Gen Alpha & A Holy Grail Sweetener. Oh, And, Canada!

0:10Hello and thanks for tuning in to Taste Radio, the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry. I'm Ray Lateef, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and I'm with my co-host for this episode, Jackie Brugliera and Melissa Traverse. Great to see you both. Welcome back from your respective journeys to the Pacific Northwest, albeit different countries. Jackie in Portland, Oregon, and Melissa in Vancouver. British Columbia? Is that the province? British Columbia is exactly right. How about that? Geography is my forte. Jackie, how was Portlandia? It was great. I feel like Melissa and I were doing very similar things just in two different cities.

0:54But I was eating a lot, a lot of amazing vegan food, local restaurants, really cool food scene, a lot of hiking too. The nature's unreal. Waterfalls around every corner, wildflowers, butterflies, wild blueberries and blackberries. So it was really, really cool. And it was my first time in Portland. I'd been to like Eugene and Bend, but Portland's just a very unique city. Definitely has its own weird vibe in like the best way, very community focused. And it was a really good time. So a couple of brands too, while I was walking around and driving through, I saw, um, drove by Bob's Red Mill and it was cool.

1:34They had their own restaurant. So you can go and grab a meal at Bob's Red Mill if you're in the area. I heard about that. I heard about their restaurants and you're right about Portland being very specific. It has its own unique feel and experience. I don't think I've ever been to another city like Portland. Bend, for that matter, has another very specific vibe. It's as soon as you get off the plane and step out into the city of Bend, you're like, the air is different. I feel different. It feels like a dream. I don't know. That sounds kind of weird, doesn't it? Yeah, no, it makes sense. I think that Bend is in more of a desert than, for example, Portland is.

2:14Like I think geographically, it's a much different area. So I think the air could be totally different. Yeah, I mean, anywhere you go in Portland, you see Mount Hood, which is where we were hiking around. It's only an hour away and it's actually a dormant volcano. So we were hiking around, got to go to Mirror Lake and see a beautiful sunset. Ray, I know you saw my picture and thought that it was erupting, but it was not erupting. It definitely looked like lava. It was just the perfect reflection of the sunset. So it was the perfect timing to make it look like that. But yeah, it was beautiful. It was gorgeous.

2:49Mountains, volcanoes. It was really cool. Yeah. On Jackie's Instagram account, eatwithquee, I sent her a DM when I saw that picture of the mountain. It looked like lava. It was just, but it was like a reflection of the sunlight on the snow. I was like, is that lava? I was like, get out of there, Jackie. Run, run. I mean, the fact that I like would be just sitting there while I was erupting. I also wanted to see bears. I'm just asking for danger. Very true. Very true. Melissa, so I've never been to Vancouver. I've been to Canada. I've been to Montreal. I've never been to Toronto. I haven't been to Vancouver.

3:27Heard Vancouver is beautiful. Heard it's amazing. There is an actor strike going on right now, specific to the U.S., but I guess the Screen Actors Guild is international or is it specific to the U.S.? I don't know. I'm not sure. But I bring this up because Vancouver is a big city for film and TV. Big city for film and TV. I will say I didn't necessarily, I don't know if I noticed a difference. That being said, I've never been to Vancouver before, so I don't have a great point of reference. But I did notice some impact from the fires that they've been having in Canada. So, for example, we went to a town called Tofino on Vancouver Island, which had been suffering from wildfires in June, and they shut down an entire road, the only road that basically goes there for the entire month of June, and then opened it up when we were there.

4:18But certainly noticed some of the damage from the fires and a lot of areas around there were really happy to have people back after that. Hmm. Well, I'm glad that you were able to get there and get there safely and enjoy your vacation. Did you see any marmots? You know, it's funny. It's a weird question to ask. We were chatting about this before we got on the mics and I've never seen a marmot in my life. And I assumed that it looked like a beaver and you guys are like, yeah, it's kind of like a land beaver, but aren't beavers? It's like a faster. No, I think beaver is exactly right. Maybe like a faster groundhog.

