This annual look at the future of flavour has played a distinctive role in shaping the art and science of flavour for over a decade. This year, for the first time ever, we’re taking a global view.
Putting a worldly lens on our passion for flavour, the McCormick® Flavour Forecast® pinpoints top trends driving global culinary innovation in the coming years.
To identify these border-crossing forces of change on the horizon, we assembled a dynamic group of McCormick chefs, sensory scientists, trend trackers, marketing experts and food technologists from around the globe.
This year-long process of culinary exploration, data discovery and insight development led to a rather surprising finding. The trends impacting our food choices are strikingly similar around the world—even though the specific foods, flavours and ingredients we enjoy are uniquely rooted in our local cultures.
This Flavour Forecast showcases six global trends brought to life through regional flavour combinations and food experiences. The results are both inspiring and delicious.
Celebrating the root of a cuisine—be it an ingredient combination, signature dish or cooking method—is a renewed global priority. As cultures evolve, preserving the integrity of regional flavours is crucial to honoring their heritage, even as lifestyles continue to change.
Chefs inspired by foundational flavours and cooking styles are applying a fresh perspective that balances modern tastes and cultural authenticity.
AUTHENTIC HISPANIC FOUNDATIONAL FLAVOURS
Sofrito—an aromatic blend of garlic, onion, bell pepper and tomato sautéed in oil—is the flavourful base of countless traditional Latin dishes, from Spanish to Cuban. Robust cumin, one of the world’s most widely used spices, is taking these “background” aromatics to new places on the global culinary map.
Serving Suggestion: Almond & Date Bulgur Salad with Sofrito
BBQ WITH A GLOBAL TWIST
In Korean barbecue, powerful ingredients combine in an intricate harmony for the senses. Gaining popularity as a result of interest in global street food and regional live-fire specialties, chefs are celebrating the balance inherent in this tasty heritage—dazzling the taste buds with a unique combination of sweet, sour, savoury and bitter.
Serving Suggestions: Korean BBQ Wings or Jicama-Wrapped Short Ribs with Asian Pear Slaw
For flavour fanatics, what satisfied yesterday will not do for tomorrow. Those searching for the pinnacle of fulfillment in food are on an endless quest to achieve ever-greater sensory heights.
For some, the “ultimate” might equal superlative quality; for others, it is about a patchwork of textures, colours and layers of enjoyment. Culinary explorers are seeking out combinations that create powerful, harmonic bursts of elemental flavours—be it zesty, refreshing, umami or pungent—for the ultimate taste experience.
THE ULTIMATE REFRESHER
The supremely cooling blend of cucumber and melon gets an invigorating kick from lively dill and mint. Prized in Turkish, Greek and African cooking for the cooling refreshment they bring, the winning combination of dill and mint adds both an unexpected savoury backbone and a subtle herbal sweetness.
Serving Suggestion: Cucumber-Herb Gazpacho with Watermelon Crouton
THE ULTIMATE LEMON
With its mellow acidity, Meyer lemon mingles with the familiar, pleasing bitterness of lemon peel, the sweetness of Limoncello and the citrusy, herbal notes of lemon thyme. The result is a bracing symphony of ingredients that showcases the lemon’s multi-dimensional flavour profile.
Serving Suggestion: Ultimate Lemon Tarts with Limoncello Blackberries
Veggies have long been saddled with second-class citizen status, suffering from overcooking, over saucing and lack of inspiration. Those days are finally over, thanks to the enthusiasm of chefs, the quality of seasonal produce and the unstoppable growth of fresh markets.
Showcased through new cooking techniques and inventive bursts of flavour, it’s finally the vegetable’s time to shine.
WORLDLY VEGGIE WITH SWEET HEAT
Eggplant is a diverse and global favourite that often replaces meat in dishes because of its substantial texture and hearty flavour. Naturally sweet honey and the fiery North African condiment, harissa, add unique intensity, elevating eggplant to a starring role in many international cuisines.
