How adventurous consumers are redefining the European taste landscape
Europeans want to try new flavours. Faced with uncertainty created by the war in Ukraine, COVID-19, inflation and more, consumers want to treat themselves and are becoming more adventurous in their food choices, prioritising novelty and eating more world cuisines at home. The embrace of the new creates opportunities for companies, provided they can deliver the food flavourings consumers want. Here, we highlight three trending tastes that are reshaping the flavour manufacturing landscape.
Survey data clearly show consumers’ appetite for novel flavours. A Mintel survey found 34% of European consumers look for new foods and flavours most or all of the time. Many more Europeans occasionally seek out new foods and flavours. The survey reveals widespread European interest in new flavours, plus regional and age-based differences such as high proportion of people in Ireland, 46%, and Generation Z, 44%, who often seek out novel products.
What are Consumers’ favourite flavours?
The pursuit of new flavours is redefining what consumers want from food companies. Across Europe, people want more herbal, spicy and citrus flavours in their savoury foods, according to the survey. The trend is also driving people to eat world cuisines at home, rather than only at restaurants. In the UK, a bellwether for the broader European market, people are moving past established Chinese and Indian cuisines and adding more South American, Korean and African foods to the meals they eat at home.
trending flavours in 2023
The trending tastes, split between mainstream, exciting and adventurous options, provide the food flavouring industry with a blueprint for delivering what consumers want—and will want in the near future.
An example of a trending flavour that might be considered for NPD:
Gochujang: a spicy fermented chilli paste that is popular in Korean cooking, is gaining attention. Made from unseeded Korean chilli flakes, the paste has a sweet, smokey and fruity flavour that works well as a sauce, marinade or seasoning and opens up applications including as a coating for meat and meat substitutes.
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