4:57Okay. Yeah, no, I was excited to see a marmot. And maybe this is sad because I'm from the East Coast, but it made me have a point of reference for the athletic gear line. I was like, oh, a marmot. Yes, yes, the brand. I did Google marmot before you answered that question. It looks to me, it has the teeth of a beaver or sort of beaver-ish, but it looks like a squirrel. See, it looks like a squirrel with tons of hair. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. But bigger. Yeah, but like a big squirrel. Yeah. Yeah. And it kind of just pops up in certain areas. Like I've seen them in Colorado and then they have this like very distinct noise.

5:32It's hard to describe, but you'll hear them. Give us an example, can you? Oh, I don't know. I can't. We had a shy marmot. I'll have to Google that. Okay. We could have used that for the reels, for the reels, Jackie. I saw a humongous raccoon outside my house yesterday, actually, when I was doing some late night recycling. And it stared right at me. I stared right at it and I said, raccoon. I kind of freaked out. I'm sure he freaked out too or she. But yeah, that's my limit in terms of seeing wild animals around my, that and the occasional rat. Yeah, yeah. So before we go any further, let's thank our presenting sponsor for this episode.

6:13That's Tetra Pak. Tetra Pak is the pioneering packaging solutions company that provides safe, innovative, and environmentally sound products that each day meet the needs of hundreds of millions of people around the world. To learn more, head to tetrapak.com. You see any Tetra Pak cartons in Canada, Melissa? I did see some Tetra Pak cartons in Canada. I saw a bunch of Canadian brands, of course. This is the time. We should have like a little bell or something. We should ask Joe to create some sort of sound because this feels like our annual Canadian CPG roundup. Well, once a year, someone from the team goes to Canada and they come back with a whole bunch of information about what they saw in terms of innovative products, trends, and just general, I guess, information about the diet in Canada.

7:03I assume lots of smoked meat and perhaps the occasional smoked fish. There is definitely smoked meat. I did notice a dearth of vegetables. You know, I don't know. In the nicest possible way. There was a dearth of fiber. Yeah. Most of the vegetables seem to be from California or elsewhere in the world. There were some great berries that were local to Canada. So we definitely loaded up on those. But vegetables were scarce. Okay. You could get your nutrition from consumer brands, right? from, I mean, when I think about some of the great brands that we have here, the great Canadian brands that we have here distributed in the United States, I'm thinking of Midday Squares, Smart Suites is based in Canada, I believe, or they launched in Canada.

7:48I think they're owned by the Hershey Company now. So they're probably not necessarily a Canadian brand or thought of that way. Guru, the energy drink brand, Buddha Brands, the maker of lots of coconut products. So I'm sure they were ubiquitous in Canada. They were everywhere. Tons of made good snacks. Made good. Oh yeah. I love that brand. Yep. Love good fats, of course. Great. Yeah. Big Mountain Foods, which I think I've seen a little bit of here. They do a fava tofu and they also have a lion's mane mushroom crumble and burger. So I saw that in a bunch of sets. I also noticed that plant-based sets were a lot more robust, even in grocery stores that may not have a huge natural presence.

8:28Silver Hills sprouted bread, which you can find here. I used to feed it to my kids all the time and now they eat Doritos. So I just feed them whatever. You went from Silver Hill sprouted bread to Doritos? Yeah, yeah. It took a rough turn when they started school. Well, taste buds change every seven years, or at least that's what they say, right? Yeah, yeah. They definitely changed for sure. And I also saw a number of brands that weren't from Canada, but were still on the shelves from the U.S. So Red Boat had a really nice presence. I believe they're from California. So, of course, you know, we saw I saw their fish sauce, but I also saw their umami salt and a ko sauce, which was super interesting.

