THEQuestioning yourself about food trends means asking yourself what society is like and what it wants to be. The most curious prediction for 2024 concerns foods designed specifically for women. A sort of gender nutrition. According to consumer experts, we will find more and more snacks on the shelves designed to meet the needs of changing female bodies, from childbearing age to menopause.
It is difficult to distinguish fads that will fade from those that are destined to last, but there is no doubt that food trends represent a historical moment. Food and drink are not just “nutrition,” as he observed Roland Barthesbut also “circumstances”, i.e. vehicles that carry social, ritual and symbolic values.
The forecasts on the table come from the ninth report of the committee headed by the American supermarket chain Whole Foods, part of the Amazon group, but it is also worth taking a look at the hypotheses on future restaurant dinners on the website The Fork or the advice from the consultancy firm for Italian entrepreneurs ExportUSA. The common fact is the growing attention of consumers for the environment and health, as evidenced by these five trends for the new year.
Snacks for women’s ages
According to the analyses Whole Foods Trend Council, the food sector will be tinged with pink. The goal of many will be to launch bars and snacks specific to the menstrual cycle or pregnancy. They are not drugs and they do not work miracles, but this does not mean that they are banal products. For example, it has already conquered its own market niche kudzu, or kuzu, a starchy white powder obtained from an Asian plant, to be used in cooking as a thickener in soups or smoothies. The presence of phytoestrogens helps reduce hot flashes, although studies are not yet sufficient to guarantee that it works. However, from a recent experiment it emerged that kudzu could partially slow down bone resorption and the menopause-related cartilage degradation. The sample is small, fifty women, but the results of the research, which appeared in 2021 on Frontiers in Pharmacologydeserve to be explored further.
The simplest veggie burgers
Interest in alternative proteins to meat will continue to grow in 2024, except that i fake green burgers will be less elaborate, with few ingredients, to satisfy the needs of health-conscious as well as environmentalist consumers. A good news. For Whole Foods experts, the new vegetable products with high protein content they will be created above all with mushrooms, nuts and legumes.
The fermentation boom
According to the 2024 guidance of ExportUSAthe fermentation will revolutionize food production. The technique, adopted by a number of start-ups, uses microorganisms to produce alternative proteins to animal sources. To clarify: in Italy, the Dreamfarm proposes mozzarella and vegetable spreadable cheesestarting from almond paste, while other companies are experimenting with “equivalent eggs”, obtained without hens.
The fermentation process has been used for ten thousand years preserve food. In ancient Rome, a condiment obtained from the entrails of salted anchovies and mackerel was loved garum, today rediscovered by some chefs. In a recent review, published in Microorganisms magazine, we read that between 5 and 40 percent of all food consumed by human beings belongs to the fermented category. Listing them is like going around the world:
• The kefir it was born among the tribes of the Caucasian mountains as fermented milk;
• i sauerkrautin brine, are typical of Germany;
• The misothe compound that comes from soy and is used for soup, is Japanese;
The tempeha block of steak obtained from the fermentation of boiled yellow soybeans, is part of Indonesian culture;
there kombuchaa sparkling tea, originates from northern China and is widespread in Russia;
The kimchi it is a spicy vegetable-based dish of Korean cuisine;
surströmming or fermented herring is part of Swedish gastronomy;
L’today it is a Nigerian preparation made from corn or millet.
In most cases, for every gram of fermented food or drink there is over a million bacteria, which in theory can enrich our microbiota (in jargon, intestinal flora). «They are also good for the metabolites and other molecules that are produced during the fermentation of the foods themselves, i.e. postbiotics» he writes Maria Rescigno, vice-rector of Humanitas University in the book Microbiota geniale (Vallardi).
“They include vitamins, enzymes, polysaccharides, SCFAs, organic acids, polyphenols, active peptides and neurotransmitters.” The review of studies in Microorganisms concludes: «Traditional fermented foods and drinks are useful and can be used as a new tool in treatment plans for various chronic diseases. If consumed in adequate quantities, they can guarantee health benefits in the presence of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and obesity.”
The discovery of buckwheat
Buckwheat was discovered by the food industry and according to Whoole Foods forecasts it will increasingly enrich plant-based drinks, crackers and breakfast cereals. It has more than one characteristic in common with quinoa, including richness in proteins, abundance of fiber and absence of gluten.
Belonging to the Polygonaceae family (and not to the grasses like wheat, in fact it does not contain gluten), has all the essential amino acids, that is, the building blocks that form proteins. In other words, the quality of its protein intake is comparable to animal sources. And buckwheat is rich in fibre: a portion (80 grams) provides 4.8 grams.
Chili pepper is back in vogue
For Whole Foods it’s time to prepare for new varieties of chilli pepper, such as the Hungarian Scorpion sold in brine, and to new preparations such as Tajin, a mix of chilli pepper, lime and sea salt, very famous in Mexico. Nutritional research shows that “diavulillu”, as the Calabrians call it, It seems to curb hunger and protect the heart. Studies correlate the spicy table to a lower risk of hypertension, heart attack and stroke. According to Chinese researchers at Chongqing University, it happens because the brain areas stimulated by salty and spicy coincide (as we read in the magazine Hypertension).
So those who are in the habit of eating spicy dishes tend to add less salt and for this reason it would have the lowest pressure. It now appears from many analyzes that the chili pepper would protect the heart. Extensive research on approximately 16 thousand Americans associates the habit of consuming it with a 13 percent reduction in mortality, particularly caused by stroke and heart disease (on Plos One).
Other data attribute the specific property of to the spice prevent the formation of plaques that cover the arteries in atherosclerosis. Dishes that inflame the palate are also of interest to nutrigenomics, the discipline that deals with the relationship between nutrition and genetic heritage. The substance that gives the sensation of fire is called capsaicin and, as emerged in some cellular tests in the laboratory, induces a process that stimulates the Sirt genes, known as longevity genes because they extend the life of cells.
A curiosity: some studies lead us to believe that chilli pepper curbs the appetite. For sure helps absorb iron from foods because it contains vitamin C, which facilitates the dissociation of iron from food during digestion. Vitamin C is very abundant in fresh chilli pepperwhile it is completely lost in the dry one, which still retains the capsaicin, a smart molecule.
Eliana Liotta (photo by Carlo Furgeri Gilbert).
Eliana Liotta is a journalist, writer and science communicator. On iodonna.it and on the main platforms (Spreaker, Spotify, Apple Podcast and Google Podcast) you can find his podcast series The good that I want.
The scientific review is by Amber Cilibertodietician in Milan at the gastroenterology division of the San Raffaele hospital and at the Galeazzi – Sant’Ambrogio hospital.
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