Desi Talk

www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 10 COVER STORY July 18, 2025 From Delhi To Dubai: The Global Food Trends To Watch E ven in NewYork, the city with arguably the planet’s most diverse and dynamic food scene, the three days of the Summer Fancy Food Show stand out as a world-class pileup of cuisines and trends. African honeys endorsed by Jane Goodall, Indian spiced sodas, Dubai chocolates and protein-packed … every- thing were but a few of the thousands of products laid out to tempt buyers and distributors for grocery and gourmet stores. If you want a window into America’s changing tastes and growing appetites, and a sense of how the country will be eating in the coming year, there’s no better place to be. For me, no moment crystalized the show’s fantasti- cal culture clash better than when I grabbed a sample of Korean carbonara-flavored ramen (ramen is a multibil- lion-dollar industry there) from one exhibitor and walked straight into a nearby crowd watching rapt as an opera- singing Italian chef dramatically transferred servings of his own carbonara from pan to plates, handing each one to an assistant who shaved black truffles over them before giving them away. When I last reported from the Fancy Food Show in 2023, it featured 2,000 companies exhibiting over about 300,000 square feet. This year it’s swelled to 2,500 com- panies (400 of which were first-timers) taking up 340,000 square feet. It’s the biggest show in nearly a decade, reported Bill Lynch, president of the event’s organizer, the Specialty Food Organization. Sales of specialty foods-think gourmet chocolates, cheeses, snacks and meats-are projected to grow 5.5% this year, according to the 2025 Specialty Food Industry Out- look Report, with “wellness”-ori- ented products being a key driver. That can mean lower sugar content (72% of Americans are seeking to limit sugar intake) or increased and more diverse sources of protein. But beneath this expected growth is a current of economic uncertainty, with 53% of US consumers express- ing “mixed feelings or pessimism about the economy.” INDIAN ACCENTS One of the year’s standout flavor trends has been in Indian-influenced snacks, said Jessie Kimsey, senior manager for vendor strategy & cat- egory innovation for online grocer Misfits Market Inc. “We’ve seen salty snacks as a whole trending down, so I think brands are looking towards ways to make it more exciting and bring people back into the aisle,” she said. Look no further than the excitement generated by startups such as Keya’s Snacks, which offered a pair of flavored potato chips: a complex Bombay Spice, and Kala Namak, the kiln-fired black salt, whose sulfurous notes evoke fried eggs. Along with samples, it offered up book- lets titled Zen and the Art of Eating Chips: An Earthling’s Cultural Guide to Consumption and Gratification-Potato Chip Edition. Niranaya Foods from Philadelphia offered pretzels made from grain-free naan in flavors like Tan- doori BBQ, Pink Salt and Jalapeno Chutney. And Doosra snack mix, which made a splash last year with its blend of spiced chickpea puffs called boondi, roasted peanuts and caramelized white chocolate, was back with an equally moreish mix of boondi, dark chocolate and walnuts. Indian flavors permeated more than just the crunchy aisles. Sach, the Bay Area paneer maker, introduced a new frozen pizza line in flavors like tikka masala, while Bollygood’s small stand was busy offering tastes of its reduced-sugar take on nimbu pani, Indian sparkling lemonades and limeades, flavored with fruit, spice and a pinch of salt to enhance hydration. Bollygood’s founder and CEO Maxine Henderson, a former electrical engineer, was pleasantly surprised that the NewYork crowd gravitated toward the lime-basil- cumin flavored drink-the foundational one based on her grandmother’s recipe-even more than her bestsell- ers, lemon-pomegranate-cardamom and lemon ginger. “These global flavors and functional ingredients are desired,” she said. “There’s been a demand, and retailers are seeing that.” Henderson came to the show looking to connect with both sellers and investors: “We’re ready to scale. We need some smart money to help us grow a busi- ness.” As she was pouring the last of her samples, she said the results of the show “exceeded my expectations.” Bollygood’s nimbu pani wasn’t the only surprising sip of the show. Narichan introduced Kimchi Me, a kombu- cha-like drink made from white kimchi brine. Although it was a bit too intense to chug after a run, it would be a perfect addition for a dirty martini or bloody mary. Over in the sprawling Italian pavilion, Emilia-Romagna’s Terra del Tuono also featured an unusual beverage base- balsamic vinegar-in its Emilio sparkling aperitif, which balances the tartness with concentrated grape must. CUT DOWN TO GLP-1 SIZE Among Kimsey’s other takeaways is the continued strength of “little indulgences and sweet treats.” She sees “poppable format” snacks like Unreal’s “snacking choco- lates,” as she calls them, fulfilling a newly relevant need in a market where GLP-1 treatments have curbed appetites but not desire. “You aren’t opening up a pint of ice cream and just diving in. You’re actu- ally like, ‘I just want like two, and then that’ll tide me over.’” A favorite example was Baris, frozen chocolate-dipped rasp- berries from Patagonia (the place, not the brand), which she likens to a “high-end, luxury gusher experience.” Rahul Sharma, director of marketing and partnerships at Source M, a packaging specialist, noticed that “more and more brands are add- ing more protein to still be relevant in the GLP-led diet.” Indeed, Barilla and Rummo prominently featured protein- packed pastas, while pizzas, chips, ice creams and even sprinkles were touting their protein premiums. In one of the show’s better examples of trend synergy, Alak Vasa, a former algorithmic trader turned owner of Elements ayurvedic chocolates, introduced a chai-spiced protein powder, flavored with (among other things) cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper and cacao. RAISING THE DUBAI BAR When asked to sum up the biggest trends she saw, Mel- anie Bartelme, an associate director for food and drink at marketing intelligence firmMintel, offered up three words: “Dubai, Dubai, Dubai.” Indeed the viral pistachio- and-shredded-phyllo-filled chocolate seemed only to be gaining momentum, despite skyrocketing cacao prices. Italian pastry producer Don Giovannino was serving up slices of holiday panettone flavored with the stuff, while Just the Fun Part, maker of poppable-format chocolate- filled waffle cone bottoms, touted a new Dubai flavor. Other makers deemphasized pistachio with flavors such as cherry, birthday cake and tooth-achingly sweet cotton By Matthew Kronsberg PHOTOS:MatthewKronsberg/Bloomberg PHOTOS:MatthewKronsberg/Bloomberg At the Summer Fancy Food Show, its snack time for around 2,500 companies. Key to Beefy’s Own potato chips is that they’re fried in beef tallow. The biggest trends at the Summer Fancy Food Show Dubai, Dubai, Dubai. Keya’s Bombay Spice potato chips. - Continued On Page 12 Burlap & Barrel’s Ori Zohar with a pair of his collaborators.