LET´S CREATE THE FUTURE TOGETHER
Today
- Plant-based food: Animal products become plant-based
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Plant-Based Food Plant-based animal substitutes, especially for meat, are booming. At the latest after the […]
Learn more - Regional Food: Food from the region
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Regional Food The formula “regional is the new organic” has long since arrived in the […]
Learn more - Zero Waste: Surplus food as a business model
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Zero Food Waste Food waste is one of the biggest societal challenges of the 21st […]
Learn more - Circular Food: Food Recycling and Upcycling
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Circular Food In addition to the redistribution of food surpluses and leftovers, the topic of […]
Learn more - Fast Good: Fast Food Becomes Healthier
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Fast Good Fast Good describes the new pace of quality in out-of-home catering, as fast […]
Learn more - Meet Food: More proximity to the product
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Meet Food More and more people want to perceive food sensually. The evolution of consumers […]
Learn more - Snackification: Food on the go
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Snackification The megatrends of individualization, connectivity and, above all, mobility and new work have led […]
Learn more - Functional Food: Eating for Self-Optimization
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Functional Food You are what you eat! The functional food trend makes this statement its […]
Learn more - Healthy Hedonism: indulge healthily
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Healthy Hedonism With more and more food innovations and increasing pressure for suppliers in the […]
Learn more - Flexitarianism: meat consumption with more responsibility
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Flexitarianism In Germany and in many neighboring European countries, we have reached “peak meat,” which […]
Learn more - Fermentation: the rediscovery of an ancient cultural technique
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Fermentation Not everything needs to be redone if it worked really well before. What was […]
Learn more - Super plant hemp: from drug to miracle raw material
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Super plant hemp Alternative dietary methods are enjoying tremendous growth in popularity. The health megatrend […]
Learn more - Transparency: More transparency for more appreciation
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Transparency Communities, collaborations and cooperations will become more and more important in the future thanks […]
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Tomorrow
- Clean Meat: Meat & Fish from the Lab
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Clean Meat Artificial meat from the laboratory will fundamentally revolutionize meat consumption. Technological development makes […]
Learn more - Climatarianism: Food for the climate
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Climatarianism It is true that the idea of a dietary (re)form for the purpose of […]
Learn more - Precision Fermentation: Milk proteins through fermentation
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Precision Fermentation After various companies have managed to crack the “meat code” plant-based and now […]
Learn more - Plant-based Food 2.0: Eggs without chickens
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Plant-Based Food 2.0 The question of which came first – chicken or egg – will […]
Learn more - Brutal-Local: Regional food on the next level
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Brutal Local The regional-food trend jumps to the next evolutionary stage – from regional to […]
Learn more - Curated Food: Pre-selection instead of overflow
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Curated Food As the abundance and variety of food products in our supermarkets and online […]
Learn more - Reverse engineering food: molecular replication of foodstuffs
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Reverse Engineering Food This is not about the world of molecular cuisine, which already had […]
Learn more - Local Exotics: Culinary delights between home and faraway places
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Local Exotics The lockdowns in the wake of the Corona pandemic have not only further […]
Learn more - Food Pairing: Taste from the drawing board
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Food Pairing The fact that cheese and wine go wonderfully together has become something of […]
Learn more - Algae: Superfood from the sea
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Algae Today, we already know algae as a shell and accessory for sushi or in […]
Learn more - Fusion Food: Global & regional go hand in hand
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Fusion Food The regional food trend is undoubtedly strong and will continue to gain strength, […]
Learn more - Aquaculture: seafood from the pool
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Aquaculture What can responsible fish consumption look like to combat overfishing? Closed aquaculture, where animals […]
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Future
- 3D printed food: Food from the printer
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3D Printed Food From “to go” to “to print”: The snack culture from the 3D […]
Learn more - Precision Food: Hyper-personalized nutrition based on DNA
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Precision Food The megatrend of individualization is permanently changing our diet from “one-food-fits-all” mass consumption, […]
Learn more - Ento Food: Insect breakthrough
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Ento Food Almost one-third of the world’s people eat insects. In Western culture, the sight […]
Learn more - Real Omnivores: Potential futures become a future
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Real Omnivores Real omnivores are the eaters of the future. Tech-savvy and much more open-minded […]
