In 2024, 17 million Aussies shopped online each month and 23% ordered groceries. So where is the boom in food apps and store-free shopping taking us?

Artificial Intelligence can’t cook you a meal, yet, but it sure is stirring the pot. From wine labels that talk to shrink wrap that detects the presence of salmonella, here’s how AI is rejigging everything we thought we knew about food and packaging and level playing fields.

Last week we spotted freeze dried lemon lollies at the counter of our local IGA, with “As seen on TikTok” emblazoned across their packaging. Wow.

Whether we like it or not, this social media monster is driving consumer behaviour in a way none of us could’ve predicted (especially all those parents who’ve been bribing their offspring to eat vegetables for years only for a viral TikTok recipe featuring carrots to see their kiddos crunching through the crisper like starving horses.)

Air fryers went crackers during the pandemic, and these days two out of three Australian households have one in their kitchen. 

Branding was on point from the start, because who didn’t imagine that something called an air fryer could suspend and slowly rotate potatoes in mid air for the ultimate 360 degree fat free crisping?