Whole Foods Predicts 2027 Will Belong to Terroir, Yōshoku and Bitter

Whole Foods Market named terroir, Japanese comfort food, food-as-skincare and bitter flavors among its top food trends for 2027, released Wednesday in the retailer's annual Trends predictions report. Eight trends made the list, and all of them, the company says, are already moving from restaurants and social feeds into grocery aisles.

The Whole Foods Market Trends Council — a group of foragers, buyers and culinary experts — builds the predictions each year from field observation, consumer preferences and relationships with emerging and established brands.

"This year's predictions reflect a real shift in how people are eating—a curiosity about origin, a willingness to try bitter and unexpected flavors and a meaningful return to simpler, whole-food ingredients," said Cathy Strange, ambassador of Food Culture for Whole Foods Market and member of the Trends Council. "Our Trends Council spends the year in the field, from farmer's markets to trade shows to neighborhood restaurants, and the 2027 list captures just how quickly these ideas are moving from emerging concepts into everyday kitchens."

That last line matters for marketers. Speed is the story here.

What does the 2027 list actually contain?

• Terroir's new territory. The wine-world concept — how soil, climate and geography shape taste — is spreading to regional honey, single-estate chocolate, named-source grains and even seafood, via "merroir." Protected Designations of Origin are pulling shoppers toward provenance claims.
• Beautrition. "Beauty from within" products — collagen jelly sticks, skin glaze gummies, olive oil shots, "drink your sunscreen" — are blurring snack, supplement and skincare. Sardines and oysters get named as skin-supportive foods.
• The Yōshoku effect. Japanese comfort food, especially yōshoku — European and American dishes adapted to Japanese tastes — is going from restaurants to grocery. Think tonkatsu, omurice, hambagu, plus viral konbini content featuring katsu and tamago sandwiches.
• Dish reinvention. Familiar dishes in unfamiliar forms: birria-topped ramen, smash-burger tacos, cinnamon-roll focaccia. Retail is following with items like lemon miso chicken Alfredo and mango sticky rice ice cream.
• Ingredient minimalism. Viral "read your labels" content and scrutiny of ultra-processed foods (UPF) are pushing manufacturers to shorten ingredient lists. Non-UPF apps and certification programs are emerging to help shoppers.
• Bitter done better. Nonalcoholic cocktails, amaro-inspired drinks and chocolate with fennel pollen, tarragon, burnt sugar or ash. Grocers are stocking more radicchio, endive, escarole, broccoli rabe and dandelion greens.
• Zero waste 2.0. Upcycling has moved beyond produce into product innovation across categories, as shoppers adopt circular systems rather than isolated green actions.
• The bean boom. Beans and legumes are claiming center-of-the-plate status as whole-food, budget-friendly, gut-friendly protein. Instant lentil bowls and chickpea, edamame and lupini snacks are already on shelves.

What does this change for food marketers?

Two of the eight trends — ingredient minimalism and provenance — are effectively supply-chain mandates. You can't marketing-message your way to a shorter label or a named-source grain; the formulation and sourcing have to come first.

The other six reward speed and format creativity. Yōshoku, dish reinvention and bitter flavors all trace their momentum to social media discovery, which means the gap between "viral concept" and "shelf-ready product" is now the competitive variable. Whole Foods' own framing — ideas moving "from emerging concepts into everyday kitchens" — reads less like a forecast than a deadline.