Learn more - No-Food-Food: Eating becomes pure nutrient intake
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No-Food-Food What we already know from Silicon Valley or the spaceship could become the culinary […]
Learn more - CO2 food: food from the air
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CO2 food Many current food trends can be clustered under the motto “sustainability,” as the […]
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Today
- Ghost Kitchens: Kitchens without a restaurant
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Ghost Kitchens In the Corona Crisis, power relationships between delivery services and restaurants are being […]
Learn more - Convenience Cooking: Meal kits for convenient cooking enjoyment
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Convenience Cooking From Michelin-starred restaurants to young fresh-food startups to established cookbox providers, meal kits, […]
Learn more - Work-food balance: upgrade for communal catering
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Work-food balance Working time is life time. And that is precisely why the corporate dining […]
Learn more - Home Kitchen: The kitchen as the center of the home
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Home Kitchen Since the turn of the millennium, the kitchen has acquired more and more […]
Learn more - Infinite Food: Food is everywhere
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Infinite Food “Eating is the new pop,” wrote Hanni Rützler a few years ago in […]
Learn more - DIY Food: Do-it-yourself changes production and consumption
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DIY Food For a long time, do-it-yourself was seen as a niche counter-trend or reaction […]
Learn more - Kitchen Apps: Intelligent cooking, stocking and ordering
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Kitchen Apps Today, learning algorithms from apps already support us in the kitchen when cooking […]
Learn more - Conscious Kitchen: Kitchen becomes mindful
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Conscious Kitchen Influenced by the megatrends of sustainability and health, the kitchen is gaining a […]
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Tomorrow
- The illuminated plate (MILK. soulplate)
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Soon, kitchens and restaurants could find enlightenment via novel plates. The first illuminated plate for home and catering is called “soulplate” and not only makes our food shine beautifully, but also teaches us to be mindful of the precious food in front of us.
Learn more - Smartness Everywhere: The kitchen gets smart
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Smartness Everywhere KitchenAid was just the beginning. Within the next few years, kitchens will become […]
Learn more - Impact Chefs: Women Chefs as Drivers of Change in the Socio-Ecological Transformation.
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Impact Chefs For some time now, the restaurant industry can be seen as a trend […]
Learn more - Vegourmets: Vegetable menu becomes gastronomic standard
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Vegourmets The popularity of vegetarian and vegan diets has continued to grow in the pandemic […]
Learn more - Gastro Sentiments: AI turns restaurants into trend scouts and setters
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Gastro Sentiments Programmers call sentiments information with an emotional statement, i.e. texts with emojis, certain […]
Learn more - Virtual Reality Eating: Using Virtuality to Achieve the Ultimate Experience
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Virtual Reality Eating Restaurants are increasingly permeated by digital technologies. And not only in the […]
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Future
- Robot Kitchen: Full automation of the kitchen
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Robot Kitchen A balanced diet will continue to play a major role in the future, […]
Learn more - Big Retro: Craft & Tradition Experience a Revival
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Big Retro As kitchens at home and in restaurants become increasingly digital and smarter, a […]
Learn more - No-Kitchen-Living: Kitchens disappear from homes & offices
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No-Kitchen-Living The snackification trend resulting from increasingly mobile lifestyles is leading to homes and offices […]
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Today
- E-food: online food trade booming
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E-Food In the wake of the Corona crisis, the megatrend of connectivity really took hold […]
Learn more - #foodporn: nutrition goes viral
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#foodporn Social media have become part of everyday culture, especially among younger generations, and the […]
Learn more - Instant delivery services on wheels: Let’s go shopping quickly
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Instant delivery services on wheels Turning a crisis into a virtue – or even into […]
Learn more - Urban Gardening: Self-sufficiency in the City
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Urban Gardening Driven by a young generation of city dwellers who are increasingly seeking a […]
Learn more - Automation in the countryside: regional products directly from the producer
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Automation in the countryside The trend toward more regional food continues. Particularly in times of […]
Learn more - Crowdfarming: For more proximity between producer and consumer
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Crowdfarming Crowdfarming (translated as “swarm farming”) wants one thing above all: to value food more […]
Learn more - Fully automated mini market: 24/7 self-service shopping
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Fully automatic mini market People’s changing consumption, lifestyle and working habits are putting stationary retail […]
Learn more - Political Food: Food becomes (socially) political
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Political Food In terms of value orientation in society, the Corona pandemic has only reinforced […]
