Coffee

We all know how bad coffee can be for our teeth in terms of staining, but there aren’t many of us willing to give up the caffeine hit of our favourite brew just for a set of sparkly gnashers. So imagine how exciting it would be if someone invented clear coffee.

Well they only blinkin’ well have! OK, OK so don’t get too excited, at the moment Clear Coffee is only available in the US, but all the good trends start over there first and so we reckon it’s only a matter of time before some bright spark picks up on the idea over here too. The company states that there are no chemicals used in the clarification process and that it contains roughly the same amount of caffeine as two shots of espresso – so this is strong stuff we’re talking about here!

Listen, we don’t know how it works and we certainly don’t know the science behind it – it seems Clear Coffee are keeping that a closely guarded secret – however we do know we like the sound of it and we’ll deffo be keeping our beady little eyes out for it next year.

Star Fruit

If you’ve ever eaten star fruit you’ll know it doesn’t really taste of much. It’s kind of like a sort of sharper, crunchier cucumber – very watery and just a bit ‘meh’, ya know? But this trend comeback isn’t about taste. No, it’s all about the aesthetics and the star fruit has that in abundance.

Basically we can blame Instagram, where in a world of beautiful things we don’t need to worry about taste, but merely how good it looks and how many followers it’s likely to bag you. And just look at it, doesn’t the star fruit make for a great Insta photo!

But looks aside, because as we all know you should never judge by appearance alone, turns out the star fruit has some pretty spectacular nutritional qualities too. It’s low in calories, a fab source of fibre, and it’s a Vitamin C superstar. We know what we’ll be topping our smoothie bowls with in 2020.

Collagen Powder

We’ve been necking protein powder like it’s going out of fashion, and turns out it has. Because now there’s a new supplementary powder on the block and it’s packed full of skin boosting, beauty bursting collagen.

Collagen is essentially a protein, so in layman’s terms this is a protein powder, but it’s a protein powder with a difference and the way we consume it will also very much differ in 2020. Collagen supplements have been around for years, as it is known to be good for skin, nails, hair, muscles, and tendons. As we age our natural collagen levels in the body begin to deplete and so collagen supplements are touted as beauty elixirs to keep our youthful good looks.

In 2020 rather than popping pills, we will instead be adding this super powder to our food and drink in much the same way as we have protein powder. Look out for collagen milkshakes, smoothies, soups and various cakes and bakes, coming to an Instagram profile near you soon.

Itameshi

Fusion food has long been trending, but the latest offering for 2020 is Itameshi, which basically translates as ‘Italian food’ in Japanese. So yeah it’s the fusion of Italian and Japanese cuisine, but what does that actually mean? Well if you think about it, despite the two countries being on opposite sides of the world to one another there aren’t too many dissimilarities. Italy has spaghetti; Japan has noodles. Italy has crudos; Japan has sashimi, Italy has pizza; Japan has 0konomiyaki (a kind of omelette or a pancake often referred to as a Japanese pizza).

Itameshi is about taking the very best qualities of each cuisine and combining them together to make the ultimate feast. This is predominantly done by using Japanese ingredients and cooking with traditional Italian methods, however we predict that 2020 could see a switch around of this and we’re very excited to see how this pans out!

Cookery Dinner Parties

You’ve all seen Come Dine With Me right? Perhaps you’ve even had a go at hosting this kind of dinner party evening yourself. Well evolving on from this, 2020 will see a rise in stay at home entertaining, but with the added twist of getting both the hosts and the guests involved with the cooking.

Cookery dinner parties are starting to become very popular for various reasons:

1) It takes the pressure off the host to make the entire meal.

2) Everyone gets fed and can’t complain about what they’re eating – because they’ve made it!

3) Guests are entertained for the evening as well.

Plus eating at home means you’re likely to spend less money (and heaven knows we could all do with saving a bob or two here and there) and you don’t have to dress up all fancy (unless you really want to of course). On the downside, you will have to do the washing up though.

Personalised Nutrition

Personalised vitamins have been a huge hit in 2019 and following on from that and taking us into 2020 is personalised nutrition. So what, that’s food with your name on right? No silly, it’s all about finding the foods that work best for you and your body and in order to do that you’re going to need to take a health and nutrition DNA test.

We all need a mix of each of the essential nutrients that help our bodies function at their best, however the exact quantity of these nutrients will invariably differ from one person to another. A DNA test tells you exactly what your body has enough of and what it is lacking in. And once you have that information you can make the changes and small tweaks you need to ensure your diet is giving you absolute optimum performance for YOU. It’s pretty powerful stuff right?

Whilst this sounds like ground breaking stuff, especially if you’re someone who has struggled in the past with your weight, energy levels, sugar addiction, metabolism etc., we can’t help but think that this is going to create some serious problems when it comes to cooking dinner for the whole family. Get ready to be screaming the classic mum phrase “you treat this house like a hotel” a whole lot more in 2020, particularly if your kids find out they couldn’t possibly eat the healthy family meal you’ve prepared for them, because their genes tell them it doesn’t suit them.

Non-Melting Ice Cream

Wait a minute, you having a laugh? Non-melting ice cream…. yeah right. OK, OK so it’s not ice-cream that never melts, but Japanese scientists have come up with a formula that allows ice cream to retain its original shape at temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius and we’re all kinds of excited about that.

Just imagine: no more sticky fingers, no more having to deal with children crying because their scoop has just fallen on the pavement, no more sloppy desserts. And best of all it doesn’t affect the taste, nor the texture of the ice cream. So effective is it, that apparently it can be set on fire without melting, now that’s impressive!

Edible Water Bubbles

Following on from the ways in which you can use less plastic packaging, let’s talk about one of the biggest culprits of all… the plastic water bottle.

According to a report in The Guardian, a million plastic bottles are bought around the world every single minute. That’s a lot of bottles! And of course where do most of them end up? In our oceans 🙁

The obvious solution is for consumers to stop buying water in plastic bottles and to start carrying their own re-usable bottles. It’s certainly the cheaper option, but of course this isn’t always the most practical or convenient of options. And it takes a long time for people to change their habits. Time we don’t have.

One solution is the ooho!, an edible bubble filled with water. The bubble itself is made from a membrane of natural seaweed extract that can be eaten, or if that freaks you out too much it will bio-degrade in approximately 4-6 weeks (the same time it takes a piece of fruit). The membrane can also be flavoured and coloured, which means it can be used for soft drinks, spirits and even cosmetics!

Keep an eye out for this innovative product during 2020, particularly at running events such as the London Marathon, which are notorious for their over use of plastic water bottles.