9:09And also saw secret aardvark sauces. I bet they have hot sauces and I think they're based on the West Coast as well. So it sounds amazing. A nice variety. And you know what? So much kombucha and water kefir. I feel like kefir. There's a big debate about that. You can say it any way you want. But I say kefir. Kefir. Yes. But some people say kefir. Some people say. Or kefir. Kefir. Kefir. I say kefir. I think I'm going to rule out kefir. I like that we all have a way of pronouncing it. I say kefir. Jackie says kefir. You say kefir. Yeah. Good. Yeah. A lot of water kefir, which I feel like you really don't see around here, right?

9:48I think they are brand extensions of like kombucha companies or gut health beverage brands more than they are like on their own. It's a totally different product though. Yes. Yeah. I've been seeing a lot more of water kefir in San Diego. I also saw a lot of it in Portland too. I think it's just like the next kind of gut health product that in my opinion is a lot tastier. You don't get that like vinegary taste. It's a little bit lighter and more like a tonic. So I've definitely been seeing that more prominent on the West Coast. Well, I'm excited for it to roll out to the New England area. Yeah, I think there is still some debate about the efficacy of water kefir versus like kombucha and whether or not it is actually a true representation of kefir, given that kefir is traditionally made from a dairy base.

10:43Have you ever seen the kefir cultures? They're kind of gnarly. They're like white knobby masses. I just, they gotta be doing something good for you. This is like bacon for me where I just don't really wanna know. I just wanna consume. So the gnarliness of the water kefir or whatever kefir base just doesn't sound like, it just makes me think that I'll stay away from it. Yeah, anything with fermentation and probiotics, There's something funky that's going on in the process. It's going to be good for you, right? Have you ever seen a SCOBY? I have. They're also gnarly. Gnarly, yes. It's cool to see that a lot of brands, you were able to see additional SKUs in Canada.

11:36I know Big Mountain Foods is a big favorite of mine, and they launched in Sprouts with just one SKU. They launched with the Lion's Mane Mushroom Crumble. And I know they have, I think like 10, 12 different products and they're starting to enter into the U.S. with more of those products. So it's cool that when you go to another country or you go closer to where the brand was founded, you're able to see, you know, more of their line. Absolutely. And home territory. I love this Red Boat brand that you brought up. I have not seen this before. Red Boat Fish Sauce. And you really piqued my interest with their umami salt.

12:12I went to their website. Now, I kind of screwed up when I did this. Do you ever do this where you look up a brand and then you click on the first Google link that you see? And I always am careful or cautious about doing that because sometimes it's a sponsored link. And so if you click on the sponsored link, I assume that the brand or company always pays something to Google for doing that. So I try to find the one that's not sponsored to save them a little bit of money because I'm a nice guy, I guess. But I accidentally clicked on the sponsored one and I just probably cost them$15 or whatever. You owe them very rent.

12:43Yes. I wonder how much I doubt it's$15. But anyway, I will just buy some product to make up for it. This is interesting. Melissa said that when she was in Vancouver, she also saw Prime, the Logan Paul backed brand. Yeah. So we stopped into a grocery store, saw the Prime hydration, not the energy, figured it would be good hiking bait for my kids to get them up the mountain. is there still an absence of prime hydration around or is that situation remedied? I see it everywhere. Okay. Okay. Okay. So it wasn't as special as I thought it was, but it was not the prime energy, of course, because that is definitely not something that I would give a nine and 11 year old.

13:31No. Okay. So you didn't see prime energy? No prime energy. and because Canada recalled Prime Energy along with five other energy brands, including 8-Hour Energy. Five-Hour Energy? Yeah. Five-Hour Energy. See, I feel like it should be eight. Eight hours. It should be eight, actually. Holy crap. Five hours? What the hell? That is such a good point that I never thought of in my life. And I don't know why. Because eight hours would be a lot better. now when five hour energy really started to catch steam early on i think this is in the early 2000s late i'm sorry the early 2010s you would see a whole bunch of other energy shots come to market and i think some did market themselves as 8 10 12 hours and they would just just be based on how much caffeine i don't know you'd be good from like nine to one right is that right nine to two Yeah.

