Food in the 2020’s

I think we'll see most of the points mentioned in this article come to fruition in a number of decades, but for the 2020s? It's probably a little too ambitious given that we're only talking about a period of time which is ten years away at the farthest. I can't see our food habits changing so dramatically within a decade. Then again, most people wouldn't have predicted that gluten-free food would become trendy during this decade, so anything is possible. In fact, some of the examples given in the article have even started to gain momentum now. 

Non-alcoholic drinks are definitely increasing in popularity. I've seen a few ads on TV over the past year or so which have promoted non-alcoholic beers such as Canadian Club and Carlton Zero. My Dad coincidentally tried one for the first time just a couple of weeks ago and he thought it tasted the same as any regular, alcoholic beer. I think the biggest stumbling block behind non-alcoholic drinks growing in popularity was always going to be the taste of the drinks themselves. There are people out there who care about the damage alcohol is doing to their health, of course, but there are also many others who are simply happy to try anything as long as it 'tastes good'. If the non-alcoholic drink doesn't have a good taste, it's not going to entice people to make the switch from alcoholic beers, even if the former is beneficial to their health. Now that beer brewers have seemingly started to overcome the taste "barrier" and good word of mouth is spreading, however, I do believe non-alcoholic drinks are going to become a popular alternative in the 2020s. Hopefully the stigma associated with choosing a non-alcoholic drink over a beer, wine etc. will go away with time and that will only encourage more people to give up alcohol. 

In-store grocery shopping will continue to decline in patronage and i'm willing to predict that some supermarket chains will even start to close their stores by the end of the decade. I see the future of grocery shopping as being something that will exclusively be a pick-up/delivery type of industry in twenty years from now. You'll most likely have the small independent corner stores continue to operate (especially in regional/rural towns), but I think the concept of "big box" supermarket chains will be considered unprofitable in the distant future. It will be a gradual decline though. They will obviously still be around in the 2020s.

I'm curious to see what the future may have in stall for caffeine and fizzy drinks in general. If the "sober conscious" movement continues to grow in popularity over the next few years, will it have an adverse effect on the sale of drinks such as Coca Cola and Pepsi? I know the affects of caffeinated drinks can't really be compared to those associated with alcohol, however if more and more people become concerned about their greater health, then surely it's also going to impact the sales of drinks that are linked with health problems such as tooth decay or weight gain? It's all up in the air at the moment. Coca Cola, which is essentially the Disney of caffeine drinks, is never going to be at risk of going out of business. Fizzy drinks will continue to sell well, but I do wonder if the sales of these drinks will decline from what they are currently. 

I actually doubt regular grocery shopping is going anywhere. People are very picky about their food and always buy what's most fresh, while companies need to get rid of old stock first. I wouldn't trust online shopping.

I think meat-substitutes and artificial meat are the trends to watch out for. And yes, teetotalling is definitely on the rise.

I certainly do hope so. And this is also why I hate the fat acceptance movement. I don't hate fat people at all, but I hate the movement because it's telling morbidly obese people that they're perfectly fine and that they don't need to work on themselves to get better health and a great lifespan.