Learn more - Water-Energy-Food: Symbiotic Systems of Transformation
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Water-Energy-Food The increasing complexity of the social and economic system with further increasing interdependencies of […]
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Tomorrow
- Vertical Farming: Farming in a high-rise building
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Vertical Farming More than half of the world’s population already lives in cities, and according […]
Learn more - Self-Driving Food: Autonomous Delivery by Robot
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Self-Driving Food More and more people order food and dishes online and then have them […]
Learn more - Next Level Transparency: Transparent Value Chains Thanks to Blockchain
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Next Level Transparency Thanks to modern technology and increasingly powerful consumers, we are entering a […]
Learn more - Zero Food Waste Society: Intelligently waste-free
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Zero Food Waste Society If global food waste were a state, it would be the […]
Learn more - Extended Reality Shopping: Retail and Shopping Are Going Digital
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Extended Reality Shopping Digitization is not stopping at retail either – on the contrary: extended […]
Learn more - Between craft & industry: digitization blurs the boundaries of food production
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Between craft & industry In the past, the structures were somehow clearer: On the one […]
Learn more - Gene-edited food: Food becomes more climate resilient
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Gene-edited Food Climate change and associated extreme weather events and changes in temperature and precipitation […]
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Future
- Robot Farmers: Autonomous food production
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Robot Farmers In view of a growing world population and the associated increase in food […]
Learn more - Food production under water: algae and sea
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Food production under water Seas, rivers, lakes and ponds open up new culinary perspectives. In […]
Learn more - Telemedicine in the barn: health tracking for animals
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Telemedicine in the stable According to Regensburg-based startup Futurofarming, 80 percent of calves become sick […]
Learn more - Predictive food analytics: When machines start to taste
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Predictive Food Analytics The new or further development of food is one of the great […]
Learn more - Personal Food Factories: Food Production for the Individual
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Personal Food Factories The megatrend of individualization means that our diets are becoming increasingly varied […]
Learn more - Food Download: Teleportation replaces delivery service
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Food Download 3D printing technology, already the first gadget to give techies and nerds warm […]
Learn more - Meta Food: The food experience becomes virtual
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Meta Food Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg recently announced his plan to hire 10,000 people in Europe […]
Learn more - Next-Level Greenhouse: Agriculture of the Future
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Next Level Greenhouse Industrial agriculture has run into ecological and social dead ends here and […]
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Today
- Cellulose packaging film
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Nupro Foil. The Nu Company developed an environmentally friendly packaging film together with packaging specialist […]
Learn more - Recyclability due to mono-plastic
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Packaging 96% recyclable*. *The packaging shown recently consists almost exclusively of polypropylene (PP), from which […]
Learn more - High-barrier papers as a substitute for plastics
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Paperization. Two major influencing factors have led to plastic packaging being increasingly replaced by cellulose-based […]
Learn more - Minimal use of plastic due to hybrids
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The best of both worlds: Cardboard hybrids for plastic reduction. Hybrid packaging, which combines the […]
Learn more - Reusable systems for to-go food
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Reusable take-away packaging in the catering industry. The reusable deposit system REBOWL (among others) provides […]
Learn more - Edible protective spray for food
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Apeel. California-based startup Apeel Sciences developed an edible protective spray for fruits and vegetables derived […]
Learn more - The paper bag for the freezer
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First recyclable Frozen paper bags. The Special Packaging Award of the German Sustainability Award went […]
Learn more - Material reduction for plastic packaging
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As little plastic as possible – with as much product protection as necessary. For years, […]
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Tomorrow
- Paper from grass
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Sustainable from natural fibers. GRASPAP® are purely mechanically but particularly sustainably produced natural fibers that […]
Learn more - Mushroom based material packaging
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Grown into shape: the shipping packaging of the future. In the “morning”, huge quantities of […]
Learn more - New cellulose-based alternatives to plastic
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Packaging made from organic waste. MakeGrowLab’s woven biowaste packaging is made entirely of cellulose, making […]
Learn more - The renaissance of the refill bag
