Food Trends

A move to three square meals a day, more home cooking, and an all-out cry to ‘get real’ are among the major trends reshaping the food industry in 2011 and beyond. Here are the top 10 food trends in the new report by the Institute of Food Technologists:

1. Eating by Demographics. While generation Y-ers pick salty snacks, easy meals, and heat-and-eat breakfasts, the 50-plus eaters choose meals made from scratch, served three times a day.
2. Home Cooking. Americans are cooking at home more, with more than half of shoppers surveyed saying they prepared more meals at home in 2010 than the year before. That's a 20-year high.
3. Nutrient Search. Shoppers want products naturally high in vitamins and minerals and look for whole grains.
4. Special Treats. On the flip side, consumers want their chocolate candy, creamers, and cookies.
5. Americana Wins. Shoppers are drawn to farm-raised foods as well as regional cuisines such as Southern cooking and barbecue.
6. Getting Real. Shoppers say they avoid foods with preservatives, artificial colors, and flavors.
7. Three a Day. The number of adults who say they eat three meals a day rose 6% during the past two years. Breakfast was most likely to be added.
8. Foods with Function. Consumers want more than good taste in foods. They want foods that are kind to cholesterol and blood pressure.
9. Home Sweet Home. Bringing snacks from home to movies is popular, perhaps driven by the weak economy. More snacking is done at home now. Home entertaining is up, too.
10. Foodies Are Us. Two-thirds of consumers say they are knowledgeable and interested in food. Young adults, ages 25 to 34, are most likely to call themselves ''foodies."