The Whole Foods market just released their most anticipated annual trend report for 2019. To my delight, the forecast was filled with gut-healthy favorites, nourishing fats, and sustainable choices that help save the environment. I’m honestly hoping that it’s the future that we all want to be a part of because it’s what most of us need in order to have a sustainable life and food source.
Pacific Rim flavors, eco-conscious packaging, faux meat snacks and new varieties of hemp-infused products are among the food influences expected to take off in the next year. The retailer’s seasoned trend-spotters thoughtfully compiled this report based on more than 100 years of combined experience in product sourcing, studying consumer preferences and participating in food and wellness industry exhibitions worldwide. – Whole Foods Market
Below are the predicted food trends for 2019:
Pacific Rim Flavors
Flavor inspirations from the Pacific Rim (Asia, Oceania, and the western coast of North and South America) are going to be popping up like crazy in grocery stores and restaurants. People continue to explore the world through their palates and it’s really interesting. Vibrant tropical fruits such as guava, dragon fruit and passionfruit are going to make their way into our colorful and deliciously healthy smoothie bowls and cocktails. I travel to so many places and have fallen in love with a lot of flavors, so I really appreciate the fact that the availability of these fruits will be made easy for everyone.
Even the popular meat alternative jackfruit will soon replace items like barbecue pulled porks, and the ultra-sweet-tasting fruit called luo han guo will soon replace added sugars. Good news, right? Maybe in the future, we don’t have to deal with artificial sweeteners anymore.
Whole Foods and 365 Everyday Value brands will launch a limited collection of refreshingly sweet products that are inspired by guava tropical vinaigrette, pineapple passion fruit sparkling water, mango pudding mix, and even passionfruit coconut frozen fruit bars.
Probiotics That Are Shelf-Stable
We always keep our probiotics in the fridge in order to ensure that our gut is working well. But now, you can happily expect that there will be stable probiotics in popular pantry goods like oatmeal, nut butter, granola and more. There’s no excuse for you not to get your daily dose of healthy bacteria in 2019! Not only that, even beauty products will not be infused with probiotic-based ingredients too– even your sunscreen!
Whole Foods recommends GoodBelly Probiotics Crunchybars, Effi Probiotic Chickpea Granola, Pacifica Sunset Sun + Skincare Mineral Sunscreen Spray SPF 30 and a lot more.
Healthy Fats
I’m so glad that the world is catching up with nourishing fats. In 2019, there will be more coconut-butter-filled chocolates, popcorn made with grass-fed ghee, and bars packed with MCT oil powder. You’ll easily find protein-packed, healthy-fat-laden snacks at your local Whole Foods Market.
Whole Foods recommends trying Evolved Keto Cups, Keto-friendly Dang Bars, Forager Project Organic Coconut Cashewgurt, Love Good Fats Plant-Based Bars, Vital Proteins Mocha Coconut Collagen Creamer.
Faux Meat
Just because you’re eating plant-based food it doesn’t mean that you can leave meaty flavors and textures behind. Innovations in faux meat will continue to surprise you this year. Meat jerkies and pork rinds will be taken over by mushrooms that have rich flavors. The options will be endless! I’m just so glad that companies are reinventing veggies and plant-based products to its full potential.
Whole Foods recommends Quevos Egg White chips for vegetarians for healthy snacking.
Eco-Friendly Packaging
Personally, this is my favorite. Packagings are as important as the food inside it. Certain brands are going to make a switch to packagings that are environmentally friendly and the change will continue to grow at a quicker pace. Dozens of brands in the OSC2 Compostable Packaging Collaborative have concentrated their efforts to make advancements in flexible product pouches. I honestly think that more brands should follow, so let’s see.
Whole Foods Market has begun setting up regional pilots to test recyclable strawless sipper lids made from PET without trying to increase the plastic content of a lid/straw combination. You can also expect to see a lot of emphasis on reusing and the bring your own vegetable bag kind of thing.
I’m really looking forward to more innovations in the years to come. It’s amazing that big companies and brands are now trying their best to be eco-friendly and sustainable all at the same time.
All brands should try to use less plastic. It’s the number one thing that we need to fix aside from sustainable food source and plant-based food.
I’m so glad that more and more brands are doing this though. It’s an improvement!