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Permanent packaging in conjunction with re-fill offers. What never really caught on “yesterday” could become […]
Learn more - Recycled paper beverage bottle
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Paper Bottle. The environmentally friendly “Paper Bottle” beverage bottle from Paboco is made from wood […]
Learn more - Bio-plastics become industrially compostable
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Problem biodegraded. Our current problems with the disposal of bio-based plastics will be a thing […]
Learn more - Holy Grail 2.0
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Digital watermarks for effective recycling of plastic packaging. We have been closely following this trend […]
Learn more - Design for Recycling
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Finally, true closed-loop systems for plastic food packaging. We are considering EU approval for post-consumer […]
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Future
- Holy Grail 4.0
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The future of grocery shopping – a hybrid of analog and digital. The supermarket of […]
Learn more - The edible packaging
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Nose to Tail Packaging. Lactips Lactips is an edible plastic made from a milk protein […]
Learn more - The packaging that becomes active
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Look who’s talking: the interactive packaging. Two developments will shape the packaging of tomorrow. On […]
Learn more - Packaging based on seaweed
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Agar Plasticity. “The day after tomorrow” another highly renewable source of plastics arrives on the […]
Learn more - Return of the Milk Man 2.o
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Loop Under a project called Loop, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Danone, Mars Petcare, […]
Learn more - Home composting of packaging from biopolymers
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Waste? Vanished without a trace. The increase in industrial composting of bioplastics is long overdue […]
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Let’s transfer your possible futures into your individual brand future picture and start the ideation process for new products and packaging solutions based on it! How does it work?

Daniel Anthes
Trends: Food, Kitchen, Marketing
Daniel, born in 1986 and a graduate in economic geography, business administration and journalism, is particularly concerned with the topics of social change, nutrition & food culture and sustainability. The passionate speaker and author regularly walks the talk and, as an association board member and foodpreneur, also makes a very practical contribution to the sustainable transformation of the food industry. He also works as a senior associate for the renowned Zukunftsinstitut.
Click here to go to Daniel’s website: www.danielanthes.com

Andreas Milk
Trends: Packaging
Andreas (born 1984) was the first in his family to leave the food trade to pursue his career as a creative consultant for the food industry via a degree in business administration. Food runs in Andreas’ family. And so it was a logical step to also fully dedicate the agency business to the food market. Since 2009, Andreas and a team (Design, Consulting, Kitchen) have been advising food manufacturers on the packaging and marketing of “tomorrow”.

Our food and its packaging today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
With this Future Food Trend Radar, we want to schematize the change in nutrition in all its complexity and multi-layeredness and invite you to “think future” in an entertaining and inspiring way. The focus is on FOOD, KITCHEN, PRODUCTION and PACKAGING and thus WHAT we eat, HOW and WHERE we prepare and cook it, HOW and WHERE we produce and transport the food required for this and also HOW we pack it. We have distinguished between TODAY (present and near future), TOMORROW (2030-2040) and OVERTOMORROW (2040 and beyond) in terms of the time horizon and the potential penetration of each trend into the social mainstream.
The present and near future. This is already affecting all of us today or will certainly affect us in the near future.
Water-Energy-Food: Symbiotic Systems of Transformation
Conscious Kitchen: Kitchen becomes mindful
Infinite Food: Food is everywhere
Home Kitchen: The kitchen as the center of the home
Kitchen Apps: Intelligent cooking, stocking and ordering
DIY Food: Do-it-yourself changes production and consumption
Work-food balance: upgrade for communal catering
Convenience Cooking: Meal kits for convenient cooking enjoyment
Ghost Kitchens: Kitchens without a restaurant
Political Food: Food becomes (socially) political
Transparency: More transparency for more appreciation
Fully automated mini market: 24/7 self-service shopping
Crowdfarming: For more proximity between producer and consumer
Automation in the countryside: regional products directly from the producer
Urban Gardening: Self-sufficiency in the City
Instant delivery services on wheels: Let’s go shopping quickly
#foodporn: nutrition goes viral
E-food: online food trade booming
Fermentation: the rediscovery of an ancient cultural technique
Super plant hemp: from drug to miracle raw material
Healthy Hedonism: indulge healthily
Flexitarianism: meat consumption with more responsibility
Material reduction for plastic packaging
Recyclability due to mono-plastic
High-barrier papers as a substitute for plastics
Minimal use of plastic due to hybrids
Cellulose packaging film
The paper bag for the freezer
Edible protective spray for food
Reusable systems for to-go food
Functional Food: Eating for Self-Optimization
Meet Food: More proximity to the product
Snackification: Food on the go
Fast Good: Fast Food Becomes Healthier
Circular Food: Food Recycling and Upcycling
Zero Waste: Surplus food as a business model
Regional Food: Food from the region
Plant-based food: Animal products become plant-based
Our “tomorrow” envisions the years 2030-2040. We’ll be there sooner than you think. The trends of “tomorrow” should have great influence for today’s strategic plans.
