Flavors that started in specific dishes, such as Nashville hot chicken, expand into other categories. Conaghan’s seen Nashville hot fish, as well as Nashville hot chicken, on pizza.
Elote is a quickly-growing comfort food term on menus, said Conaghan, who is seeing the combination of spices, mayonnaise and Cojita cheese appear beyond corn, such as on a cauliflower dish.
“This thing that was once a dish becomes a flavor because it makes it make more sense for different brands or different restaurants,” said Conaghan.
U.S. shoppers may begin seeing flavors inspired by Gobi Manchurian (gobi means cauliflower in Hindi) and Mapo tofu used on different foods. “Those two in particular, because they started with more of a plant-based trend, could have some interesting movement,” Conaghan said.
Conaghan also shared thoughts on comfort food. Some 44% of baby boomers think casserole is comforting, while only 16% of Gen Zers agree, according to data from Datassential.
This year, traditional dishes that might be comforting for holidays could get overhauled for a combination of reasons. Gatherings such as Thanksgiving still might not look the same as usual because of the pandemic, some go-to ingredients may be harder to find due to supply chain constraints and budding at-home cooks might update their family recipes. Someone who has had the same green bean casserole for years could try to include caramelized onion, Conaghan said.
“I think there’s some opportunity to veer and maybe even excitement to veer away from those traditional flavors,” Conaghan said. And if shortages mean the favorite brand or ingredient isn’t available, “embrace the opportunity,” she added.