I’m very excited for the tropical fruits. There’s something about its taste that reminds me of summer and pinacoladas. It’s perfect! ?
Interesting. I love Whole Foods. I sometimes feel like they care about their consumers a lot and I just love how they’re kind of a one stop shop for me.
If they’re doing this, then they really do care about their consumers.
Plus the environment.?
Looking forward to 2019 already. It’s like healthy eating is addicting once you get used to it.
I’ve tried jackfruit pulled pork and it actually tastes really nice. If you’re a meat eater you’ll know the difference but for the healthy eaters, you’ll learn to appreciate it.
Thank heavens for new options. I feel like I’ve tried a lot of things already and I want new options.
Healthy eating can never be boring. Soon enough nobody will have no excuse about not eating healthy.
I love oatmeal and I actually saw yogurt infused ones but I’m not sure about the probiotic aspect of it.
I know, we’re so used to probiotic yogurts and drinks so granola bars will be quite different.
Thank you so much Whole Foods for bringing these things to us in 2019. I’m looking forward to it!
I used to hate faux meat because I don’t think they taste anywhere near actual meat. But I wanted to switch to plant-based so I had to make big changes in my life.?
A little sacrifice goes a long way, Grace!
There’s a lot of coconut infusions here. Sorry but I hate coconuts.
My friends have been raving about this 2019 food trend but it’s good that you have it here on your site. I don’t really read other health websites.?
I can’t wait to try all of this. Especially the probiotics one. My children don’t like yogurt so I was thinking that granola bars will be easier.
This is my favorite place to buy food whenever I have time. I know I’m guilty of going to the supermarket because it’s closer, but yeah, I love Whole Foods.
Companies are getting all creative with their food. I hope that it’s all safe though. I don’t want to end up eating something that’s toxic in the long run. We’ve been fooled so many times already.
The problem in food distribution, food wastage, and economics posses a much larger problem of feeding the world than low capacity in food production. Up to half of the food being produced ends up in landfills rather than feeding people.
I think the future of food should be like popcorn seeds. we just heat it up and it pops into whatever food we want.
I was looking forward to substitute for meat. And here they are.
My constant nose bleeding has stopped after drinking lo Han guo. This fruit is a miracle. And it would be great if people can find it easily in 2019 because it has many benefits.
I grew up having Lo Han Guo, but we bought then dried and we didn’t eat them. We boil them with water and drink the water as herbal tea. we never thought of using it as a sweetener but its a really great idea.
Looks like what we can look forward to eating silicone implants in the future. Faux meat?? Are you kidding me??
I like my food the way it is. But it would be great to eat all this different and healthy fruits.
Wow, superb!! Hopefully, everything in the future will be nature-friendly.
Am I gonna eat faux meat?? Hell no!! I’ll stick with steak thanks.
It would be much better if they could do something to make faux meat look a bit more appetizing and do something with the textures so it seems a bit more normal. I don’t think I’d have a problem eating them if they looked a d tasted like something I’m used to.
I’m a vegan and just can’t wait for faux meat. I could finally eat meat without having to kill animals.
I’ve never seen such a mishmash of good nutritious food and lab created pseudo-food before in my life. And the worst of it is that you’re lumping them all together like they’re equal, from superfood to poison and everything in between.
They all are vegetarian food, way more food for me. YAY!!
We don’t need this future food. We are better off with what we have and besides I encourage everyone to buy local and from farmers in your area. Most time, cheaper than the stores.
It’s sad that we don’t even know what we’re really eating nowadays. One day you’ll be served faux meat instead of the real meat and you would never know. Why?? People why??
I would really be happy to eat faux meat as long as it tastes the same plus it will save some environment and our planet too.
How much more needs to be said to make people realize how big corporations are screwing us up??
I thought processed food was supposed to be bad for you. Faux meat looks about as processed as you can get. Makes a hot pocket look like it was picked fresh from a tree.
I’m not sure what you think processed means. Cooking is a process. Cutting is a process. Cleaning is a process. Whether you do it yourself or pay someone else to do it, practically all food is processed. There is nothing inherently good about unprocessed food.
True, but it’s a matter of degree. A whole potato is preferable to potato chips health wise. Still, the degree of processing isn’t inherently bad or good, so you’re right about that.