Gene-edited food: Food becomes more climate resilient
Virtual Reality Eating: Using Virtuality to Achieve the Ultimate Experience
Gastro Sentiments: AI turns restaurants into trend scouts and setters
Impact Chefs: Women Chefs as Drivers of Change in the Socio-Ecological Transformation.
Smartness Everywhere: The kitchen gets smart
Between craft & industry: digitization blurs the boundaries of food production
Zero Food Waste Society: Intelligently waste-free
Extended Reality Shopping: Retail and Shopping Are Going Digital
Next Level Transparency: Transparent Value Chains Thanks to Blockchain
Self-Driving Food: Autonomous Delivery by Robot
Aquaculture: seafood from the pool
Vertical Farming: Farming in a high-rise building
Algae: Superfood from the sea
Fusion Food: Global & regional go hand in hand
Local Exotics: Culinary delights between home and faraway places
Food Pairing: Taste from the drawing board
Curated Food: Pre-selection instead of overflow
Reverse engineering food: molecular replication of foodstuffs
Brutal-Local: Regional food on the next level
Plant-based Food 2.0: Eggs without chickens
Climatarianism: Food for the climate
Precision Fermentation: Milk proteins through fermentation
Design for Recycling
Holy Grail 2.0
Bio-plastics become industrially compostable
The renaissance of the refill bag
Recycled paper beverage bottle
Mushroom based material packaging
New cellulose-based alternatives to plastic
Paper from grass
The illuminated plate (MILK. soulplate)
Clean Meat: Meat & Fish from the Lab
The “day after tomorrow” is full of fantasy. Here, the markets of the future 2040-2050 and beyond are painted. Those who invest here could be among the winners of the New Green Deal era.
Next-Level Greenhouse: Agriculture of the Future
CO2 food: food from the air
Meta Food: The food experience becomes virtual
Food Download: Teleportation replaces delivery service
No-Kitchen-Living: Kitchens disappear from homes & offices
Big Retro: Craft & Tradition Experience a Revival
Robot Kitchen: Full automation of the kitchen
Personal Food Factories: Food Production for the Individual
Predictive food analytics: When machines start to taste
Telemedicine in the barn: health tracking for animals
Robot Farmers: Autonomous food production
Food production under water: algae and sea
No-Food-Food: Eating becomes pure nutrient intake
Real Omnivores: Potential futures become a future
Ento Food: Insect breakthrough
Precision Food: Hyper-personalized nutrition based on DNA
3D printed food: Food from the printer
Home composting of packaging from biopolymers
Return of the Milk Man 2.o
Packaging based on seaweed
The edible packaging
The packaging that becomes active
Holy Grail 4.0
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Methodology: What are food trends?
Food trends show people’s feelings about life and their longings, which are always shaped by megatrends – the blockbusters of social change. Therefore, food trends can also be read as “food culture derivatives” of megatrends, thus they are also always answers or attempts of answers to problems we are confronted with in our daily eating routine. They are designed to help people navigate the complex everyday world of choice and decision-making constraints and satisfy needs in a more sustainable, healthier, convenient or affordable way.
However, it is also clear that food trends are not static phenomena in themselves, but continue to develop, differentiate, dynamize and strengthen in conjunction with similar trends or even bring contrary trends to a complete standstill. Unlike fads and hypes, food trends have a much longer half-life, usually at least five to ten years. This makes them pressure points for strategic realignments and considerations of their own future viability for all players involved in the food industry. But if all these considerations are not based on the phenomena of change behind them, the megatrends, it will be difficult to find effective and sustainable responses to food trends for your own company.