THP, Canada, released its Flavor & Trend Forecast for 2020, a comprehensive report highlighting the latest ingredients, cooking techniques and culinary ideas driving innovation and disruption within the food and beverage industry.

 For 2020, THP’s culinary experts identified 10 key global trends, including: 

• Uncultivated botanicals. Prepare your palate for a work of art. Beyond being beautiful, edible flowers and botanicals like wild sorrel, juniper, maple blossoms and balsam add a delicate and unique sweetness to a dish that can’t be emulated with anything else.
• Zero waste cooking. Foodprints (the environmental impact of food) are swaying consumer purchases. What most consumers don’t realize is that discarded products can be used in new, sustainable and creative ways to elevate everyday dishes and delicacies.
• Vietnamese cuisine. Young Westerners are on an Asian-inspired food kick, and they’re looking beyond mainstream dishes like banh mi sandwiches and pho. Inspired by street food and fusions, consumers are on the hunt for rising Vietnamese cuisine stars like bún bò huế and egg coffee.
• Mood food. Talk about a happy meal. Food is obviously about emotion, and emotion goes beyond just taste. "Gastrophysics" is a new way of dining founded on the idea that food can impact the way we feel (not to be mistaken with eating our feelings). Set menus are popping up around the globe that offer a catered selection of foods that will shift your mood in various directions.
• Wood-fire cooking. Wood-fire cooking is making a comeback. 2020 is going to be the year that chefs in restaurants around the globe rediscover that grilling over a wood fire just makes food taste so much better.

“Our Flavor & Trend Forecast helps our customers continue to be the best in the world at what they do,” says Dana Speers, director of operations, creative and culinary. “It provides our customers with fresh, innovative ideas for showcasing their products in new and exciting ways. Founded on research conducted at the global level, the report ensures our customers are keeping a finger on the pulse of upcoming trends, enabling them to capture key insights that often inform their product research and development strategy.”