It’s made out of plant protein and chemicals.. idk how thats that bad for you but i get where ur going
Your argument has 0 scientific basis and is about as vague as saying traveling is bad for you
Big fan of jackfruit! I have grown up eating this and the seeds are edible by boiling and putting in curries, also we put this in fire so cooked on fire toasted then peel the skin and ready to eat. Very tasty we don’t waste seeds, try it.
I was actually wondering about the processed part of vegan ‘meats’. Non-processed (animal) meats are ok in the right amount, but processed aren’t. Does someone know why? And why this isn’t the case for vegan ‘meats’? I eat vegan ‘meats’ quite often so that’s why I was wondering.
Vegans sometimes refer to vegan-meat as vegan junk-food, I think this is mainly because vegan-meat still has a rather high level of salt (although not as high as cheese or other omnivorous junk-food). You need to keep in mind that vegan-meat is often made of (soy)beans or grains (seitan), so I think the level of processing of vegan-food is still less dangerous than the level of processed meat (you can compare the level of processing of vegan-meat with that of bread). Therefore I personally think vegan-meat is healthier than regular junk food and regular processed meat, but most of the times I prefer myself to replace meat with lentils, beans or chickpeas, which are surely more healthier than both of them (especially when you soak them yourself and do not add too much salt). I hope this is helpful to you! ^^
Thank you, thank you, thank you! You put some thought in this, so this really was helpful for me. I will keep this in mind!?
As someone who was vegetarian for 3 years and couldn’t handle tofu, I’d gladly start up again if I found faux meat.
Tofu is great with a thick sauce. it really doesn’t have any taste to it, just like a bland jello. I love spicy ma po tofu.
That is all fake and repeated by people trying to sell expensive “healthy” alternatives which are often just as bad or worse. It will be really interesting trying to see this people that hate GMOs reconcile their love for this 100% fake meat.
Dragon fruit are extremely overrated. They all taste like nothing. Wait till you get fresher rambutans and custard apples you wont know what hit you because they are sooooo good!
The reason people don’t go vegan is because that don’t have access to things like faux meat!
What about the nutritional aspect? How does this engineered meat substitute stand up to the nutrition in actual meat?
I tried jackfruit recently and it tasted like mushrooms, nothing special… it was supposed to be a meat substitute ???
Getting the right kinds of fats is the key to good health. Big fan of tropical / pacific fruits too. Good tips.
I don’t think I would even try faux meat. Been vegan for 7 years and perfectly happy and healthy on a vegan diet.
Apparently virgin coconut oil i healthy fat. I recently discovered it and have been using it as my go to fat source. Its so tasty.
Great info! PS. I’d avoid the white flesh dragonfruit as it is a scientifically mixed one. its a biracial fruit. The red one is the REAL deal.
Thank you so much! You always give the best and most useful information. I learn something new from you almost everyday!
Meats and other animal foods are dangerous to your health, and fake foods like non-meat burgers are pretty bad too.
As a vegan, I have no qualms with ethical petri-meat but I would never eat it. Meat (whether from an animal or not) is not healthy for you and it personally just grosses me out. I don’t even see it as food. Lab grown meat is not meant for vegetarians and vegans- it’s for meat eaters- so they don’t have to give up meat to live a more ethical life.
Thanks for explaining all these, especially the healthy fats. I always learn so much from your articles. I’m definitely going to start eating all the healhty fats you’ve listed on there. Thanks!
I heard chocolate is a good fat and actually releases endorphins and makes people feel much better in the same way that drugs make people feel better.
Oh my god. Jackfruit is delicious but if you eat too much your sweat and pee will end up smelling like jackfruit, i know because I grew up eating this fruit and we had a backyard tree of it ?
Interesting. I never considered guava, tamarind, lychee, dragonfruit,or jackfruit weird or strange foods. I never even really thought of them as tropical fruits, I thought of them as normal, regular fruits.
Thank you for the information. Have you ever used the fruit as a meat substitute?
Great infromation and highly appreciated. ps. Cant wait to see all the hate comments from uneducated vegan haters . ?
