Two weeks ago I showed you the data on End of World Eating. Health, sustainability, self-care, the whole value system that ran food culture for 30 years, falling off a cliff. Indulgence and richness rising to take its place, with tallow up 172%.

The reply I got back was some version of the same question. "OK. Now what do I do with my products?"

So let's talk about what this actually means for the people who have to build it and sell it.

Beef tallow product sales hit $1.1 billion for the year ending March 2026, up 275% in three years. Butter is at a 50-year high. Plant-based burgers dropped 34% in units. People are not saying one thing and buying another. They are buying flavor, richness, and permission.

Tallow is the loudest signal here, but this is about indulgence, not just one ingredient.

For 30 years, the winning food message was subtraction. Less fat. Less sugar. Fewer calories. More guilt. The whole game was helping people feel okay about eating less of something.

The winning message now is addition. More flavor. More richness. More of the thing that makes you close your eyes and savor every bite. Consumers stopped apologizing for wanting food to taste incredible, and they are rewarding the brands that stop apologizing with them.

Look at what's actually selling. Conagra put "double-cooked in beef tallow" right on the front of the package and treated it as the selling point. Tillamook's "Butternaise" sold out in ten minutes. Brands are not hiding indulgence behind a health halo. They are putting it in the spotlight and charging for it.

Here's the thing any good formulator will tell you. Fat isn't an ingredient you swap in. Fat is the flavor system.

This trend is about indulgence, more than just one ingredient. But this is where tallow is the loudest signal here, and it’s earning its moment. It makes food taste unbelievable. It's the reason old-school fries had that crackle and deep, savory flavor before the industry swapped in cheaper oil. It gives you the crispy edge, the rich bite, the "I can't put this down" pull that a light, neutral oil never will. That crave factor is the whole point, and it's exactly what people are reaching for right now.

And here's the part your marketing team will love. Tallow now reads as seed-oil-free, one of the fastest-rising claims in all of food. The fat the industry called a liability for 40 years just became a badge you put on the front of the box. Same ingredient, brand new story.

So what do you do with this? Two things.

Stop leading with "guilt-free." That instinct is now working against you. Lead with pleasure, and let the better-for-you angle be the quiet backup instead of the headline.

And bet on the durable signal, not the fad. The craving for bold, rich, satisfying food does not fade. It shows up every time life feels expensive and uncertain, and it tends to stick around. Build for that, not for whatever blew up on TikTok this week.

The brief has changed. Your customers stopped asking whether your product is good for them. They are asking whether it's worth it. Give them something worth it.

One more thing. People are starting to wake up to the health benefits of tallow, the ones we spent 40 years being told to ignore. That's a whole issue on its own, and I'll get into it soon. But sit with the possibility. If the indulgent choices also turn out to be defensible ones, you stop having to choose between crave and conscience. That changes how you think about food.

If you want help figuring out what that looks like for your brand, let's talk.

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