While comfort food is here to stay, it is getting an upgrade as consumers gravitate toward familiar flavors layered with heat, umami and sensory intrigue.
Birthday cake is not just a flavor in confectionery or ice cream. It might show up as a foam topper on an iced coffee. Caramel may carry a hint of ghost pepper heat. Within CPG, familiar snacks now arrive layered with spice, umami or unexpected formats, according to Kerry.
So while consumers are still craving comfort, they now expect more from their food experience, according to Soumya Nair, global director of consumer research and insights at Kerry.
“Nostalgia as a theme has been more embedded this year with adventure, with comfort,” she said.
Economic pressure shaping flavor demand
Over the past three to five years, consumers have increasingly expected novelty layered onto familiar flavors, Nair noted. She ties that shift to broader economic and emotional pressures where consumers shifted their adventure seeking from travel to the grocery aisles.
“There’s inflation, there is price pressures. Consumers are facing it right now. They will never let go of nostalgia, but now they also want a sense for adventure,” she explained.
The uncertainty from economic pressures is another lever driving consumers’ pursuit of adventurous comfort food in what Nestlé describes as “neo-nostalgia” in its foodservice trend report. Nostalgia is embraced with a “modern twist, blending traditional elements with innovative, highly appreciated ingredients,” like miso mashed potatoes or brown butter lattes, according to Nestlé.
“Consumers are craving simplicity and finding comfort in everyday rituals as a response to increasing overstimulation,” the report stated.
In other words, value is no longer just about price, but about creating affordable, memorable experiences.
“Historically you would have thought about price with value,” whereas “now it’s more about nostalgia with adventure,” she said.
Why spicy still has a long tail
If there is one proof point of this “nostalgia plus” shift, it is spicy.
“Spicy is not new. It probably is still on its rise because it has a long tail.”
That longevity, she explains, comes from cross-category expansion.
“When a trend kind of jumps from one category to another and keeps going to inspire, then that has a longer tail in terms of adoption.”
Nair notes that sweet-heat combinations have moved beyond hot honey and into chips, beverages and even caramel or butterscotch applications.
But the evolution does not stop at heat alone.
She points to umami-forward notes like miso, tahini and sesame entering sweet categories as the next phase of flavor layering.
Sensation becomes expectation
The shift is not only about flavor mashups, but is also about physical sensation.
In zero-proof beverages, for example, consumers still look for cues that signal authenticity.
“If I don’t have a burn, it kind of doesn’t signal the experience of drinking,” Nair explained.
One example of this sensory stimulation is non-alcoholic spirit brand Ritual Zero. Its recreation of spirits like whiskey and gin in a zero-proof format promise the same burning and warming sensory experiences (thanks to capsaicin) as its alcoholic counterparts, even down to the design of the bottle.
Across categories, those sensory cues are expanding.
“If it’s robust, and if it’s a lime and chili kind of chip, then do I still get that experience of tingling, numbing sensations?”
Nair says customer requests for heating, cooling and mouthfeel effects are increasing.
Engineering “nostalgia plus”
The “nostalgia plus” raises the bar for formulation. For example, a low-sugar brownie cannot simply be less sweet; it must still deliver indulgent texture. A nostalgic flavor cannot simply be familiar; it must offer a layered experience, Nair said.
Consumers may not see the technical complexity behind that sensory experience of balancing sugar reduction, texture, sensation and flavor layering — but they expect it to feel seamless, she said.
Nair argues that taste today is not just about flavor callouts, but about identity, environment, sensation and system-level design working together.
Comfort still matters. But as Nair suggests, comfort alone no longer creates craveability.
