We’re just into the New Year of 2024 and most everyone in the food industry with a ‘voice”, has espoused their opinion on just what’s instore for our attention, our taste buds and perhaps even more importantly, our wallet, for the upcoming year.

After all, if no one’s “buyin’ into it, then one’s buying it.

As you can imagine, some of these “prognosticators” have their own agenda (as in, on-line health-oriented magazines who project we will be eating “healthier” foods), but on the whole, each of the 10 sites we selected, mostly based on their ISO Google search ranking, all had some outliers.

But, ALL had one prediction in common.

All 10 can’t be collectively wrong? Or can they?

What is this food trend of 2024?

Just what is this the year of?

If you’ve been paying attention to TV commercials, watching what’s being stocked in your grocery aisles or noticing what’s appearing on menus from high end restaurants to fast food chains, you already know the answer.

If you guessed Vegetable Based Proteins, you win the prize.

Unless you have been a vegetarian or vegan most of your life, the idea of including plant-based proteins into your personal diet or on your menus, seemed pretty far-fetched at one time.

What changed all of this? When did the collective masses really begin to accept plants as “meat”?

The answer is likely that in order to sway the masses, it kinda had to taste like, well…,meat.

And the germ of that idea, and that mission, began in 2009 when Ethan Brown founded a Los Angeles based company whose primary goal, oddly enough, was to fight climate change.

He contacted two university professors who had, for years, been working on a meatless protein, and with their help, licensed their technology, and Beyond Meat launched its first “meatless” meat, Chicken-Free Strips (which later became Beyond Chick Strips), in 2012.

Following chicken, beef was next on the agenda, and its Beyond Beef product was launch as crumbles in 2014.

That was followed by its Beyond Meat patty in February of 2015

So, exactly what’s in the non-beef beef?

Mostly pea and bean protein isolates, rice, vegetable & fruit powders, vegetable oils, and “proprietary” additional ingredients.

As you might imagine, all of these “steps” that are necessary to turn pea and bean powder into something resembling and tasting like beef, has Beyond Meat’s Beef classified as an “ultra-processed” food by NOVA, a group which classifies foods based on, among other things, how much they are processed.

Read more about NOVA HERE.

Today, you can find “vegetable / plant based” protein selections in many fast-food chains and they have certainly taken up a great deal of landscape in your local grocery store’s frozen food aisle.

Beyond… beyond, there were some other notable trends listed by our contributing “experts” albeit none so overwhelmingly mentioned as plant-based foods.

Some highlights that you can (possibly) look forward to this year are:

• New pasta shapes such as Cresto di Gallo for its similarity to a rooster’s crest.

• Tamarind will be the “hottest” spice to be used in drinks and desserts.

• Chicken a la King will make its reappearance on the throne of nostalgic comfort food classics.

• “Hot” honey will be used more in dishes nick named Swicy.

• Cacao seeds find their way into dishes.

• Mushroom coffee??? Really?

• And get ready for bugs…. Just sayin’

As for Asmus Seasonings, we’ve been supplying our customers with plant-based ingredients to solve or improve their menu product offerings WELL before the trend to plant-based proteins became a “thing”.

In talking with our Spice Guru owner, Dan Lowry we discussed many things related to this topic.

Along the way, we discovered…

Asmus indeed has a large inventory of powdered vegetables, all of which are used both as flavors, protein binders and nutritional additives.

These include: pea, bean, carrot, celery, cauliflower, bell pepper and beet.

In addition, there are many vegetables which come in various particulate sizes for multiple recipe uses.

When it comes to the powders, take your choice from freeze dried or drum dried, both have the same “certificate of analysis” and both have excellent flavors, albeit the freeze-dried ones generally have a more vibrant color.

Of course, all of their herbs and spices are plant based, so they are also a perfect for vegetable-based recipes.

Lastly, one product that many customers find attractive are our non-dairy cheeses that are made from soy, such as their “Parmazaan” which is made from nutritional yeast flakes.

As you can see, Asmus Seasonings is a lot more than herbs and spices and they are a valuable ingredient resource, in the food processing industry.

So, who were these “experts” who weighed in on the food trends of 2024?

Well, here is the list of the 10 publications that we gathered our consensus from, and the links to their predictions.

Food and Wine

https://www.foodandwine.com/2024-food-and-drink-trends-predictions-8411753

The Daily Meal

https://www.thedailymeal.com/1435962/food-trends-2024/

The Food Network

https://www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/news/food-network-food-trends-2024

Better Homes and Gardens

https://www.bhg.com/2024-food-trends-8391267

Whole Foods Market

https://media.wholefoodsmarket.com/whole-foods-market-forecasts-top-10-food-trends-for-2024/

Eating Well

https://www.eatingwell.com/top-food-trends-for-2024-according-to-whole-foods-8363629

Exploding Topics

https://explodingtopics.com/blog/latest-food-trends

The Kitchn

https://www.thekitchn.com/whole-foods-top-food-trends-2024-23587810

Spoon University

https://spoonuniversity.com/lifestyle/food-trends-of-2024

Delish

https://www.delish.com/food/a30676238/food-trends-next-decade/

Ktchn rebel

https://www.ktchnrebel.com/food-trends-2024-gastronomy/

All of us here at the Asmus Seasonings company which you a healthy and profitable 2024.

And keep an eye on that Mushroom Coffee prediction.

We carry mushroom powder too.