14:30Like, has anyone tested this? Is it actually five hours? Is that when you start to crash? I'm very curious. We should ask truckers. We've never done a test of that. We've done the test where we test out hangover remedy beverages or hangover recovery beverages. And I'm sad to say few of them have actually worked. Did any work? A couple, but I can't recall. So maybe that's not a good sign either. Yeah. This is the interesting point about prime energy is that supposedly Canada recalled prime energy and banned it from their shelves or banned it from shelves throughout the country. But then Logan Paul came out on Instagram was like, hey, we were never distributed or we never distributed our energy drinks in Canada.

15:11So how could we be recalled? This is some sort of political stunt. Which was the same case for two of the other beverages that were banned, Five Hour Energy and Celsius. Okay. Interesting. Interesting. Well, I mean, Prime is also being targeted by members of the U.S. Congress who claim that the energy drinks are being marketed to kids. And because they have like 200 milligrams of caffeine per can, this is not a good thing for our youth, the youth of today, as it were. And I was thinking about it. I'm like, when is 200 milligrams of caffeine good for anyone, really? maybe at the beginning of the day like i took i looked up some stats but a 12 ounce coffee has 145 milligrams of caffeine in it okay so i think i knew that but that still seems high so that's like reasonable i feel like oftentimes you hear about the amount of caffeine and coffee and they're using like a six ounce cup how many people drink a six ounce cup of coffee not many no and then they're about 40 in a 12 ounce coke so maybe at the beginning of the day but i can't drink that at like 12 or one or any time after that?

16:20No, no. Jackie was sipping on some cold brew, but it's like, what is it? 4 a.m. in San Diego? Yeah. I only drink a little bit of cold brew because I just have a crazy sensitivity to caffeine now because I've cut back a lot. And Tuesday, podcast day, is the day when I drink cold brew and the rest of the time I'm drinking usually tea because I don't want the crash. But yeah, it's kind of crazy. I mean, some people drink, you know, five espresso shots in their latte every morning. So for those people, you know, 200 milligrams is no big deal. But I think for like the mass majority, that is a lot of caffeine, especially for, you know, kids.

17:00And that can lead to a lot of health problems like anxiety and heart issues. So it's interesting, especially with his audience that he's creating an energy drink. I mean, maybe not necessarily targeting specifically kids, but his audience and how he's positioning is reaching that audience. Well, Prime is a remarkable brand regardless. And it is the brand of this new generation. What is the generation called after Gen Z? Because that's the one that has embraced Prime as its own. Like they don't drink Gatorade. They don't drink Powerade or body armor. Like they have embraced and adopted Prime as their beverage.

17:47I'm going to look this up. I didn't know. I hadn't heard an official name yet. So I'm all ears. Generation Alpha. Alpha. Generation Alpha, according to Wikipedia, which is always right, is the first to be born entirely in the 21st century and the third millennium. Okay. So Gen Alpha. So let's watch out for those folks. How old is the oldest Gen Alpha right now? I guess they would have to be born in 2000. So 23. Wow. Okay. Yeah. So according to Wikipedia, which again is 100 % right all the time, Generation Beta is going to be the generation after Alpha and they will be born from 2025 to 2039. So I guess they do this every 24 years.

18:31So if you're born in 2000 or from 2000 to 2024, you're part of this new generation alpha. You're part of the generation prime. Oh, I'm sure Logan Paul would love that. Yeah, I should use that. That would work out pretty well for him. Yeah, I would say so. Yeah, I mean, caffeine is interesting for me. It's I love coffee in the morning, coffee in the afternoon. Yeah, sometimes, but it will keep me up. It'll keep me up for a while. I hit the espresso machine here just because it's such a luxury, but it's always sort of an iffy scenario if it's after one. I will say I gave up coffee once for three months a long, long time ago, and everything just looked gray, like nothing looked right.

