Future Food:

Increasingly consumers are conscious of not only their food’s nutritional value but also its environmental impact.

And as healthy and responsible eating moves from the marginal to the mass, foods aligned with this trend are getting repositioned as aspirational and being reimagined for sophisticated Millennial audiences.
 
Fast food, as a result, is becoming more nutritious and ethical as a raft of virtuous brands appropriates junk style for Millennials.

Roy Choi and Daniel Patterson’s eagerly anticipated Loco’l is set to open in San Francisco later this year, serving carefully sourced, seasonal food at fast food prices.

In the U.K., O-food has a similar mission, aiming to “make the humble everyday meal a true joy for your taste buds even when time is short.” After a successful pop-up in London’s Shoreditch, O-food is eyeing a permanent location.

 
A hip, design-savvy aesthetic is a priority for brands in this space. Take the new “haute vegan” restaurant concepts that offer slick branding, a youthful look and a gourmet sensibility, departing from the earnest or hippie vibe long associated with meat-free dining. Till the Cows Come Home, for instance, is a “vegetarian slow food” café housed in a shipping container in a trendy Berlin neighborhood. M.O.B., which started in Brooklyn and has expanded to Paris, comes from the founder of the Mama Shelter hotels and features a clean industrial feel. Jugofresh in Miami serves gourmet vegan food and cold-pressed juice; at one branch, patrons listen to blasting hip-hop and sit in reclaimed church pews.

 
Speaking of cold-pressed, as the word becomes a byword for purity and quality, consumers will increasingly fetishize unprocessed foods. We’ve already moved from cold-pressed juices to nut milk: Alt.Milk, made from cold-pressed almonds, was recently introduced to London by high-end department store Fortnum & Mason.

Another uber-health drink we’ll be seeing more of: matcha, the Japanese powdered green tea. MatchaBar opened last year in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, furnished with the usual hipster accoutrements: industrial stools, polished concrete surfaces, plants, etc.

Expect more to come.

This post is the first in a series of three from JWT, focusing on different areas of their 'Future 100' report.

Keep an eye out in the Clubhouse for the rest of the series and you can view the full slideshare below.