As the Dubai Chocolate fad finally simmers down, this year’s Gulfood – the biggest ever as it's taking place across two venues for the first time – is showcasing a range of novel products and services. These include everything from healthy snacks and functional beverages designed to help hit our macronutrient needs, to nifty AI-powered solutions tackling food waste.
Here are eight trends we spotted that are set to become talking points over the dinner table in 2026.
1. Yerba mate caffeine fix
Some say this herbal tea is the new matcha, as Argentinian yerba mate is the cleanest source of caffeine (extracted using methods that avoid harsh chemicals), according to its proponents and producers who are at Gulfood this week.
Nesrin Kieschman, for example, who is showcasing her sparkling new beverage Mete in the first Gulfood Startups section at Dubai World Trade Centre, claims it gives you “steady focus” without the jitters or coffee crash. “It also has the molecule GLP-1, which keeps you full for some time.”
Kieschman has found huge local appetite for her drink, with investors from across the region looking to export the product from the UAE. “There’s a real taste for it,” she says.
2. Maximising mushrooms
Mushrooms are having a moment at the trade show, particularly in the vegan products arena, according to a panel discussion about plant-based food trends on the Future Food500 stage.
“A category historically seen as taking away something is now about adding something,” said Dr Sophie Attwood, a behavioural science consultant who spoke on the panel, which discussed the idea of vegan food being a category of its own instead of focusing on alternatives and substitutes.
“Mushrooms or fungi have a long history and have huge potential, especially when you talk about food as medicine,” added Thomas Neuburger, a mushroom grower leading his family’s Germany-based business Neuburger Fleischlos.
And you won't just find them in food, either.
3. Functional drinks
In the startup section, Irish brand Blynk is blending mushrooms with another exploding trend, of functional beverages designed to help us meet nutritional requirements in tasty drink form.
The team have used reishi, lion’s mane and cordyceps with flavour combinations such as orange and mango, apple and camomile, and blackberry and lemon balm, plus infused them with herbal remedies such as ashwaganda and even the aforementioned yerba mate.
“Functional drinks are exploding,” chief operations officer Stephen Dillon tells The National. “People are looking for better products and so our tagline is ‘beverages with benefits’, because there is a move away from overly sugary sodas.”
This is evident in the sheer number of beverages on show. Elsewhere in the startup section, there’s Mete, plus a kombucha brand called Steap, a Ceylon iced tea range from Sri Lanka named Livebiotics, and a ginseng coffee blend by Luvia Blends – to name a few.
4. Protein meets fibre
Dr Attwood said the protein boom is here to stay, but fibre is also increasingly on people’s dietary agendas, as more than 90 per cent of Americans don’t get enough fibre in their diet, according to 2024-2025 data. Put those together in some kind of hybrid and you should be on to a winner, she said. “This is potentially a good year for hybrid or blended proteins.”
Everywhere you look at Gulfood, the word “protein” crops up, from the functional beverage sector to snacks by Protein Ball Co.
Elsewhere, Inzi Eats, a local snack brand run by Russian entrepreneur Maria Konovalova, has also incorporated fibre into tortilla chips, chorritos and noodles, which have 30g of plant-based protein and 15g of fibre per 100g.
“I am putting the focus on the protein and fibre together because this is a good way for people to manage their weight,” she tells The National. “In the UAE, 50 per cent of people are either obese or overweight, so I believe my product can help them to still have snacks while also following their dietary requirements.”
5. AI solutions
Nothing would be relevant in 2026 without the mention of artificial intelligence, and it’s everywhere you look at Gulfood this year, with all sorts of incredible-sounding business-to-business tools designed to make the industry more efficient.
In particular, there are a number of tools seeking to tackle food waste using technology. Case in point: Gusto.AI, an app that anyone can download and use to decide what to eat, whether you’re ordering takeaway, dining at a restaurant or cooking for yourself.
It uses data about your tastes, gathered during onboarding and through an in-app game called Food Battle, to tell you what you want to eat before you even realise it yourself. The idea is that you no longer end up with meals you don’t like or waste. The team can also use this data to help inform restaurants, manufacturers and retailers what consumers really want on their plates.
6. Flexitarianism
While this is not a new trend, it’s growing exponentially, according to the panel speakers on plant-based food trends. In the GCC, about 41 per cent of consumers identify as flexitarian, according to 2024 research from Redseer Strategy Consultants. Neuburger describes this segment as people who eat meat, but are always searching for good vegan alternatives – his main target market.
This hybrid approach has huge potential to improve personal nutrition and address environmental and animal welfare issues, since convincing meat eaters to go vegan is increasingly a losing battle, Neuburger added.
7. Low-FODMAP diet
Everybody’s been talking about gut health for years now – and the low-FODMAP diet is increasingly part of that conversation.
It stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols, which are short-chain carbohydrates that can be poorly absorbed in the small intestine, and trigger digestive issues such as bloating and gas, particularly in people with irritable bowel syndrome or other gut sensitivities.
It’s the reason why former British supermodel and businesswoman Heather Mills attended Gulfood this year – to launch her gut-friendly, low-FODMAP meal range, created in collaboration with London's Functional Gut Clinic and nutritionist Dr Michael Klaper. This includes pre-packaged dishes such as tofu katsu curry and rice, vegetable risotto, and quinoa, lentil and vegetable chilli.
“After facing severe digestive issues myself, I knew there had to be a way to enjoy food without fear or discomfort,” says Mills, who also happened to create the world's first vegan burger in the 1990s.
8. Back to natural
By far, one of the biggest talking points at the event was the move back to whole foods in their natural state, and the avoidance of ultra-processed foods. This is the common thread that ties many of these other trends together.
“There’s a shift towards more real and natural and less additives, as there’s real fatigue with innovation. We want normal, good food,” said Karin Miller, founder of Bon Vegan.
This also comes down to the conversation around gut health and it’s a matter of trust, said Miller. “If your consumer trusts your brand, if they trust your product, they believe you’re transparent and where you source your ingredients from is of value, so how you communicate this is essential.”
