People sometimes joke that today taking pictures of your food and posting about it takes more time than actually preparing or eating the meal itself. This because social media is often the starting point for some of the most significant food trends.
For example, take the Dalgona coffee craze that took over the Internet and social media a few months past. Aside from recipes and variations, an entire subculture spawned from the South Korean take on coffee, with TikTok videos and Instagram stories devoted to making the coffee in outlandish or humorous ways.
However, aside from personal enjoyment, there are some compelling reasons local food bloggers provide an essential service when reporting the latest trends.
Businesses and Food Trends
If you own or work in a business involved in food production or preparation, it pays to keep up to date with the latest food trends. Literally, in some cases.
There’s a lot of money to be made in catering to the cravings your customers develop over the Internet. A few years past, the United States was swept with a considerable demand for cronuts. The hybrid pastry is an exciting blend of croissant and donut, making a sweet and light snack. The need for the product was so intense it created its own black market. Granted, the cronut craze has decreased considerably since then, but you can’t deny that if your business had taken part in it, you could have made money hand over fist.
And not all food trends disappear over time. Sometimes, exposure to alternatives over the Internet can solidify and even expand a preexisting market niche. Vegans used to be a vanishingly rare market, but now there are as many as 1.62 million vegans in the United States. Veganism has become more and more mainstream, with many food products offering vegan alternatives.
Paying attention to both short-term and long-term food trends can be very useful in expanding your business and getting new customers.
Customers and Food Trends
Speaking of customers, food trends also have benefits for consumers. Aside from the joy and the thrill of experiencing something new and delicious, watching for trends can be transformative for some people. For example, some people are more inclined to eat healthily.
According to one study, if you follow people who eat healthily and showcase it on their social media feed, chances are you’ll start eating better as well. If your diet is low on green foods and high in junk foods, choose to follow food trends that incorporate more salads.
However, there are several important caveats. First, be very discerning and critical about the health benefits influencers and other social media personalities heap on food or diet. Do your research on these supposed benefits on trustworthy and authoritative sites. Second, although following a food trend is an excellent first step in becoming healthier, you should follow it up with more concrete efforts. Aside from eating healthy, you should also start exercising and look into other ways how you can improve your well-being outside of a dietary change.
Food trends are essential for a reason. Whether you’re a business or a consumer, watching them with a critical eye could be crucial to eventual success and a better future.
