The Taste of Change: How Climate Change Is Transforming Our Food
From wasabi fields in Japan to vineyards in France, rising temperatures are reshaping flavour as we know it.
3 July 2025
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It’s no longer just about yield or crop viability, climate change is altering the way our ingredients taste, and the impact is being felt on plates across the world.
From the sweetness of strawberries in Japan to the complexity of French cheese, the effects of global warming are becoming increasingly sensory. As extreme weather patterns, rising CO₂ levels, and shifting microclimates accelerate, farmers, producers, and chefs are beginning to reckon with a new culinary reality: the flavour profiles we’ve long associated with certain ingredients are being transformed.
A Delicate Balance, Disrupted
Zinfandel Grapes During Harvest in Lodi, California | Photo Credit: Randy Caparoso
Plants are deeply attuned to their environment, and their flavour compounds, whether sugars, acids, or aromatic oils, are shaped by temperature, rainfall, soil conditions and seasonal cycles. With climate volatility throwing these processes off balance, the results are becoming unpredictable.
“Terroir isn’t just about soil and climate, it includes traditional knowledge, cultural practices, and how people interact with the land,” says Kathryn Teigen De Master, Associate Professor at UC Berkeley. “When climate disrupts those elements, we lose more than taste, we risk losing cultural memory too.”
Wine producers, perhaps more than most, are grappling with this disruption. Grapes now ripen earlier, increasing sugar content and alcohol levels but often compromising subtle aromatic notes. In France, vintners are experimenting with heat-tolerant grape varieties that were once confined to Spain and Greece, in a bid to preserve balance and complexity in their bottles.
A local sorting vanilla in Sambava, Madagascar | Photo credit: Lemurbaby
Elsewhere, iconic flavour crops are being pushed to adapt or risk disappearing entirely. Madagascar’s vanilla industry is reeling from increasingly intense cyclones that damage vines and reduce yields of vanillin, the compound responsible for its signature aroma. And in Ethiopia, drought-resilient grains like teff are gaining renewed attention, thanks to their ability to thrive under heat while still delivering robust, nutty flavour.
Photo credit :Mons Fromager Affineur
In the French Alps, cheese producers are facing similar challenges. For artisanal cheesemakers tied to specific origin labels (AOP), changing climate conditions are threatening the quality and identity of regional cheeses. As goats and cows graze on different flora due to shifts in growing seasons, the flavour of their milk changes, altering the essence of the cheese itself.
A Global Phenomenon, A Local Story
Wasabi Farm | Photo credit: Daio Wasabi Farm
In Japan, the delicate cultivation of wasabi is facing an existential threat. Grown in pristine mountain streams at consistently cool temperatures between 10 to 15°C, wasabi plants rely on steady water flow and oxygen levels. As average temperatures climb, so too do water temperatures, and with them, the viability of these famously temperamental plants.
“Global warming is considered to be one of many factors affecting wasabi production,” says Kyoko Yamane, Associate Professor of Applied Biological Sciences at Gifu University. “When the water temperature rises, the amount of oxygen decreases, which affects the growth of wasabi. The decreasing snow cover indirectly results in animals creating more damage to wasabi fields, which also discourages farmers.”
Freshly harvested wasabi | Photo credit: Daio Wasabi Farm
At Sojibo, a noodle restaurant chain in Tokyo, supply constraints have already forced changes to the menu. “We would like to provide raw wasabi to customers the same way as before,” says head sales manager Norihito Onishi. “But if this unstable supply of wasabi persists due to many factors including global warming, we will face a situation where we need to come up with other ways to overcome the problem.”
Japanese apples are another flavour casualty. Research from Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Organization shows that compared to the 1970s, apples today have lower acidity, softer texture, and more watery cores, an indicator of internal over ripeness. The culprit? Warmer temperatures, earlier blooming, and hotter harvest seasons. These conditions diminish not just crispness but also flavour complexity.
Apple orchard in Aomori, Japan | Photo credit: Aomorikuma
In the country’s apple orchards, the shift is more subtle but measurable. A study by Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Organization found that apples today are less firm, less acidic, and more watery than those grown in the 1970s, due to warmer winters and earlier bloom times. Texture and tartness – hallmarks of Japanese apples, are diminishing with each harvest.
Freshly shucked oysters | Photo credit: Hold Fast Oyster Co.
North Carolina oyster farmer Matt Schwab has observed a similar shift in the sea. His company, Hold Fast Oyster Co., operates in the New River, where rising sea levels are increasing salinity. “The oysters that are less briny, you can get more complexity in the flavour profile,” he says. “But as the salinity has gone up, you kind of lose some of that more subtle flavour.” He’s now considering moving to deeper waters, an entirely new farming method requiring different equipment.
In Tabasco, Mexico, cacao grower Mariana López is watching rainfall patterns reshape her beans. “Flavour is the soul of our product,” she says. “But the fermentation is changing. We’re getting more bitterness, sometimes less fruitiness, it’s subtle, but it matters, especially for craft chocolate.”
Adapting Through Innovation and Preservation
Faced with these changes, producers are responding with creativity, resilience, and in some cases, a reimagining of tradition. In Poland, producers of oscypek, a smoky cheese from the Tatra Mountains, are adapting by blending sheep’s milk with milk from heritage Polish red cows to maintain the cheese’s character amid climate shifts and evolving supply chains.
In the United States, berry growers are experimenting with plastic tunnels and shading to protect strawberries from unpredictable temperature swings. “We’re not just growing berries anymore,” says Marvin Pritts, Professor of Horticulture at Cornell University. “We’re growing flavour in a shifting climate.”
Farmers across Australia are trialling dry-farming techniques to concentrate the flavour of tomatoes while reducing water use. And in the coffee fields of Latin America, producers are experimenting with new varietals to survive warming conditions, though even minor changes in altitude or light exposure can shift flavour profiles dramatically.
As De Master puts it: “It’s not just about preserving crop yields. It’s about preserving flavour, identity, and cultural continuity.”
What This Means For The Plate
For chefs, product developers, and curious consumers, the transformation underway is both a challenge and an invitation. Flavour may become the next frontier of climate adaptation, an indicator of sustainability, provenance, and care.
Menus could soon highlight not just the origin of an ingredient, but the practices used to retain its authentic taste. Dishes might evolve as flavour notes shift. And the idea of “authentic” may itself come to include adaptation as a core ingredient.
One thing is certain: as the climate changes, so too will the stories our ingredients tell, and the flavours they carry with them.
Author: Michelle Yee
A content and communications professional, Michelle spent more than a decade creating content for several leading media titles including Lonely Planet Asia, Yahoo Singapore, and Wine & Dine. After leaving the media industry in 2019, she has been honing her craft at a global communications agency where she helps develop and drive publicity campaigns for brands in the consumer and corporate sectors.
