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Read time today: 2:51 min

Hi friend,

It’s Monday morning. You are reading VITAMIN C 🍋.

I usually send this email on Friday. This week, business trips and 3 kids had other plans, so I wrote it on Sunday evening instead.

Here are my top 5 insights on food trends and food innovation.

PS: Quick feedback wanted:

My grandma used to say: "nothing is waste”.

A team at Southern Illinois University thinks the same way. In a NASA-funded project, they broke down PET bottles with water, oxygen, heat and pressure.

Genetically reprogrammed yeast ate the fragments and produced proteins and fats. Mixed with starch, the slurry went into a 3D printer. Out came this cookie.

This research is still super early, but it excites me. Microbes that turn cheap carbon into food are one of the quiet engines of the circular economy.

And food made from plastic sounds absurd, but who knows…maybe one day the bottle return machine at the supermarket hands out cookies instead of vouchers.

Read more about the research in the Guardian.

Fiber and fermentation are two of my big trends for 2026. Pinterest has now handed me the vegetable that connects both.

Its Predicts report names cabbage the food trend of the year. Searches on Pinterest grew year over year for:

Why I like this trend: cabbage combines gut health, plant-based eating and high fiber, all at once, AND it costs less than most influencer-approved health products.

And here in Germany, cabbage is somehow already part of our DNA, we've been eating Sauerkraut, Kohlrouladen and Grünkohl for centuries.

Turns out the solution to many of our desires has been sitting in the produce aisle the whole time, looking unbothered.

I keep seeing "night protein" more and more.

So a protein shake before bed feeds muscle recovery overnight. The research behind this idea is scarce though.

But that didn't stop the trend from spreading. It started with bodybuilders, now people with sleeping problems picked it up, pairing protein with sleep-enhancing ingredients.

Next up will beGLP-1 users as the new audience. They're trying to preserve muscle mass while eating less overall, and easy-to-digest "sleep proteins" are being pitched as the fix.

Sleep is a benefit area CPG hasn't fully cracked yet. I don't think protein is the answer, but I’m sure we will see more of it coming.

If you thought the Lidl croissant handbags were absurd, now Pepsi is going a step further.

Pepsi fans can now smell like their favourite soda.

In partnership with cosmetics brand Glamlite the soft drinks giant launched a Pepsi Wild Cherry Body Wash and a Pepsi Vanilla Slushie Body Scrub, for $12 each.

Food-inspired beauty, nostalgia and brand collabs are popping up all over the place. Curious to see who is next.

Hundreds of strangers met in Washington to eat an apple together. The event lasted five minutes, from 2:00 to 2:05 p.m.

It started with software engineer Carl Endrulat, who has taken apple-eating selfies on his travels for five years. His girlfriend suggested he keep it local and invite anyone who wanted to join. They expected 20 people at most. More than 6,500 wanted to join.

The only rule: bring your own apple.

I love this idea. It's simple, and it proves that people will show up for very little, as long as they get to do it together.

More about the apple story here.

Stay awesome,
Lia

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