I’m going to purchase a jackfruit for the first time. I want to learn how to cut it cause I have no idea. I guess I will have to Google it?lol
Proud to say I’ve eaten all these except the pacific rim fruits were preserved and some were in cans. What a shame.
Excellent info! Healthy fats are so important, especially for men for testosterone production and just overall health.
Vegan meat is kinda gross right now , hopefully Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat should take off …
Well they’re certainly better for you than actual meat. Thanks for this very interesting round up.
I have a hard time finding pacific fruits where I live but I go to the Maldives every year and eat these fruits a lot. You should try a Maldivian banana they are so good!
Love this! I tend to stick to whole plant fats like avo, nuts, seeds, coconut meat etc. Animal fats are too high in cholesterol. Plus the 14 of the 15 leading causes of our death have been scientifically linked to eating animal products. Plus, it’s not ethical, neither good for the planet.
I eat a lot of healthy fat! Maybe like 50%. Almonds, avocado, cashews, but I’m still in a caloric deficit. Can eating a lot of healthy fats make me fat?
Yes!!! Give me pacific fruits all day any day! Red dragon fruits taste better than the white ones !
Allow me to explain this, hoping meat eaters would understand… Consider your consciousness to be a software(a complex one).. .now imagine that when you eat another organism, it’s essentially like your software trying to overwrite the other software….. considering that plant life is much simpler(relatively speaking)…. its easier for your system to deal with it. Then there is the fact that eating meat is classified as a compulsive behaviour, simply put, it’s animalistic nature…. We humans need to live up to our reputation. Let’s stop eating meat, not as an individual but a species and show every other bastard in the universe that WE HUMANS are counted among the CONSCIOUS ONES and not the COMPULSIVE ONES !
I have been a vegetarian for 15 years and to eat things that try to resemble meat like fakeon (fake bacon) that are suppose to taste like it is so disgusting and odd.
When I was a kid, we had a day in school where the teacher brought in a TON of exotic fruits and I think I tried about 90% of what you mentioned in this article. But the ONE fruit that I’ve never forgotten is custard apple- BEST. FRUIT. EVER.
I approve of faux meat. Efficiency wise, veganis much more sustainable for the environment. I think it takes some time to produce synthetic meat and get everyone on the train to better ethics and environmental support .
Hmmm, I wonder what a jackfruit smoothie would taste like. Gonna have to try that.
Oh my god I must have lived under a rock my whole life I didn’t even know there was a fruit called dragon fruit!! ?
Wow…thank you for this! I like the “meaty” texture of jack fruit and I mix it with chili and lime and make vegan tacos out of it…sooo good
Fresh lychees and jackfruits are the best, though. Meat or animal products simple just can’t beat that 😀
Vegan meats are not healthy, do not eat the processed junk vegan meat substitutes. Eat real whole plant foods. Why eat faux meat if you don’t eat the real thing in the first place? They’re both equally bad!
Jackfruit meat, simple, healthy, way better than chicken. I swear meat eaters think vegans only eat soy based products. As for the b12,? It comes from bacteria.
Thanks for making a very easy to understand article! I have been looking for meat substitutes. This really helps.
Fresh durian and fresh jackfruit are much better than faux meat anyday 🙂 (but obviously I know how hard it is to get it in the us)
Actually very helpful for me to know this, especially when you want to live a healthier lifestyle. Great article!
Good job Whole Foods. I always shop here because their options are really great for vegetarians.
Are cashews good?, i put them in my couscous with cauliflower and they all begin with “c” also, not intended lol.
I don’t think fruits are healthy either. Fruits contain sugar too. And really really extremely dangerous especially for the diabetic people.
I don’t understand how people can find faux meat gross when they can eat actual meat!!! In filling your desire for the taste of that flash in your mouth you are paying for the death of the animal and the animal next in line, are you really that hungry, it’s not food it’s violence.
Very interesting. I don’t think of switching to faux meat though. I stopped eating meat when I was 13 and have honestly never had any deficiencies. Only this year did I have a slight dip in B12, but I solved it with a couple of months of supplement.
Thank you for the information. I see these fruits in the store, but have been unsure of how to eat them, or if I will like them. Now I’m more likely to try.?
Thank you for the information. I see these fruits in the store, but have been unsure of how to eat them, or if I will like them. Now I’m more likely to try.?
