Our third month-by-month recap from our 17 Years In Trends EBook is here, looking at the highlights from the month of July over the years.
thefoodpeople was established in 2005 rooted in our purpose to shift the future of food and drink by inspiring and informing people, business and institutions to harness the power of trends and foresight. Why do we do what we do? Well, we believe that food & drink connects us all, by working with our community, industry and our collaborators, positive impact in food & drink can shape a better future for all.
Since then a lot has changed across the food and beverage landscape, change that we've looked to capture in our 17 Years In Food & Beverage Trends E-Book. We look at what events, people, culture, regulations, technologies, and products defined these years, as well as the changes and impact on these for the future.
Here are some of the highlights captured from various months of July over the years.
July 2008 - In this month we saw a notable change in spending habits. Just as most started to tighten the purse strings and hunker down in light of the impending financial downturn, the rich reportedly splurged more cash than ever on luxury items. In the United States, a ban on Trans Fat came into place in New York City meaning no food containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, shortenings or margarines with 0.5g of more trans fat per serving could be stored, used or served by food service establishments.
July 2010 - The year that saw the invention of a super smart fridge - one that could conjure healthy recipes, depending on what it was currently storing. Designed by Ashley Legg, Smart Fridges would not only create a recipe, but provide vocal instructions on how to make it. This month also saw one of the world's most expensive bottles of whisky at the time sold for £25,000 - a bottle of Glenfiddich distilled before the start of the second world war.
July 2013 - This month saw Simon Rogan, L'Enclume, win the Chef Award at the Cateys. Coca Cola bought Innocent Smoothies. Croatia joined the European Union. And the US QSR burger chain Five Guys arrived in the UK with its first opening. July 2013 also saw cold-pressed juices trending - juice fanatics found that cold-pressing is much better than using a faster centrifugal machine because the produce is not "cooked" by heated-up rotary blades. Not wanting to miss a trick, Starbucks launched Evolution Fresh, a step away from their traditional coffee and into cold-pressed juices.
July 2017 - Young people in the UK were drinking more plant-based milk compared to previous generations. 16-24 year olds were consuming 550% more plant-based mylks than Generation X. It was also the month which saw the announcement that Amazon would buy organic food specialist Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, a move that put the e-commerce giant further into the grocery retail sector.
July 2020 - This year was consumed by COVID-19, lockdowns and uncertainty. The climate crisis of the previous year that had not been resolved yet was largely side-lined as global leaders faced an equally terrifying threat. In terms of trends, restaurants pivoted to serve their flavours and food via delivery produce and cook-at-home boxes. Some of the best venues in the world re-packaged their finest ingredients into boxes that allowed for the consumer to recreate their dishes at home. Drinking at home also became a more elaborate affair, as consumers wanted to recreate the drinks, atmosphere and fun times they'd normally experience in bars. The quickest and easiest route to the perfect home bar was via drinks kits.
A lot has happened in the month of July over the years - discover more in our 17 Years In Food & Beverage Trends E-Book. Find out how you can get your copy here.