The Checkout: Banza Commits To Regenerative Chickpeas; SFA Predicts Upcoming Trends

Banza Commits To Regeneratively Grown Chickpeas Through Soil Carbon Initiative Partnership

Chickpea comfort food brand Banza announced a new partnership with nonprofit group Green America’s Soil Carbon Initiative (SCI) program in which the two will collaborate to quantify the impact of chickpea crops on restoring soil health.

The SCI program works to incentivize farmers to transition away from monocropping practices and toward regenerative tactics while working to improve soil health, biodiversity, climate resiliency, and farm economics. According to Banza, chickpeas, and legumes generally, are one of the only crops with the ability to capture atmospheric carbon and convert it to a usable form in soil.

“Our mission is to inspire people to eat more chickpeas and other beans. Beans are nutrient-dense foods that play a key role in restoring soil health, yet 80% of the U.S population isn’t eating the USDA recommended amount,” said Brian Rudolph, CEO and co-founder of Banza, in a press release. “We are eager to understand how planting more chickpeas can influence soil health. Our partnership with SCI is an important first step.”

The company said it is committed to converting acres of chickpea farms to regenerative practices but did not specify how many acres or a timeline for that goal. SCI also operates a third-party certification platform named Soil and Carbon Health Initiative Verified which monitors acreage conversion commitments and tracks progress toward soil and carbon health goals.

“Green America is thrilled to welcome Banza to the Soil Carbon Initiative, the country’s first third-party, independently verified, regenerative agriculture program open to any farmer, in any production system,” said Alisa Gravitz, CEO of Green America, in a press release. “We recognize Banza for its commitment to help rebuild soil health, restore the climate and contribute to farm and rural community prosperity. Banza’s strategy for using chickpeas, in rotation with other crops, to unlock soil health and improve nutrition for families across the country is truly game-changing.”

The Specialty Food Association Releases Upcoming Trend Predictions

The Specialty Food Association (SFA) highlighted a range of timely food trends in its 2023 trend report, released this week. A rise of alternative seafood and environmentally friendly foods were named among the panel’s anticipated, sustainability-related trends as well as packaging innovations that emphasize climate commitments, allow for decreased mess and are easily portable.

“Specialty food consumers are looking to make their meal prep easy but exciting and that is driving many of this year’s trends regarding convenience, packaging improvements, and global flavors,” said Denise Purcell, SFA VP of resource development, in a press release. “At the same time, they continue to care about how their food is grown and the health benefits it offers, giving rise to evolving sustainability, plant-based, and better-for-you trends.”

Additional trends include a rise of naturally occurring sweeteners like dates, fruit juice, honey and coconut sugar; convenience for cooking at home including spice packs and ready-to-heat meals; and “health in balance” meaning better-for-you indulgence and continued interest in functional benefits.

“The coming year will pave the way for curated meal kits with specialty foods that one can make and serve at home without sacrificing authenticity, convenience, and taste,” said Kantha Shelke, trendspotter panelist and principal of Corvus Blue LLC, in a press release.

The panel also named themes such as a rising interest in international fruits like citrus, melons, and stone fruits; “nuanced heat,” meaning a continued expansion of spicy foods into categories such as honey, spreads, and confections; and a continued rise of globally-inspired pantry staples like condiments, sauces, oils and seasoning.

“Shared through the memory, influence and multi-generational heritage of immigrants, this wave of texture and flavor offers complex, nuanced blends of herbs, spice, specialty chiles, fruit, rich nuts and seeds and punches of umami,” said Victoria Ho, trendspotter panelist and founder of SherpaCPG.

12 Tides Is Tattooing Kelp Fans For Restoration Mission

Kelp-based snack brand 12 Tides launched a new campaign this week with the goal of rebuilding natural kelp beds and permanently inking their progress on willing participants. The California-based company has partnered with five tattoo artists in the state to raffle off 18 kelp tattoos over the next month.

“12 Tides hopes these tattoos raise awareness for kelp forests, and make kelp permanent in more ways than one,” the brand said in a statement. “Together we can bring back these thriving ecosystems.”

Participants must be 18 years or older to enter. All proceeds from the campaign will go to kelp restoration projects, according to the brand. Additionally, 12 Tides is urging consumers across the country to participate by getting a kelp tattoo, post a photo tagged #Tats4Kelp. For each post, the company will restore 40 sq ft of kelp forests.

Lotus Food Founders Release New Cookbook

Caryl Levine and Ken Lee, founders of organic rice and rice noodle company Lotus Foods, released a new cookbook this week titled Rice Is Life. In addition to 65 recipes for easy-to-cook rice-centered meals, the book also features a selection of essays about rice culture and the importance of sustainable rice agriculture.

“This book was more than 25 years in the making, a love story of sorts about the incredible diversity of a common grain that sustains half the world’s people,” said Caryl Levine and Ken Lee, Lotus Foods co-founders and co-CEOs, in a press release. “We often hear that people are intimidated to cook rice. One of our objectives for Rice Is Life is to help people become comfortable with cooking rice and rice noodles and to provide them with easy, inspiring recipes.”

The book contains recipes drawing from a wide range of global flavors from Arroz Con Pollo to Hainanese-inspired Chicken and Rice. The book is available for purchase on Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Amazon and Bookshop.org.