19:17And then one morning I decided to try it again, and it just felt like sun was pouring directly into my head. And I swore I would never give up caffeine ever again. You know what? Whatever works for you. If it feels like sunshine on your shoulders, on your face, because of caffeine, keep doing what you're doing. The one thing I will say, I did give up caffeine. I gave up coffee for about a month and I was able to go to sleep so much earlier than I normally do. So like I was in bed by 1030. I'm normally in bed by midnight. But yeah, 1030, I was just out cold, could not stay up. It definitely interrupts sleep.

19:53I mean, for me too, if I drink caffeine, even earlier in the day, if I drink cold brew, because that tends to have higher caffeine, I could be up for a while. It lasts a long time. Yeah. Now sugar, on the other hand, I have cut back on pretty dramatically over the years. And I am always turning over, turning around or turning upside down a package to see how much sugar is in a beverage or food. That's the first thing I look for. And so there was this bottle of, what was it? It was like a, um, it was a low fat dairy based smoothie that I bought from Trader Joe's and it was just like little bottle and it was, I don't know, probably six ounces.

20:36And I turned it around and like 24 grams of sugar in this thing. And I still really wanted to drink it because I wanted the lactobacillus who was in there, but I drank it literally in two ounce shots and I was getting eight ounces of sugar per shot. Can you imagine that? Does it matter the source of sugar, though, for you? Like if it's just all from fruits, is that okay? Or is that not okay? That's a very good question. And yes, it definitely matters. Added sugar versus naturally occurring sugar definitely makes a difference. So if I will eat like, I don't know, a whole pint of blueberries and feel fine.

21:10But if I had, say, a smoothie with blueberries and added sugar, that's what I'm like. Same thing. For me, if it's from fruit, then it's attached to fiber and vitamins and minerals and whatever. But if a beverage has more than seven grams of sugar, I'll think about it. If it has more than 10, I think I'd rather just drink water or coffee or something else. Now, this is the irony here. I'm holding in my hand a can of Mela, M-E-L-A. And Mela is a maker of watermelon water beverages. The ingredients are watermelon juice, pineapple juice, vitamin C, and natural flavors. This is a 16.9 ounce can, and this is their pineapple variety.

21:53And it has total sugars, 37.5 grams, zero grams of added sugar. Now, I'm fine with this. I will not have the entire can for sure. I would probably feel more comfortable just eating watermelon because you're getting the whole fruit in there. But, I mean, I think this is better than the alternative. It is delicious. You know, it's the alternative being a refreshment beverage with added sugar. Absolutely. Yeah, I would say it's kind of a large can considering it's a large can. Like you said, I probably wouldn't drink the full can either because it's just a lot of a lot of sugar. My kids love that.

22:35Well, it's a great kids beverage. I mean, I feel like watermelon juice is like a natural sports drink, natural refreshment drink. So yeah, it was great to have Mela on stage in the New Beverage Showdown as part of our December 2022 event for Bed Night Live. Dominic Purpura is the founder and CEO of Mela. Yeah, great brand. Really great brand. Now, so I'm very specific when it comes to sugar. Not too much sugar. Will not buy a product. Will not consume a product. There's too much sugar in there. There's a couple other ingredients where I'm like, I'm just not. going to buy this. Although there are some exceptions.

23:15Artificial ingredients are typically a no-no. If I see yellow number five or blue number one, I'm just like, wasn't there another way to color this beverage? If I see an artificial sweetener, I won't name names, but wasn't there another way to sweeten this beverage or food? I don't know. Do you guys feel the same way? Do you have a no-no list? My no-no list includes for chocolate. I love to see chocolate without soy lecithin in it. What is soy lecithin? Is it like a thickener? An emulsifier. An emulsifier. Okay. Yep. And then for salad dressings, I love to avoid soybean oil, love to avoid canola oil if you can.

