6 Asia-Pacific food trends that we're excited by.

abillion owns the world's most valuable data set for consumer preferences of plant-based and sustainable food and products. abillion is powered by our community's reviews. To date, our members have posted over a million reviews of food and products from over 120,000 businesses.

At a recent conference, CEO Vikas Garg recently shared 6 trends within Asia-Pacific that we are tracking and that we felt you might want to take note of.

Hold the beef. Vegan pork, chicken and seafood are on the rise.

Over the last few years, the alternative proteins that have dominated the media landscape and that have been talked about the most have been beef alternatives. Brands like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have made plant-based beef trendy as well as accessible.

Our data shows us, however, that while plant-based beef has been dominating the vegan meat sector, in Asia, consumers are actively looking for other meat alternatives. On our platform, reviews of alternative seafood products rose 9.4 times, between January 2020 and July 2021. In 2020, consumer interest in plant-based pork and chicken increased by close to 7 times. By comparison, interest in alternative beef products only grew 3 times.

Looking further ahead, we also expect the Asia Pacific to lead the growth in alternative seafood products, partly because the region already consumes more than two-thirds of the world's fish.?

It is exciting to see that an increasing number of manufacturers and new businesses are recognizing this demand. We expect to see a stellar increase in reviews of the many new alternative seafood products, alongside chicken and pork alternatives, that are entering the market.

Asian consumers want cooking formats that fit their cuisines.

A beef burger has specific uses and is not really seen by most Asian home cooks as a versatile format. Nor is it a format that most Asian restaurants know how to work with. Through the data on our platform, we have seen strong demand for formats that fit Asian recipes. The demand for plant-based mince and strips, in particular, is accelerating ahead of patties. New popular formats on our platform include luncheon meat, cubes, dice and pieces, all of which are more appropriate for Asian cooking.

Some brands and products that are experiencing tremendous growth include Karana’s jackfruit-based pork product, available as both shreds and mince, and OmniPork’s mince as well as its strips.?

Create vegan versions of local dishes to win consumers’ hearts.

Following up from formats for Asian cooking, what is also very appealing to Asian consumers are foods that they are familiar with. Savvy alternative protein makers are not just producing raw, unflavored formats but are pushing out pre-cooked versions of local dishes or formats that come with sauces to quickly and easily make said dishes. This ranges from Indonesian and Malaysian rendangs to satays, kebabs, dumplings and all manner of dim sum, biryanis, and many other preparations that are familiar to consumers across Asia.

We think the vegan seafood market is going to explode. Our analysis of seafood alternatives dish names, in particular, showed that the most common dishes in a given region tend to stem from popular local seafood dishes. People seek out familiarity so it makes sense to properly understand the cuisines of the markets you are entering and prepare products accordingly.

Adding flavor to oat milk is a winning formula.

There are many kinds of plant-based milks out there. So far, in Asia, almond, coconut and soy milks have dominated the dairy alternative space. But over the last 2 years, the fastest-growing kind of plant-based milk has been oat milk. Reviews for oat-based milk products surged by 7 times from December 2019 to November 2020.

With the opening of the new Oatly facility in Singapore, a joint venture with Yeo Hiap Seng, we expect to see the marketing of Oatly and other oat milks ramp up across Southeast Asia, and throughout the region as a whole.

An interesting trend that we have noticed, when it comes to oat milk, is a growing preference for flavored oat milk. Chocolate and vanilla flavors account for the largest share of reviews of oat milk in the region, but consumer interest for other novel flavors are on the rise. In fact, consumer interest in chai, caramel and matcha flavored oat milks are growing the quickest.?

The egg market is ripe for disruption.

It has taken a long time for vegan eggs to break through to the mainstream. Today, we’re seeing so many exciting new brands and businesses creating egg alternatives that have the same taste and texture as real eggs, while also being sometimes even more nutritious.?

In the past, the alternative egg space was dominated by powder form replacements, mostly targeted for baking purposes. Our data, however, shows us a very strong interest in liquid and prepared eggs which speaks to positive demand for more realistic egg cooking experiences. Our data science team is projecting that reviews on egg alternatives will increase by 100% this year alone.?

What is also exciting are the variations in egg formats that are being launched. In addition to pourable already beaten egg alternatives, we are seeing companies creating egg yolk and egg white products that can be cooked together or separately; vegan whole boiled eggs; and even vegan fried eggs.?

Labeling to promote health benefits is becoming essential

We believe that especially because of the pandemic, consumers have been placing more importance on understanding what is in the foods they are purchasing and consuming. Consumers are looking for foods that are seen as better for them as well as better for the planet.?

While consumers appear to be driven by both health and the environment, these concerns are not equally spread. Traditional meat consumers and flexitarians are more concerned about health than the environment and animal welfare, while vegetarians and vegans place high value on animal welfare.?

In tandem with the increasing demand for wellness-based diets, which combine both environmental and health elements, mentions of health labels on abillion product reviews increased by 2 times from 2020 to 2021.?This observation points towards emerging consumer interest for products that cater to consumers seeking healthier options, and those with health conditions or dietary sensitivities, for example, celiac disease, nut allergies, or diabetes.?

Among alternative protein reviews, gluten-free garnered the most interest. 55% of reviews with diet type mentions are tagged as gluten-free. This is followed by soy-free (15%) and GMO-free (7.0%).?

We hope these insights are interesting to you. You can find more reports and research at https://data.abillion.com .