This report, 2017 Forecast: Culinary Trend Tracking Series, offers an outlook on the culinary trends - the foods, dishes, ingredients and flavors which are expected to grow in popularity in 2017.

The report addresses six food categories:

Meat & Poultry
Dairy
Baked Goods
Fruits & Vegetables
Nuts & Seeds
Seasonings & Flavors

Discussed for each category are several trend themes, with two or three individual trend topics under each theme. These themes offer insight and context that readers can explore further. For example, in the Meat & Poultry section, the International Language of Beef theme covers three trend topics—Brisket Around the World, Wagyu Beef, and Steak Tartare—that have global roots, are familiar to multiple cultures, and can be either presented in ways to appeal to a cultural consumer base, or be framed in a global manner. Various consumer drivers are mentioned with each trend, and the examples provided illustrate a wide variety of trend appearances in restaurants or on café menus, or arising from small entrepreneurs in the specialty or natural marketplace.

Four key trend drivers propelling food in 2017 are discussed throughout this report. These will be familiar to marketers studying what interests consumers and motivates them to purchase and consume certain foods:

Authentic & Artisan
Sensory Adventure
Redefining Premium
Comfort & indulgence

These drivers align with core consumer values that can be tapped for new product development, brand and product positioning and marketing, and communications. Health and wellness drivers are less prominent in this report due to its culinary focus; however, these remain major motivators for consumers and should always be considered in strategic explorations of these trends.

A Trend Maturity Map at the beginning of each section shows where the trends are appearing in the wider foodscape; each trend page includes the stage number for quick reference. This report explores the edge of the culinary world, looking at new and hot items mostly classified into Stages 1 and 2. Some trends, however, are new expressions of nearly mainstream (Stage 3) or completely mainstream (Stage 4) food items, when a fairly or wholly familiar food is being reinvented to spark current consumer interests and meet current needs. Strategic inspirations and trend translations close out each category section to provide ideas on how these culinary trends could be used to generate business growth.