Blog

At the Dance

October 28, 2010 by Suzy Badaracco — President, Culinary Tides Inc

Food and flavor trends behave like attendees at a dance. Their behavior is dictated by the music being played. In other words, it is the circumstances surrounding them which predict their trajectory. Others which are drawn into the spotlight are the players meant to enhance food and flavor profiles – salt, sugar, fat and the like. This sets up the dynamic of heroes and villains with food and flavors being the heroes and salt, sugar, fat being the villains. Consumers then play the part of the victims.

Salt, which has been on the radar for a few years now, is on a parallel path to that of sugar. As government turned its eye towards salt regulation, technology surrounding salt changed course. Prior to adversarial and government's close focus on salt, the technology tended to involve salt substitutes such as potassium chloride. However, at the same time salt was coming under the microscope (again!) consumers were trending towards simpler ingredient decs, whole foods, recognizable ingredients, etc. Consumer movement was predicated by the war and the economic crisis. Appropriately then, salt technology swung away from replacers and towards modifiers. Modifier technology uses salt itself but focuses on boosting its perception. Thus, the label can still list salt but in lower amounts and avoids adding additional ingredients which may alienate consumers. Some of the recent technologies include the use of sea salt, bamboo salt, air bubbles, and hollow salt crystals. To view the dance from above you see how government, consumer, technology, and health trends are all participants on the dance floor – each has a role to play and each has an effect on the other dancers.

Sugar has now stolen some of the spotlight from the salt dance. The shift began more than a year ago with the attacks and counter moves done on behalf of high fructose corn syrup. The dance set in motion included government, consumers, health trends, and technology. Interestingly, the corn syrup debate set food corporations up as adversaries to each other more so than salt has. Children also became part of the focus with sugar but not as much with the salt debate which adds an emotional element to sugar that salt lacks.

What is most interesting is that the heroes who emerged from the salt dance are modifiers but the hero in the corn syrup debate is sugar itself instead of a substitute. What both have in common however, is that the modifiers are based on the original item being villianized – salt and sugar. Where sugar technology needs to evolved next is where salt has gone. That is to say, the next logical trajectory for sugar is to have technologies launch using modified sugar instead of artificial sweeteners.

Regarding how each affects flavor trends, both have gone exotic. This mirrors the path consumers are taking as they emerge from the economic crisis - emotionally, if not financially as well. As fear lifts from consumers, so does their isolationist behaviors. Consumers begin to seek more exotic, experimental flavors and so is the perfect arena for global salt and sugar to perform in right now. Now is the time for global and regional sea salts, infused sugars, regional honey, and cousins to be showcased. They fall in line with consumer desires and flavor directions. But watch both dances closely and be aware that if any of the dancers changes their step, any new dancers enter the floor, or current performers leave then the remaining participants will shift their behavior and the course of the dance will change.

About Suzy Badaracco

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