Spending on Feelings Pushes Mood Foods into Mainstream as Consumers Ditch Guilt for Glow

Scott Mathias
Jun 30
2 min read

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Turns out, you can put a price on happiness and shoppers are doing it at the checkout. Despite the cost of living squeeze, consumers are reaching for mood-boosting snacks, calming drinks, and food promising more than just satiety. They’re buying joy, one adaptogenic crisp at a time.

Circana’s June report confirms what supermarket aisles have been quietly whispering for months and this is emotional eating is having a very public moment. Sales of products offering mental wellness benefits are holding strong, despite belt-tightening elsewhere in the basket. While shoppers are trading down on pantry basics, they’re deliberately trading up on food feeding the mind. And mood foods are leading the way.

Mood Food composite — Source: PFN Ai Archives composite whole mood food - pulsing chilli-honey drizzle, glowing kombucha SCOBY, powdered ashwagandha, and bubbling natto beans

Chocolate with added botanicals. Sparkling adaptogen tonics. Tea blends promising serenity. This isn’t impulse shopping, it’s intentional self-regulation via the snack aisle. In fact, Circana noted products labelled with emotional outcomes such as ‘calms the mind’, ‘enhances clarity’, or ‘supports good vibes’, are now converting better than vague wellness claims like “clean” or “natural.” In other words, if your label doesn’t speak to my state of mind, I’m not interested.

“Long-held ideas about value and necessity are being rewritten as consumers reassess how they eat, play and look after themselves and their loved ones,” says Anne Haine, European Head of Consumer Packaged Goods at Circana. “Brands that win in 2025 are those that understand this new consumer mindset - practical yet emotional, cautious yet indulgent.”

This emotional turn isn’t random. It’s exactly what we forecasted in our Top 10 Future Food Trends for 2025. The rise of AI-curated comfort, swicy snacks, and feel-good ferments wasn’t just trendspotting, it was emotional forecasting. Consumers are no longer just hungry. They’re craving calm, focus, nostalgia, and delight.

Meanwhile, fermented functionality is making its move out of the wellness aisle and into the mainstream. Brands are now spiking pantry staples with gut-friendly bacteria. We’re seeing probiotic pretzels, tempeh brownies, and natto-tahini sauces designed to soothe your microbiome and mind. It’s punk rock meets gut science.

Source: Various public domain - New Zealand brands featured include Arepa Brain Drink and MOODI Blends.

And yes, AI is now your chef. Startups are using emotional data to personalise meals and snack kits. Scan a QR code, feed the algorithm your mood, and voila, out comes a breakfast blend designed to calm your cortisol. This is algorithmic comfort food. Wellness, engineered.

Even retailers are adjusting shelf strategy. Dedicated “emotional wellness” bays are popping up with calm teas, sleepy snacks, functional sodas all merchandised under soft lighting and muted tones. The fridge is no longer cold. It’s curated.

Meanwhile, hybrid shoppers are gaming the system as they opt for cheaper rice or bread, but splurging on a single emotional luxury. It’s not about indulgence. It’s about regulation. Emotional spend is becoming essential spend.

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