Developing cooking skills, supporting gut health, and minimizing food waste are the food topics today’s foodies are following, according to the first Consumer Curiosity Report from Curious Plot. 

To find out what curious consumers are craving and identify upcoming food trends, Curious Plot surveyed more than 700 “early adopter consumers” who regularly interact with food and drink content online and believe it’s important to try new things. 

So what did these consumers pick as top food trends? Respondents most often said they were “very” or “extremely” curious about:

• Cooking skills and tips (85%)
• Easy meals they can prepare in less than 30 minutes (82%)
• New snack ideas and products (81%)
• New ways to prepare vegetables (79%)
• Global/cultural cuisines and flavors (78%)

On a nutritional level, most survey participants said their curiosity gravitates toward foods that boost gut health (72%) and offer cognitive benefits (71%). And, ranking highest among sustainability topics, most (47%) respondents said they were interested in reducing food waste, followed by supporting animal welfare and organic agriculture. 

Consumers who said they eat meat and don’t plan to limit meat consumption were more likely to list easy meals and cooking tips in their top trends. Respondents interested in reducing meat consumption were more curious about animal welfare and plant-based recipes. 

Among all survey participants, the most likely influencers of food curiosity were friends and family (23%). But other primary influencers differed by generation — 31% of Gen Z credited TikTok with sparking their curiosity, 17% of Millennials named Instagram, and Gen X and Baby Boomers were more likely than other generations to be influenced by restaurants. 

See the full report for a more in-depth look at what’s trending among food curious consumers.