The hottest food trend right now isn’t ‘vegan’. It’s ‘plant-based’
- The number of new US food and drink products that mentioned “plant-based” grew 268 per cent between 2012 and 2018
- The term evokes healthfulness but spares meat and dairy eaters – often the target audience – the connotation of shunning all forms of animal products
While making the rounds at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco last month, Phil Lempert couldn’t help but notice a curious pattern among the myriad potato chips and protein bars and truffle Brie and deli meats on display.
The trade show is a harbinger of bubbling trends, and this winter’s edition brought foods made from pea protein, beets, chickpeas and cashews. Yep, the vegan offerings were ascendant. But they were also vastly different from the strangely pink faux hot dogs and slabs of phoney bologna that Lempert, a veteran food industry analyst, had observed for decades.
These foods were creative and snacky, he recalls, and moreover, many weren’t even being billed as vegan. They were “plant-based”.
“The hottest trend was clearly plant-based everything – beverages, cheeses, imitation meats,” Lempert says.
The next time you’re at the grocery store, take a closer look at the shelves. Products emblazoned with the term are popping up in every aisle and in every form: plant-based plantain yogurts, seitan sausages, kale chips, pea-protein shakes, oat milks.
The number of new US food and drink products that mentioned “plant-based” grew 268 per cent between 2012 and 2018, according to consumer research company Mintel.