Candy & Snack Trends For 2020

The world of candy and snacks is always changing. Popular flavours change, and new ideas are around every corner. While I’m not clairvoyant about what the future has to hold for us snack lovers out there, I do have some ideas about what I think will be trendy over the next year or two.

More Vegan Foods/Candy

I think we're going to see more and more foods that are vegetable based, and I don't think this is going to stop with meat products. There are many candies and snacks that still use animal based ingredients, and I think this is going to go on the decline even more than it is already. I think it's going to be become the norm to use only vegetable based ingredients in candy and snacks in the future and I think this is going to be a big selling feature this year. There are so many vegetable based substitutes for the ingredients used today in candy and snacks already, so it only makes sense for those who haven’t switched yet to switch over in order to keep a growing number of people happy with their snacks.

Fewer Super Spicy Treats

I've never been a huge fan of super spicy foods. For the last few years I've been trying to improve my tolerance of spicy foods, but it's still something I'm not in love with. I'm even less in love with the idea of having spicy foods that are so spicy that it causes people to be sick. I know that some people enjoy challenging themselves, but I'm starting to think that most people are getting tired of pushing the limits.

More Crazy Flavoured Chips

The crazy chip trend is not new. It's been going strong for a few years now, and I think it's going to keep going strong. While I like to see almost any new and fun flavour of chips, I'm really enjoying the trend of taking flavours from other parts of the world and introducing them via chips. Not everyone can travel to Thailand to try some authentic Tom Yum soup, but now anybody can eat the chips.

More Limited Edition Treats

I think this year, much like last year, is going to be filled with limited edition versions of classic snacks and treats. I worry that many of these treat companies are running out of ideas, and the flavours are just weird for weird sake, but I don't think that's going to stop them from continuing to make these treats. I predict that not only are we going to see more strange flavours, but I think that this year we might see an increase in the new colours and looks of classic treats (so they can get the Instagram clicks).

Even More CBD Candy

It could be the circles of people I hang out with, or the fact that I’m Canadian, but I keep coming across articles about CBD products, and more relevantly CBD edibles. The reason there’s a boom in these products is legalization of marijuana in many parts of the world. Edible CBD products are not something that can always be made in someone’s basement, so with more places around the world legalizing marijuana, there are more markets to sell legally, and more places that high quality snack and candy companies can build legal factories to manufacture CBD infused candies. Right now, there are several small newer companies producing edibles, but I think in the next year or two we’re going to see larger companies like Hershey’s, Frito-Lays, or even Nestle getting into the CBD market.

Here are a few things I hope (but I'm not sure) will trend this year:

Black Licorice in Odd Places

Over the last few years I've come to discover that Northern Europe has been using black licorice is some odd ways. It's common (and delicious) to find black licorice with chocolate, and I've even tried black licorice potato chips. While I'm not a huge fan of black licorice most of the time, I've found that as a subtle flavour addition it sometimes works really well.

Asian Candy From More Diverse Places

I think we're going to see even more Asian candies, but not just from Japan. I'm hoping that this year we start to see candies from all over Asia, including places like India, Thailand, and Malaysia. While Japan and China seem to have a pretty strong hold on the international candy market, it'll be great to get a bit more variety from this part of the world.

Lesser Known European Chocolate Brands Going Global

There are a lot of European chocolate bars that are really popular in some European countries, but for some reason they just haven't gone global yet. I hope that this is the year that these brands expand, and we start to see Fazer all over the world.

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The Food Trend You’ve Never Heard Of - Salted Egg

Food trends are like all trends today, they appear on social media or television, then suddenly they’re at every restaurant and part of every snack as big name brands try to capitalize on them. These trends don’t often disappear, but they die down a bit. At one point every bakery specialized in cupcakes, now there are still many places that make them, but few specialize in them. Sriracha was once the hot sauce of choice on everything, it’s still popular, but it’s not a Krispy Kreme doughnut flavour. We tend to think of these trends as global phenomenon, where the entire world is discovering, and eventually getting sick of this trendy food all together. This can be the case, but it’s not always.