Serving Suggestion: Eggplant & Goat Cheese Torte with Honey-Harissa Sauce
VERSATILE VEGGIE WITH A TOUCH OF THAI
Red curry brings an air of the exotic to adaptable squash, for a match that can be enjoyed throughout the seasons. This spicy curry blend warms up winter squashes, while waking up summer varieties. Savoury pancetta adds a hip twist, thanks to the world’s passion for cured meats.
Serving Suggestion: Squash Ribbon Salad with Red Curry Vinaigrette
The most memorable food is often the simplest. As cooks focus on highlighting quality ingredients with simple preparations, they have moved away from the clutter of complex presentations and flashy innovations. Their creativity is mindfully balanced with a dose of restraint. Clear, unpretentious flavours are an approachable celebration of the basics—and remind us what real food tastes like.
WARM SPICE JOINS TROPICAL FAVOURITE
Ginger’s multi-faceted personality is being celebrated for its endless possibilities for sweet and savoury dishes. Lush, creamy and cool, coconut is a deliciously contrasting—though wonderfully complementary— counterpoint to the intensity of ginger.
Serving Suggestion: Braised Cod with Gingered Carrot-Coconut Sauce
PURE ESSENTIALS FOR REAL GOODNESS
Sumptuous vanilla is one of the most unmistakable flavours on earth. When vanilla is paired with the creamy richness of butter, this essential duo elevates baked goods. New savoury applications bring the pairing to the forefront, transforming everyday meals into simple indulgences.
Serving Suggestions: Butterscotch Vanillatini or Vanilla-Butter Shrimp Rolls
In the quest for personal well-being, small changes add up to big results. Simple, healthy swaps can help us make consistently better choices for the mind, body and soul—without sacrificing enjoyment. Balancing an appetite for bold flavour with a hunger for good health is key to achieving wellness goals, one delicious taste at a time. Swapping spices and herbs for salt and fat results in flavours that are vibrant enough to stand on their own.
BETTER-FOR-YOU BEVERAGE MEETS FRUIT AND SPICE
Known as rooibos in its native South Africa, caffeine-free red tea has a nutty taste and deep auburn colour. Having conquered the healthy beverage realm, red tea is emerging as a flavour in a wide range of dishes, both savoury and sweet. Juicy plums and warm cinnamon round out this aromatic, antioxidant-powered trio.
Serving Suggestion: Red Tea-Smoked Sea Bass with Cinnamon Caramelised Plums
A NEW TAKE ON LEMON PEPPER
Grapefruit and red pepper deliver big flavour with purely wholesome ingredients. With a range of bright offerings—juice, zest, pulp—grapefruit meets a similarly versatile match in the exciting assortment of red pepper forms and varieties. An added bonus, this bold, sour-spicy duo also boasts promising metabolism-boosting benefits.
Serving Suggestions: Grilled Oysters with Grapefruit or Red Pepper Relish
Cuban Grilled Chicken with Salsa Fresca
Culinary trailblazers are cooking outside the lines by discovering, reinventing and even playing with food. We now have the freedom to explore and enjoy whatever foods we want, whenever we want. Blending inspirations and shedding the confines of traditional “rules” equals a renewed permission to have fun. From mixing up dayparts to packing the flavour of a whole dish into a single bite, we are guided by a single, simple mantra: anything goes.
STEAK SAUCE WITH AN ASIAN FLAIR
An indispensable flavouring in its native Indonesia, sweet soy is a savoury-sweet, molasses-like sauce—also known as kecap manis.
Together with black pepper and tamarind, these boundary-bending ingredients bring new inspiration to a condiment culture.
FROM EVERYDAY TO EXTRAORDINARY
In an unexpectedly delicious collision of influences, an all-American stand-by fruit meets a staple of Mexican cooking and India’s versatile “queen of spices.” The combination bursts with excitement, transcending mealtimes and regional borders.
Serving Suggestions: Blueberry-Cardamom Mexican Atole or Spiced Duck Arepas with Blueberry Port Sauce
We stopped by Jin Bar to hear more of her incredible journey towards becoming Calgary’s Korean comfort go-to. View Culinary Connections for more.
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We met with Chef Kagoro at Chakalaka to find out more about his Zimbabwean cuisine, and how he’s managed to spread love & flavour in this difficult time. View Culinary Connections for more.
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