Canada's Food Guide & Diet Analysis

• The presentation covers trends in dining, context, and projections.

Factors Influencing Food Trends

• Food trends are influenced by environment, health, ethical and social concerns, animal welfare, and aesthetics.

Market Segmentation Approach

• The XTC trends tree categorizes food trends along two axes: trends and consumer.
• The trends axis includes aspects like exoticism, fun, vegetal ingredients, slimness, cosmetics, time-saving, solidarity, sophistication, variety of senses, naturalness, medical benefits, energy and well-being, ease of handling, nomadism, and ecology.
• The consumer axis includes pleasure, health, physical well-being, convenience, and ethics.

Early Food Movements

• Hippocrates said, "Let food be thy medicine."
• Philosophers warned against eating to excess.
• Epicurus: "We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink."
• Socrates: "Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat."
• Confucius: "Coarse rice for food, water to drink, and the bended arm for a pillow – happiness may be enjoyed even in these."

Trends vs Fads

• A trend signals a permanent shift in behavior or situations.
• A fad is a style or activity that is popular for a short time.
• Fads do not impact the general direction in which things are moving.

Identifying Food Trends

• Find out what kitchens are working on before the food hits the menu.
• Look and listen on social media, chef discussion groups, monitor consumer reactions, posts, and reposts.
• Pay attention to growing concepts and designs, and which demographic is being targeted.
• Follow the supply chain.
• Observe other industries for lessons, insight, and ideas that could impact the food industry.

Trend Life Cycle

• Embryonic stage: exclusive, rare, and elite.
• Early adopters: the trend gets airtime from specialists while still rare and financially risky.
• Mainstream: intrepid consumers embrace the movement and post about it on social media; skeptical consumers eventually follow.
• Tapering off: the trend is no longer unique and is adopted by mainstream, discount, and casual businesses.
• End stage: the trend is viewed as dated, but the "best" of the trend remains used.

Nouvelle Cuisine (1973+)

• Notable figures include Pierre Troisgros, Paul Bocuse, Michel Guérard, Roger Vergé, Louis Outhier, and Alain Senderens.
• Popularized by Henri Gault and Christian Millau, who rebelled against the conservative nature of the Michelin Guide with the Gault&Millau guide.
• Ten Commandments:
  • Do not overcook.
  • Use fresh, quality products.
  • Lighten the menu.
  • Do not be systematically modernist.
  • Seek out new techniques.
  • Avoid pickles, cured meats, and fermented foods.
  • Eliminate rich sauces.
  • Do not ignore dietetics.
  • Do not doctor presentations.
  • Be inventive.
• The style has been largely integrated into the mainstream of cooking.
• It lightened French cuisine and brought a sense of honesty to dishes.

Early Food Trends: Health

• 1940s low-fat diets.
• Seed oils replaced animal fats as healthier alternatives.
• Obesity and cardiovascular disease surged.
• 1960s Weight Watchers.

Modern Food Trends: Health

• Medical: functional ingredients promote health and help prevent or treat disease.
• Natural: minimally processed foods that reassure consumers.
• Plant-based: ingredients derived from plant sources.
• Recent health movements include the Paleo Diet (2002), Coconut and "Superfoods" (2010), Gluten-Free (2013), Ketogenic Diet (2017), Veganism (2018), and Digestive health (2018).

Canadian Food Guide

• Canada's former Food Guide provided recommendations for the number of food guide servings per day (until 2019).
• Vegetable and Fruit servings: 4-8 depending on age and sex.
• Grain Product servings: 3-8 depending on age and sex.
• Milk and Alternatives servings: 2-3 for most age groups.
• Meat and Alternatives servings: 1-3 depending on age and sex.
• One Food Guide Serving:
  • Grain Products: 1 slice (35 g) bread or ½ bagel (45 g), ½ pita (35 g) or ½ tortilla (35 g), 125 mL (½ cup) cooked rice, pasta, or couscous, 30 g cold cereal, or 175 mL (¾ cup) hot cereal.
  • Milk and Alternatives: 250 mL (1 cup) milk or fortified soy beverage, 175 g (¾ cup) yogurt, or 50 g (1 ½ oz.) cheese.
  • Meat and Alternatives: 2 eggs, 30 mL (2 Tbsp) peanut butter, 175 mL (¾ cup) cooked beans, or 75 g (2 ½ oz.) or 125 mL (½ cup) cooked fish, shellfish, poultry, or lean meat.
  • Vegetables and Fruit: 125 mL (½ cup) fresh, frozen, or canned vegetable or fruit or 100% juice, 250 mL (1 cup) leafy raw vegetables or salad, or 1 fruit.
• The New Food Guide includes a plate visual.