Salted eggs are a traditional Chinese food that was adapted into the snacking world, and is now taking parts of Asia by storm. A salted egg is an egg that is brined and soft boiled. It gives the egg a salty flavour perfect for a snack or as a side dish. A few years ago, a few industrious companies in Singapore started to discover ways to turn this simple salty egg into a crunchy snack. Their solution was a little un-orthodox from a western standpoint, but it became a hit. The new snack took these salted eggs, turned them into a batter, and used them to coat fish skins. These fish skins would then be deep fried, and turned into a crunchy snack.

Salted egg fish skins gained in popularity, and became a go to snack in Singapore. The main producer of these salted egg fish skins was a company called Irvins. They made this snack something more than just a salty treat, they would have lines out the doors of their stores, and would actually sell out of product before the end of the day. My first encounter with salted egg fish skins came about when I was flying through the airport in Singapore. Irvins had just opened a branch of their store in the airport, and I was perplexed about why it wasn't even open in the middle of the day. I was actually more perplexed about who would want to eat something called "salted egg fish skins".  Apparently, they had run out of stock that day and closed shop. On my way back from my trip, I again stopped in the Singapore airport and Irvins was open, and the lineup was huge. People were buying giant bags of these fish skins, and I had no idea what the deal was.

After this stop through I decided to learn a little more about this snack, and I discovered that this was one of the great hidden gems of Singapore, and people would seek out Irvins and get their salted egg fish skin fix. At first, I discounted this as just a weird trend in a particular country. Sometimes foods in a particular country will become trendy, but only locally, and to the occasional foodie that might be passing through. About a year later I happen to be visiting Singapore, and I decided to indulge in this trend. By this time there were a few companies making these fish skins, and I also discovered a few places (Irvins included) were selling salted egg potatoes (these are basically potato chips instead of fish skins). While I was in Singapore, I sampled some of this fish skins (and even wrote a review). I wasn't blown away at how great they tasted, but they were kind of unique.

At this point I still figured that this was a niche Singapore thing, and nothing more. It was fun to eat, but I figured I wouldn't hear about them again, unless I went back to Singapore. Then something weird happened. I was walking through a store in Cambodia, and I saw salted egg fish skins. Huh, I thought. I was a little surprised to see them, but not convinced that it was a full on trend. I say this because Cambodia generally doesn't have much of a snack (or candy) creating scene. Most of the snacks in Cambodia are just imports or copies of imports from other parts of Asia, with a few Australian and North American treats thrown in. Don't get me wrong, there are some great foods in Cambodia, they're just not into making original snacks right now. While seeing these salted egg fish skins in Cambodia tweaked my interest, I wasn't convinced.

Then last week (about 6 months after discovering them in Cambodia) I went to Bangkok, and my mind was blown. Bangkok is a place that is loaded with trendy stores, cafes, and restaurants. I would say that it's one of those cities that seems to really be into trendy things, and last week Bangkok was really into salted egg. The stores were packed to the gills with salted egg fish skins and potatoes, but there was more. I started to notice international brands jumping on this trend. Most notably I saw a bag of salted egg Lay's potato chips. This is when you know something is more than a niche local trend, when a large brand jumps into the game.

But this wasn't the only example. In Thailand (and I imagine in other parts of South East Asia (and maybe further) salted egg is becoming a flavour that every food company wants to be a part of. I found salted egg ice cream, salted egg meals, and even salted egg doughnuts at Krispy Kreme. It was as if everyone wanted to be a part of this new food trend. I couldn't resist trying out a salted egg doughnut, it was surprisingly good. Having said that I was expecting it to be horrible, so even partially good would have been an improvement.

Seeing as I'm still living in South East Asia, I'm not sure if this trend is moving outside of this area (although apparently the cheese doughnut I thought I ate at Tim Horton's in China was actually salted egg). I think the salted egg trend would work all over the world. I think North America and Europe could get on the salted egg train too. I think Krispy Kreme and ice cream companies may have a hard sell for this, beyond it being a novelty, but I think chip companies would do really well. Maybe the fish skins might not be very popular, but the salted egg potatoes would be a big hit.

This trend could spread, and it could be something we see all over the globe, or it might just be an "Asian thing". I hope not, because it's not often that you get something that's just a little weird, but actually works, and I'd really like my friends to be able to try this flavour out.

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