16 Food Trends and Lessons from FNCE 2016

FNCE is the Food and Nutrition Conference and Exhibition from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. This year's conference was held in Boston, MA, and was one of our favorites for being in a great venue, with good attendance, and great exhibits and sessions!

1. Whole grains are featured heavily and much more so than gluten-free foods, which was not nearly featured as much as in years past.
2. Pasta is being offered in many varieties.
3. Walnuts win our "most beautiful booth" award because they had photos and giant walnuts. And who doesn't love walnuts?! The pulses booth was a close second for their visual appeal and for using such an artisticly colored and arranged bin of pulses.
4. Stevia is being featured in many different brands of zero-calorie sweeteners, even in a Splenda blend.
5. HelloFresh, a meal delivery program, was the most popular booth and had the longest line of attendees waiting for their bags and info.
6. People love having their picture taken. Colored hats are fun and these are coupled with a hashtag!
7. Siggi's yogurt is a new kind of yogurt on the scene from Iceland. They promote great taste with low sugar! Plus, there were fun and cute photo opportunities. Look for Siggi's in Whole Foods.
8. Spinning wheels were popular traffic catchers.
9. Light plum juice is new and low in calories with as much fiber as a bowl of oatmeal.
10. In terms of tone, I noticed that ethics, organic, and sustainability matters were all significant messages this year.
11. Food-allergy-free is here.
12. Many favorite restaurants and manufacturers were serving food from their chefs and there were some great low-sodium choices.
13. There are lots of fruits and veggies!
14. Butter buds has flavors.
15. Bars are popular in both Mediterranean and refrigerated varieties. The Mediterranean ones were delicious. And there are many other kinds that are shelf stable for the people who  like to carry a snack or eat on the run.
16. Goat's milk yogurt is here! We tried it and think it's delicious. It tastes like very rich sour cream. This is available in the Whole Foods Store.

And here are a few of our favorite things...[shopify embed_type="product" shop="nutrition-education-store.myshopify.com" product_handle="tomato-basil-salad-24-square-banner-for-bulletin-boards-and-walls" show="all"][shopify embed_type="product" shop="nutrition-education-store.myshopify.com" product_handle="farmers-market-bounty-24-square-banner-for-bulletin-boards-and-walls" show="all"]See future dates here http://www.eatrightfnce.org/FNCE/content.aspx?id=6442484817Photos shot with iPhone 7.