Beloit, WI— Kerry has released its 2024 global taste charts, A World of Future Tastes, a series of incisive, interactive charts created for 13 individual regional markets that can be mined by product and menu developers worldwide. As the company explained in the announcement, the charts track flavor adoption and evolution around the world and provide an in-depth analysis of ingredients and trends that will shape innovation in the food and beverage sector over the year ahead.
Highlights from Kerry’s research on flavor adoption & evolution:
- Case studies on two popular heritage flavors—orange and chocolate—illustrate how traditional tastes are fusing into new, innovative applications as product creators around the globe source, combine, and recombine flavors and spices into exciting new taste experiences.
- Inventive crossovers of international cuisines, such as the innovative blends of Filipino and American dishes happening in the U.S. Kerry pointed to Halo-Halo inspired cocktails, ube burgers, and adobo chicken sandwiches appearing on menus.
- Spice is being added to a range of everyday foods, providing a dash of excitement. Kerry noted the now common-place spicy cocktails, as well as everything from spicy chocolate and spicy honey to spicy sparkling waters, with products often utilizing new and interesting spice ingredients, such as arbol peppers, gochugaru, and tajin seasoning.
- Young consumers are craving bold and unusual flavor combinations, driven by social media's influence and a desire for novelty, Kerry reported, adding that this creates opportunities for sweet-savory pairings like bacon milkshakes, coffee infused with black garlic, and chocolate bars with wasabi.
- People are open to new experiences. Kerry said fruits such as Yuzu are gaining popularity across multiple markets and applications, with recent launches including 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.
"The global exchange and dissemination of tastes and flavors through social media and travel is still in its infancy, and globalization in food, beverage and cuisine development make this a truly exciting time to be in the industry," said Soumya Nair, Global Consumer Research and Insights Director at Kerry. “ 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 flavor 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.”