Vegetarianism and Veganism

• In Canada (2020), 7.6% are vegetarians and 4.6% are vegans.
• In the USA (2018), 5% are vegetarians and 3% are vegans.
• In the UK (2019), 25.8% are vegetarians, and 4.4% are vegans.
• Considerations:
  • Switching to plant-based foods ignores grazing animals.
  • There are questions about the health of industrially gown soya, maize and grains.
  • What is the ethics of demanding crops that require fertilizer, fungicides, pesticides and herbicides.
  • Sustainable forms of livestock farming can restore soils and biodiversity, and sequester carbon.
• Veganism involves eating less meat and dairy.
• There is protection against cardiovascular disease by reducing obesity and lowering cholesterol.
• However potential risks of replacing meat and dairy should be considered.
• There needs to be education, financial support and awareness.

Slow Food Movement

• Founded in 1986 by Carlo Petrini in Bra, Italy.
• Promoted as an antidote to "fast food".
• Aims to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract fast life, and combat declining interest in the food and its origins.
• The Ark of Taste collects small-scale quality foods, vegetables, animal breeds, cheeses, breads, sweets, and cured meats.
• Three interconnected principles: good, clean, and fair.
  • GOOD: quality, flavorsome, and healthy food.
  • CLEAN: production that does not harm the environment.
  • FAIR: accessible prices for consumers, fair conditions, and proper pay for producers.
• Slow Food entities:
  • Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity (2003): supports projects that defend food biodiversity and traditions.
  • Terra Madre Foundation (2004): supports the growth of a global network of food communities.
  • University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNISG) (2004): educates future food professionals.

Farm to Table movement

• A social movement promoting sourcing ingredients directly from local farms rather than through long and distant supply chains.
• Produce is picked when ripe, resulting in better flavor and nutrient concentration.
• Supports local farms.
• It involves growing skepticism over farm-to-table claims of fraudulent business.

Modernist Cuisine movement

• Molecular gastronomy is its precursor.
• Defining the science behind culinary changes.
• Using focus on phenomena occurring during the preparation of dishes.
• It led to public misunderstanding, commercialism and mediocre cooking which originally drove it's founders away from the movement.
• Principles of Modernist Cuisine: excellence, openness, integrity, emphasis on tradition, innovation, and collaboration.

Other Food Trends

• Nose-to-Tail: ethical and welfare-related aspects of using the whole animal.
• Zero Waste: ethical and environmental aspects.
• Ethnic Foods: 3-year Rotation Trend?

the Trouble with "Ethnic Food"

• When they become trendy, it is solely based on white approval.
• The original communities, the People of Colour, get nothing good from "ethnic food" becoming a trend.

Future Food Trends

• Mindfulness: consumers want to understand everything about the food or beverage and support aligned companies.
• Ethical claims on packages have grown since 2010.

Impact of Tactile

• Sensory Food/Product experience is the weapon.
• ASMR and other sounds being a trend setting sensation.
• Food being an interactive experience is vital.

NeuroNutrition

• Diet is the leading cause of preventable metabolic disorders.
• 10% of the people have food allergy issues.
• Food, cooking habits and the nutrients connects food and the brain.
• "Brain Claims" is becoming more vital for business growth by 36%.

Questions about Canada's Food Guide serving sizes for grains, milk alternatives, meats, and vegetables. Also, questions on vegetarianism, plant-based diets, and health benefits of reducing meat and dairy consumption.