On Our Radar: Laura Jeffery-Swain's Picks

Laila: Hey, Laura.

Laura: Hi, Laila

Laila: So what's been on your radar recently?  

Laura: So the first trend that I have been really tracking at the moment is that bone broth is having a really big moment. it's been a staple in the hardcore wellness community for a really long time. But now it's going properly mainstream, driven by the protein boom and the growing interest in gut health and collagen.

Ocado has, seen searches for bone broth rise by 175%, and it's turning up in all sorts of different formats. So thinking things like canned soups, kid-friendly stock pots, pasta sauces, and then even things like sweet protein drinks as well.

Next up, vertical farming is getting way more ambitious. During its initial boom, vertical farms mostly focused on easier to grow, leafy greens and herbs. But now, they're getting a lot more into hardier crops. Things like premium strawberries and bioactive nutraceuticals like ginseng. A great example of this is M&S's Planet Farms range. Rather than playing it safe, they are investing in kind of interesting flavours and novelty, with varieties like citrus sorrel and spicy baby leaves. And this might be a smart play because price has always been a big barrier to sustainable food adoption. And maybe, it's not sustainability that's gonna get people to buy in. It's gonna be more about flavour, and the thrill of trying something new.

The third trend on my radar is EV camping. In China, cost-conscious drivers are skipping hotels altogether and camping out of their EVs, and they're creating these kind of cozy camping setups within their cars straight off the battery. And I think this is going to go global. Car brands in Europe and the US are already buying into this, with vehicle-to-load power and dedicated camping modes within their vehicles. And they're rolling these out across the industry. This isn't just a cost of living hack anymore, it's on track to become a mainstream road trip habit in the future.