Top Food Trends to Boost Your Wellness in 2023

Getting every bit of goodness from food is growing more important for businesses and at home. Consumers can get delicious fruits and vegetables at a bargain from misfit produce companies, preventing food from going to waste simply because it's a different size, shape, or color.

Repurposing scraps at home is also an eco-friendly and economical choice, whether simmering bones for broth or baking up tasty juice pulp muffins.

Green is the way of the future, and climate-conscious foods are gaining momentum. Local foods are fresher and skip the energy cost of shipping long distances.

Regenerative or organic farming, heirloom varieties, and lower-impact crops reduce damage to farmland while cage-free, pastured, humanely raised animal products make a better product with a lower ecological cost.

Comforting and nostalgic foods are very closely tied to memories, especially social connections. There's nothing quite like thinking back to warm apple pie at grandma's kitchen table, snacks shared with childhood best friends on the playground, or your family's heirloom recipes.

Just one bite is enough to remember the special times of yesterday and bring back the feeling of connection from sharing those meals with friends and family, but you're obviously going to finish the whole plate.

Refined avocado oil is one of the best cooking oils out there. It can stand up to the heat better than others, thanks to a smoke point of about 500 degrees. Virgin avocado oil packs more flavor and vitamins but is best saved for unheated use like virgin olive oil. Avocado oil also contains heart-healthy omega-3s.

Sweet and spicy or "swicy" is the flavor combination found in smoky, peppery barbecue sauce, zippy gingerbread cookies, and chili-coated Mexican candies. This intriguing duo is on the rise everywhere, including unique packaged snack food flavors, restaurant sauces, and home kitchens where adventurous cooks are whipping up fresh swicy recipes like brownies with a kick of cayenne.

Mocktails, or non-alcoholic cocktails, offer all the flavor, fun, and festivity of their booze-filled counterparts with none of the impairment or hangovers. They're the perfect excuse to indulge in a cold, fruity raspberry mojito on a hot summer day or wrap in a cozy blanket by the fire to sip a hot toddy.

Mushrooms are quick and simple to grow and turn tons of plant matter into usable compost instead of taking up space in a landfill, but that's far from the end of their charms.

From the fairy-sized strings of enoki to big meaty portobello caps, mushrooms are full of rich, savory umami flavor thanks to the amino acid glutamate. They're also a great low-calorie source of fiber, B vitamins, and selenium.

The gluten-free craze is far from over, and the market has many great alternatives to wheat-based pasta. Hearty and easy-to-prepare chickpea, lentil, or pea-based pastas pack healthy amounts of fiber and protein.

Rice-based options are still going strong alongside newcomers made from protein-packed quinoa, almond flour, millet, and even mushrooms.

Charcuterie boards have a new companion. Butter boards—a serving board spread thick with softened butter and toppings ready for swiping bread or crackers—are an unexpected twist fit for festive gatherings. They can include savory toppings like smoky bacon and pungent green onions or sweet options like cranberries and pecans.

Curry is a hearty gravy or sauce, typically served with meat or vegetables over basmati or other rice. There are many types of curry, but they all share an abundance of tantalizing spices such as turmeric, ginger, curry leaves, peppers, coriander, and cumin.

Curries have long been a popular dish in Southern Asia, where each region has its own spin, and have spread to much of Europe. They're also a common takeout food in the United Kingdom.