真实回归：2026趋势报告

FOREWORD BY NOURISH PRESIDENTJO-ANN McARTHUR connected digitally than ever before, yetmore isolated as human beings. As ArtificialIntelligence promises to solve everythingfrom grocery shopping to meal planning, THE RETURN OF REALThe rhythm of our daily life has fundamentally changed. Hybrid work erasedthe line between home and office for mostpeople. We can get anything we wantwhenever we want it, wherever we want it,thanks to a multiplicity of shopping apps.Traditional TV broadcast schedules are allbut gone, replaced by streaming that is fullywe’re discovering what it cannot provide:authentic human experience, serendipitousdiscovery, and the messy imperfections thatmake life meaningful. The economy is being bolstered by aremarkable investment boom in Artificial Intelligence, with estimates suggesting thatAI capital expenditures may reach 2% of GDPin 2025, up from less than 0.1% in 2022. That [AI] CAN DETECT PATTERNSIN WHAT’S ALREADYHAPPENED, IF YOU ASK ITTO, BUT IT CANNOT SEETHE HORIZON OR MAKEINSTINCTUAL PREDICTIONSABOUT WHAT MAY LIE person in America will be invested this year inAI.1However, a recent report from MIT foundthat only about 5% of corporate investments THE LIMITS OF ALGORITHMIC PREDICTIONAI is entirely reliant on historical data. A lot of it, to be sure, and that can be very useful;as many have said, you have to look backto move forward. It can detect patterns inwhat’s already happened, if you ask it to, butit cannot see the horizon or make instinctualpredictions about what may lie there and The hundreds of billions of dollars companiesare investing in AI make up, according tosome analyses, an astonishing 40% share of beyond the hard data: AI can speed up yourdevelopment pipeline, but it can’t tell youwhy everyone still picks chocolate. It doesn’tknow what it tastes like or the emotionalresponse chocolate triggers, no matter howmany new flavour options come to market. LLM (Large Language Model) AI to makeprognostications for next year’s food trends—without consulting any already publishedpredictions for 2026. Let’s just say the results Here’s what that skill gap means for foodand consumer trends: This brings us to 2026’s overarching theme:The Return of Real. Across nearly every trendin this report, we see consumers activelypushing back against artificial perfection,and inauthentic brands and marketing in the Artificial Intelligence is the assistant (I’d say“intern” but you have to pay to play if youwant the best results) of your dreams; it’sbrilliant for sorting information, summarizingwhat’s known, and quickly providing reamsfoodisphere. They’re (mostly) choosing thereality of imperfections over polish, human ACROSS CATEGORIES: and traditional proteins as consumers rejectultra-processed alternatives that promisedimprovement but delivered disappointment. be effective. For example, if it knows what aconsumer has bought recently, it can do adecent job at making recommendations forfuture purchases. But relying on AI alone for nutrient obsession toward understandingfood as a complex orchestra of interconnectedelements working in harmony. AT NOURISH, AI IS A CREATIVE COLLABORATORIf you read our last couple of Trend Reports, The trends that matter most for businessesoften emerge from the spaces between datapoints, in the contradictions and tensionsthat humans navigate daily. They require In beauty, it’s the migration from syntheticsupplements to whole-food nutrition aspeople realize their skin reflects internal you know we’ve kept a real eye on AI. It hastransitioned from an intriguing novelty (withobvious potential) to a game-changing toolunderstanding not just what people do, butwhy they do it, how they feel about it, and what In commerce, it’s the rise of AI agentsmanaging transactions while humans craveauthentic discovery and serendipitous future belongs to brands (and their marketingpartners) that remember what algorithms food serves as our most powerful antidoteto loneliness, creating moments of genuinehuman interaction in an increasingly not a replacement for human insight. AI helpsus synthesize vast amounts of information,identify patterns we might otherwise miss,and accelerate our research process. Butcannot replicate—the irreplaceable value ofauthentic human experience and connection. transparency as consumers lose faith inboth corporate messaging and regulatoryoversight, requiring brands to earn credibility Jo-Ann OUR TRENDS FOR 2026 HUNGRY HUMANS WANTED:FOOD AS THE CURE FOR THELONELINESS EPIDEMIC MAXED OUT ON MAXXING:SINGLE-NUTRIENT FOCUSGIVES WAY TO FUNCTIONAL 13 THE POLARIZATION ANDPOLITICIZATION OFTHE FOOD SYSTEM REDEFINING THE BEAUTYREGIMEN WITH NUTRITION EMBRACING AUTHENTICITYOVER ARTIFICIALPERFECTION 30 RISE OF THE BOT SHOPPERS:WHEN ALGORITHMS BECOMEYOUR #1 CUSTOMERS We begin, ironically, in one place the rebellionhasn’t gained a toehold: online shopping.As we discussed in the introduction, thecadence of life has changed drastically;many peopl