Whole Foods Says 2027 Belongs to Beans, Bitter Flavours and Japanese Comfort Food — All Eight Predictions, in Its Own Words

**Terroir's New Territory.** Whole Foods says shoppers increasingly want to know where food comes from and how soil, climate and geography shape it — a wine idea now applied to honey, chocolate, grains and seafood, which the release extends to the sea as "merroir".

**Beautrition.** The retailer describes food bought for skin: collagen, antioxidants, healthy fats and hydration, in products that sit between snack, supplement and skincare.

**The Yoshoku Effect.** Japanese comfort food adapted from European and American dishes — the release names tonkatsu and omurice — moving out of restaurants and into grocery aisles, helped along by social media.

**Dish Reinvention.** Familiar dishes rebuilt in other forms. The release's own examples are birria used as a ramen-style topping and cinnamon rolls turned into focaccia.

**Ingredient Minimalism.** Shorter ingredient lists, which Whole Foods ties to shopper concern about additives and ultra-processed food. It notes that its own Quality Standards currently ban more than 300 food ingredients.

**Bitter Done Better.** Bitter and complex flavours, which the retailer attributes to expanding palates, interest in digestive wellness and the sober-curious movement.

**Zero Waste 2.0.** A broader zero-waste mindset: circular systems, upcycled ingredients, refill formats and discounts on products near their expiration date.

**The Bean Boom.** Beans and legumes moving from side dish to centre of the plate, on cost, fibre and protein.

The predictions come from what Whole Foods calls its Trends Council — a group of the company's own team members that the release describes as ranging from foragers and buyers to culinary experts. The release says the council develops the list each year out of industry experience, observation of shopper preferences, and long-standing relationships with emerging and established brands.

Two executives are quoted. Cathy Strange, the company's Ambassador of Food Culture and a council member, describes a real shift in how people are eating, and says the 2027 list reflects curiosity about origin, an openness to bitter flavours and a return to simpler, whole-food ingredients. Sonya Gafsi Oblisk, Chief Merchandising and Marketing Officer, says the company has been ahead of trends including fermented foods and regenerative agriculture.

No survey, sales dataset or methodology is published with the list.

A forecast from a grocery chain is a buying signal as much as a prediction. The people naming the trends are the people who decide what the shelves carry next year, so the list describes what Whole Foods intends to stock and promote at least as much as it describes what shoppers will independently go looking for.

That does not make it worthless — it is one of the few forward-looking statements in food retail that anyone puts a name to — but it is not evidence that any of these eight things is already happening. This site records no search or sales data of its own behind any of them, and the release publishes none either.

The practical read: treat the eight as a list of what is likely to appear in Whole Foods aisles and own-brand launches through 2027, and judge each trend separately when something measurable turns up.