Defining Trends
Europe has been synonym with quality for centuries: European food producers are able to push boundaries and innovate with classics, while walking a fine line between authenticity and creativity. With that in mind, what are France’s best food and beverage trends today?
Back to the Roots: Artisanal & Cleaner Products
Since the mid-2000’s, European consumers have become more educated and often seek tradition when their parents would have only gone for innovation. Century-old companies are rebranding to take advantage of their renown and know-how, all while rejuvenating their packaging.
Thriving on quality and transparency, many brands have deepened their social and ecological commitments. Today, brands are not afraid to change their industrial process, sourcing circuits or simply get quality and social labels proving their values and commitments.
Experimenting with Ingredients & Recipes
Adventurous with bold flavors and surprising recipes, Europeans love to create unique specialties. In grocery stores, for instance, jam & honey aisles showcase a lot of diversity and offer uncommon, daring fruit associations. Next to classics like strawberry or apricot preserves, one will find cranberry-black current or strawberry-pomegranate jams. Honey or preserves can also be found infused with nuts: apricot jam with almond slices is an absolute classic!
As the American market was growing more fond of nutracetics and superfruits this past decade, Europe developed a taste for newer fruit and healthy trends as well, developing products flavored with yuzu or açai berries. In the meantime, algae has become a more and more common ingredients, and startups offering alternative proteins have grown so popular they get promoted on American networks!
Healthier Foods, Healthier People
As the European consumer was growing more and more aware of the necessity to developpe safer and greener agricultural practices, organic supermarkets, and natural products knew a boom in the 2000’s. Niche brands in Europe now even offer 100% natural, vegetal recipes when creating ready meals.
In the meantime, unprocessed essentials have become more and more accessible. A number of century-old companies have known a second youth, when producing ingredients as essential as natural sea