Reports: Imminent Future of Food & Drink
Bompas & Parr’s future-facing forecasts, developed from within the studio’s creative and strategic practice
London, 2021-26: The Imminent Future of Food & Drink is Bompas & Parr’s annual report series, distilling the studio’s latest thinking into a set of six predictions each year. Drawing on developments in culture, science, technology and design, the reports examine what and how we will be consuming in the near future.
Grounded in original ideas rather than recycled trends, the series reflects the studio’s position as a living, working site of experimentation. Each edition identifies emerging signals before they reach critical mass, offering both strategic insight and creative provocation.
Explore the trends for each year below and download the full reports to explore each year in more detail.
2026
The latest report sets out six predictions shaping tomorrow’s food and drink:
TV Dinners – A revival of communal viewing paired with narrative-led meals and screen-centred dining formats.
Gastro Void – Ultra-convenient, technologically driven consumption shaped by AI, new production techniques and changing attitudes to nutrition.
Boomer Drinking – New drink categories and rituals designed for an ageing but culturally engaged audience.
Fresh Luxury Dystopia – Fresh produce becomes a marker of status, shaped by scarcity and controlled systems.
New Night Sips – The evolution of nightlife through functional drinks, micro-dosing and sleep-supporting formulations.
Beans on Toast – The rise of the anti-trend, where simplicity offers relief from cultural and digital overload.
Download the full report here.
Watch the livestream recording here.
2025
This year’s report examined how food interacts with the body, memory and perception:
Shocking Dinners – Dining experiences designed to trigger strong physical and emotional responses.
Eating the Inedible – Transforming unexpected or previously inedible materials into food and drink.
Quantum Possibilities – New intersections between science, philosophy and speculative food futures.
Strangescaping – Immersive environments where storytelling extends across every element of the dining experience.
The Flavours of Memory – The deep relationship between taste, sensation and memory.
Savourmentality – A shift away from convenience toward fully engaging and extending the sensory potential of food.
Download the full report here.
2024
Six predictions explored the expanding relationship between food, drink and perception:
Synthetic Enchantment – New rituals that reconnect people with how food is made, even when production is highly mediated.
Not Quite Out Of This World – High-altitude dining as an accessible alternative to space-based experiences.
Way Beyond Authenticity – Fakery becomes a new form of authenticity, challenging traditional ideas of origin and truth.
Restaurants Are Rubbish – Increasing pressure for restaurants to collaborate and evolve to remain socially relevant.
Water Archaeology – Water becomes a prized resource, with growing interest in ancient and previously untapped sources.
Hyperbolic Drinks – Fully sensory drink experiences that engage touch, smell, taste, sight and sound.
Download the full report here.
2023
The 2023 edition identified six key shifts shaping food and drink:
Gastro Survivalist Chic – Survivalist approaches to food, with dishes shaped by scarcity, resilience and extreme conditions.
Hyperspatial Wonder – A renewed appreciation for physical dining spaces and the experience of being somewhere distinct.
Responsive AI Dinners – Food that adapts in real time, using AI to respond to context, mood and environment.
Euphoric Foods – Experiences designed to deliver pleasure, release and collective joy without high cost or exclusivity.
Dining As Your Dog – Reframing food through non-human perspectives to unlock new sensory and conceptual approaches.
Post-Vegan Adventures – Moving beyond fixed dietary labels toward more complex, climate-conscious ways of eating.
Download the full report here.
2022
Exploring altered states, digital environments and new forms of consumption, the 2022 report examined how food might move beyond the plate into psychological and virtual realms.
Hypnotic Dining – Using hypnosis to alter perception, heighten flavour and create immersive dining experiences that operate directly on the mind.
Food in the Metaverse – The emergence of digital food cultures, where virtual environments shape how we experience, share and even monetise food.
Geophagy for Health – A renewed interest in eating earth and mineral-rich substances, reframed through contemporary wellness and nutrition.
Dates, Dates, Dates – The rise of the date as a versatile, sustainable ingredient across sweet and savoury applications.
Road to Excess – A return to indulgence and maximalism, with food as a site of spectacle, pleasure and overconsumption.
Tea is the New Coffee – Tea repositions itself as a culturally dominant drink, offering ritual, nuance and a slower alternative to coffee culture.
Download the full report here.
2021
Developed in the wake of global disruption, the report examined how creativity and experimentation would drive new food futures:
Entropy and food structure – Rethinking the physical form of food through disorder and complexity.
Dessert as spectacle – Increasing focus on visual drama and theatrical presentation.
Sheep spas – Unconventional animal-led production and wellness-inspired food systems.
Bio-hacking consumption – Manipulating the brain and digestive system to alter eating experiences.
Nihilist baking – A rejection of perfection in favour of unexpected and subversive approaches to baking.
French cuisine revisited – Renewed influence of classical culinary traditions on contemporary dining.
Download the full report here.
2020
The third instalment explored how science, technology and storytelling would reshape consumption:
AI and flavour interception – The merging of artificial intelligence with human sensory systems.
Radical transparency – Unpacking the dining process to reveal ingredients, sourcing and systems.
Gut-led culture – A focus on digestion, microbiomes and shared biological experience.
Extreme tablescaping – Storytelling through immersive and highly designed dining environments.
Dream-focused foods – Ingredients and experiences designed to influence sleep and dreaming.
Connected diets – New dietary systems enabled by networked devices and shared data.
Download the full report here.
2018
The first edition set out a forward-looking vision for how food and drink culture would evolve in response to technological and social change:
Dining with the past – Technology enabling meals shared with cultural and historical figures.
Fasting culture – The rise of fasting as a dominant dietary and lifestyle trend.
African culinary influence – Growing global impact of African flavours, ingredients and hospitality.
AI at the table – Communal dining driving new technological interfaces and intelligent systems.
Peer-to-peer dining – The emergence of Uber-style platforms allowing diners to eat in one another’s homes.
Download the full report here.
Going Beyond Trends
Rather than reiterating familiar narratives, Imminent Future of Food & Drink is rooted in Bompas & Parr’s ongoing practice as a multidisciplinary studio. Combining insights from chefs, designers, scientists and strategists, the series moves beyond observation to actively interrogate and shape the future of consumption.