When I was growing up in Georgia, we had access to the usual “ethnic” food choices: Mexican taco seasonings, Chinese takeout, and pizzas (both freshly made and frozen).

Now fast forward to this year. Innova Market Insights’ coverage of Natural Products Expo West demonstrated just how much the approach to authentic ethnic cuisine has changed in the United States. For example, we spotted one trend we are calling “DiversificAsian,” which describes the rapidly-expanding cultural differentiation, authenticity, and availability of cuisines from across Asia. The movement is led by frozen and ready-to-heat Korean dishes and also includes broader availability of Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan fare, to name a few.

We observed a related trend toward a cultural “takeback” of various dishes, particularly those from Mexico. Foods that used to be interpreted for years in the US by non-natives are now being reimagined to capture regional differences. Cultural pride is abundant in the US food and beverage marketplace.

Craving Cultural Experience

Each year, Innova checks the pulse of consumers around the world—including the US and Canada—to learn about their attitudes, behaviors, and priorities. We’re interested to learn how these factors both affect food choices and drive food and beverage innovation trends. We see increasing demand for flavor variety as consumers are exposed to global cuisines through social media, travel and shifting populations. There’s also less fear with low-risk experimentation through food, and restaurants, along with expanding food and beverage choices in the retail marketplace. In fact, one-third of consumers we recently surveyed say they are intrigued by new, unique and different flavors; and one-quarter feel drawn to interesting and exotic flavor combinations.

The trend toward global culinary exploration is driven by younger generations. Among those participating in our annual surveys, Millennials and Generation Z globally are somewhat more likely to express interest in more unusual, adventurous and exotic flavors, while Boomers tend to prefer traditional, familiar and comforting tastes. Of course today’s Boomers are not like older generations of the past in that they grew up with greater ability to travel and broader exposure to cuisines and foods from around the world.

Plant-based Goes Global

For the last several years, plant-based products have expanded across all food categories (well beyond just meat and dairy alternatives) and we have monitored what consumers might expect regarding global flavor options here as well. In fact, the expansion of plant-based options is highlighted as one of Innova’s Top 10 Trends 2024.

Variety continues to grow in plant-based options in retail settings, and more than half of all consumers globally want to see even more choice. Again, Millennials and Gen Z are driving trends, with close to three-quarters saying that they prepare plant-based versions of international dishes at least some of the time.

Nearly half of US consumers surveyed say that they most want to try plant-based versions of Mexican dishes. In contrast, plant-based Chinese cuisine is likely to capture the interest of Asian consumers looking for plant-based options while European consumers find plant-based Italian dishes to be the most appealing. Many consumers also are attracted to less-established cuisines such as Balkan and Vietnamese. With meat substitutes in the lead in plant-based, we are monitoring entries into the marketplace of ethnically inspired dishes such as Mexican “faux’jitas.” End of Part 1