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Kerry has released the results of its 2024 global taste charts, named A World of Future Tastes, providing insights for 13 distinct regional markets, including Europe, the US, Canada and LATAM.
The taste categories include sweet, savoury, salty snacks, hot and dairy beverages, cold and water beverages, nutrition ingredients and cuisine trends.
The charts track flavour adoption and evolution around the world, offering an in-depth analysis of 2024's ingredients and trends that will shape innovation in the F&B sector, as well as those that inspire product and menu developers worldwide.
Kerry researchers explored the lifecycles of orange and chocolate flavours, revealing their expansion into diverse product offerings globally. These case studies show how traditional tastes fuse into new applications as developers worldwide combine flavours and spices from other places.
Soumya Nair, global consumer research and insights director at Kerry, commented: “The global exchange and dissemination of tastes and flavours through social media and travel is still in its infancy, and globalisation in food, beverage and cuisine development makes this a truly exciting time to be in the industry".
"Although rapidly changing times can present great challenges, they also provide an unparalleled opportunity for brands to catch an emerging trend on the rise. We are seeing many unique flavour intersections in foods and beverages, and Kerry is using technologies such as Natural Language Processing, AI, social media and traditional consumer observation tools to stay ahead of the adoption curve, and to help customers navigate the emerging taste environment for products being developed in 2024.”
Insights from this year's charts reveal several noteworthy trends. Increasingly, there's a trend toward inventive fusions of international cuisines. For instance, US, Filipino and American dishes are blending, leading to innovative creations like Halo-Halo-inspired cocktails, ube burgers and adobo chicken sandwiches appearing on menus.
Spice, both literal and figurative, is becoming more prevalent in everyday foods, offering new sensations. From the common spicy cocktails, products like spicy chocolate, spicy honey and spicy sparkling waters are emerging, often incorporated with unique spice ingredients such as arbol peppers, gochugaru and tajin seasoning.
In addition, young consumers are seeking bold and unusual flavour combinations, often influenced by social media. This trend is leading to the popularity of sweet-savoury pairings like bacon milkshakes, coffee infused with black garlic and chocolate bars with wasabi. Familiar flavours like orange are undergoing a makeover, with varietal and floral twists. Additionally, health considerations prompted by the pandemic have renewed consumer appreciation for this source of vitamin C. Furthermore, consumers are still eager to explore new experiences. Fruits like yuzu are gaining popularity across various markets and applications. Recent launches include yuzu gose beers in South Africa, yuzu and pepper mayonnaise in China and yuzu low-ABV wines and alcoholic beverages in the USA and Australia.