23:54And then the gums, not only does, you know, xanthan gum, guar gum, I don't know how good, bad, or otherwise they are for you, but I feel like they give it this viscosity that feels a little weird. Yeah, I would agree. I have the same kind of running lists of things that I'm kind of running through when I'm looking at an ingredient list. So I spent a lot of time in the grocery store looking at labels, but if I'm looking at a product and I see ingredients that just don't make sense, like for example, oat milk, when you're seeing like oils and gums and things like that, like that just doesn't make sense to me because it should be a very simple product.

24:29That's usually what I won't, won't buy. And yeah, no artificial ingredients, no colors. I just really like simple ingredient lists. You are the consumer that is going to pay a premium to get a clean ingredient product, Jackie. And you are the example. You know, when we talk about these things and when brands talk about targeting consumers who are reading labels and who are avoiding certain ingredients and will pay a premium to get a cleaner product, here you go. I do have a caveat. Oh, no. So when I saw the news about aspartame, I was sort of racking my brain for what I might consume that contains it.

25:13And I did realize that my favorite gum, the ice cubes, ice breakers, ice cubes there. I mean, not only do they contain that, but they also contain the artificial yellow, blue and a whole bunch of other stuff. But man, have you guys tried ice cubes? Those are good. So good. The crunchies. I really try to avoid that stuff. The only thing with an unnatural blue color or an artificial blue color that I use in my life is Listerine. Listerine breast strips and then just Listerine. And I never question. Just like, oh, here we go. You know, I know. Swish, swish. And it's all artificial everything. And it's like, OK.

25:59Yeah. That's kind of like with gum for me. It can go either way. I'm not ingesting it, but I know that I'm chewing it and the things in the gum or I'm still digesting. It's just kind of like my brain can't wrap around the fact that this is bad for me. So I still got to get there with gum. I haven't found a natural gum yet that's truly kept my breath fresh and doesn't turn into a brick in my mouth after a minute of chewing. All right. I'm going to ask an uncomfortable question here. How do you know when your breath is fresh, Melissa? Oh, you can just tell it comes through your nose. If your nose is, you know what I mean?

26:36Like when you're, yeah, a quick breath check, ask for some feedback, you know, you can, I mean, if you, if you're not sure if your breath is fresh or not, it probably isn't. Okay. Maybe this should be our next reel, you know, Melissa tries a bunch of gums and then everyone smells her breath. I love, well, Yeah, I would feel bad for the smellers, but I don't know. Well, I was, well, there was an episode of Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which is a tremendous show if you haven't already started watching it. And there was a funny scene where one of the characters was sort of tasting their own mouth and they were like, my mouth tastes bad.

27:15And so I would assume if your mouth tastes bad, you probably have breath that is not pleasant. Anyway, we should probably move on from all this. No, actually, there's one other thing I wanted to mention because, you know, aspartame has been in the news. And I was on this website called The Takeout. And the takeout.com follows all fast food trends, which is kind of an interesting thing for me to be following or reading. But they had an interesting article about a new sweetener, a sweetener that is being tested for inclusion in food and beverage. The title of this article was, This New Sweetener Sounds Too Good to Be True, which was a great headline.

27:56And apparently it is a sweetener derived from the honey truffle. The honey truffle is a rare variety, according to this article, a rare variety that grows in Hungary beneath black locust trees alongside the Danube River. Scalable. Clearly a very scalable ingredient here. Apparently it has a gentle, almost nutty flavor profile and boasts a deep honey-like finish. There's a company that is working on producing this honey truffle sweetener. It's called Myco Technology, based in Colorado. And I'm excited to see where this goes or if this actually turns into something where it ends up in a food or beverage as a replacement for natural non-nutritive sweetener or an artificial one.