Vegan since the 2010s but i don’t eat those meat substitutes. They just don’t seem like real food. I do use tempei from time to time, for some of the post-workout protein and because of its cultures. I don’t trust tofu, though. It has gone thru processes to make the soybean digestible, which in a catch-22, also makes it difficult for the body.
Faux meat sounds good! Now give me a fake mozzarella that tastes exactly like fresh mozzarella with the creaminess of buffalo mozzarella, and we are good to go. ?
If the taste is the same and the prices are the same as real meat then I think everyone with a heart would go vegan.
Real or faux meat sucks , and unsaturated fats are proven to cause cancer. I just don’t know what to eat anymore.
Good fats? ? Avocados come to mind first! ???? You should eat avocados also because it prevents epigenetic changes to occur in your DNA. And that’s important isn’t it. ??????
It is easy to be vegan and still have your daily full set of B vitamins! All you need is to eat 2 tea spoons of Marmite daily, and you will have all the B vitamins the body needs.
Oh, thanks for this epic piece! I actually saw some pacific fruits at my grocery store but didn’t know what they were but was really curious .
Collagen creamers? This is nice. I love my daily dose of coffee but collagen in creamers are of a different level.?
If that doesn’t make me look younger, I don’t know! ?
I have some dragonfruit plants in my backyard. Some are white on the inside (like the one in this picture) and some are deep red/pink. The red ones have a little bit more of a sweet taste but… overall a lot less flavorful than their appearance would lead you to believe .
I’d prefer that my food didn’t come from a lab. Actually I don’t get a lot of people. They’ll go all in with scientists when they mess with their food and at the same time condemn them when it comes to climate change and space.
so you go all in with scientists when it comes to climate change but not when it comes to more environmentally friendly food? I am confused ?
I’ve had faux meat, it dont taste like meat. it looks like it and smells good, but it definitely doesnt taste like it
yeah I kinda think this stuff really misses the point! It’s a super processed amalgamation of synthetic nutrients. Probably still better than real meat though but … simple whole plant foods (unprocessed) will always be better for you and better for the planet.
Yes but it’s not realistic that everyone will go vegan the way Buddhists and Hindus traditionally ate. Most people want a good alternative so the future of veganism will have to include very realistic alternatives.
I’ve been cutting down on meat for a while now. good to see things like this popping up.
i want to try faux meat! they need to hurry up and start selling it worldwide… its not available in most markets.
I’ve been cutting down on meat for a while now. good to see things like this popping up.
Can’t wait for next year because I really like trying new healthy foods to try. Whole Foods is stepping up their game!
Wow, I’m really excited. I wonder if it’s going to be available at exactly January 2019?
Hmmm, never heard of healthy fats before. Thanks for the information. Faux meat though… As it is faux, can it really be healthy?
They should remove plastic overall! Plastic is seriously polluting all our oceans.
Why do some people feel such passionate hatred towards faux meat? They can’t be all climate change deniers, they can’t be all passionate meat lovers, so what is it?
We just moved into a new house here in Florida and have a jackfruit tree in the yard with plenty of them growing. I can’t wait to see what they taste like!
I don’t understand why people complain about being unable find pacific / tropical fruits. Most of those fruits I find all the time in my local Mexican supermarket here lol.
I see no reason why any vegan or vegetarian would object to eating clone meat. It’s not like you are eating from an actually alive animal, we’re just consuming the muscle mass grown on a biosynthetic scaffolding. A lot more human than our current practice of factory farming with all the overcrowding and force feeding.
Hmm no real plants and no actual animals. All the food is made in a lab. Sounds healthy. Same people making this fake meat are probably the same people fighting against GMO
I have a very sensitive stomach so I always make sure that I get probiotics daily. This is really good news to me! ?
Same! I’m getting tired of eating yogurt so I want something else.
If the meat is fake IS VEGAN! It is a great alternative to stop consuming meat, but what about eggs and milk? Nothing will change on those products, and the health risk will be the same… Veganism is still the best answer.
If they made these food products cheaper than meat, they would become millionaires.
Healthy fats? ? How can fat be healthy and good for the body? I’m so lost there.
God I was raised on almost all of this fruits! Except dragon fruit and that instead of calling it Lychee we call it mamón.