FOOD & DRINK
NEXT-GEN TRENDS Emilie Odin, from food procurement specialist allmanhall, discusses some
of the elements Generation Z look for in food today, ranging from authenticity to customisation and inclusion.
‘Millennials’ has been a demographic buzzword for a while now, but guess what? There’s a new generation in town. They’re called Generation Z. Or, if you prefer, Gen Z, Post-Millennials, the iGeneration, The Founders, Plurals, The Centennials, the Homeland Generation, and the list goes on. In the interest of consistency and clarity, we will henceforth use the term ‘Generation Z’. As with the name, there is disagreement about the age brackets in which this segment fits; for clarity, this article places Generation Z as those born in the years between 1995-2015.
Not unlike Millennials, Generation Z is a savvy group. They know about technology, they know about social media – one of the quickest ways of spreading messages and keeping up-to-date with trends – and they know and care about food. They ‘Instagram’ (yes, Instagram used as a verb) their food. With instant access to
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information and the ability to spread messages virally, Generation Z know about chia puddings, smoothie bowls and wheatgrass shots. Diets are changing; flexitarianism, locavorism clean eating, paleo, gluten and dairy-free lifestyles are on the rise. Processing is changing; cold-pressing, cold-brewing, craft and small-batch production and clean labels are ‘in’. However, it isn’t all about health and avoiding certain foods – it is also about experimentation. Take for example the bleeding vegan burger or cricket protein bars.
AUTHENTICITY Let’s look at Mexican cuisine – it’s
trendy but it has arguably been misinterpreted in the UK in the past – mainly due to the influence of US cuisine. Ask a Baby Boomer and they may, based on their experiences of Mexican offerings in the UK so far, tell you that typically Mexican food
items are spicy bean burgers and TexMex-options such as burritos and hard-shell tacos, typically seen in restaurants such as Taco Bell and Chipotle Mexican Grill.
“GONE ARE THE
DAYS OF ORDERING A CHEESEBURGER
WITHOUT PICKLES TO MAKE SURE IT IS MADE-TO-ORDER.”
However, one of the things that makes Mexican cuisine interesting to us still is the fact that it is turning out to be so much more than that. The recent street food revolution, taking place across the UK, has well and truly helped increase authenticity of Mexican food offerings here. Furthermore, in 2007, Thomasina Miers, winner of Masterchef,
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