Açaí, pronounced a-sa-ee, is often said to mean “the fruit that cries” in the language of the Tupi, an indigenous community of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, where the palm grows. The berry’s pulp is traditionally served as puree or a compote alongside local cassava-based dishes or fish.
Over time, its deep purple hue has secured a place for açaí in the food, cosmetics and nutraceutical industries, earning it the moniker “wellness berry”. Its appeal lies partly in its antioxidants, particularly anthocyanins, which give it its distinctive colour. The “foodstagrammable” purple hue, which pairs neatly with green matcha and complements the pistachio-and-chocolate trend, has also made it a favourite on social media.
But has a açaí’s growing popularity helped conserve the biodiversity of the forests in which it grows and improve livelihoods of the communities that have long cultivated the fruit and safeguarded the knowledge associated with it? Evidence suggests otherwise. Açaí and the wider forest bioeconomy featured prominently in discussion at the 30th UN Climate Change Conference (COP30), held in Belem, in 2025.
From forest to fame
Açaí’s popularity grew in the 1990s, fuelled by television and advertising, and gathered pace in the 2000s as interest in health and nutrition increased. This was also a period when globalisation helped turn blueberries, raspberries and avocados into fashionable foods worldwide.
As social media became a dominant force in food culture, açaí found its way into juices, granola bowls, shakes, sorbets and ice creams, as well as beauty products, from oils and serums to tinted moisturisers, blushes and lip balms. It is also sold as a wellness supplement. Brands such as Playa Bowls and OAKBERRY have gained traction among Gen Z consumers in markets including Britain, Japan and the UAE.
The global market for açaí berry products is projected to grow by US $1.5 billion in 2026, according to industry estimates. In Los Angeles, luxury organic grocers such as Erewhon have helped turn celebrity-endorsed wellness drinks into aspirational purchases. Actress Gwyneth Paltrow, too, has helped bring açaí and chia-seed bowls to wider attention through social-media posts.
Starbucks has introduced its own strawberry-açaí Frappuccino, while collaborations such as the partnership between Croda Beauty and Laneige with Atis—featuring an açaí-and-mango smoothie-inspired lip collection and a matching drink—illustrate the growing “foodification” of beauty.
The trend has even entered the political arena. During the 2024 US election campaign, Açaí Freedom Bowls, a Southern Californian business, reportedly offered bowls themed around MAGA (Make America Great Again).
Halfway across the world, in India, cafés are serving colourful bowls of açaí, granola and chocolate, alongside a range of breakfast options. Brands such as Acai Theory, Acai by the Bay, Tropicool and Lyfberry are seeking to tap the country’s youthful consumer market increasingly attuned to health, wellness and the aesthetics of food. In 2023, the Brazilian Embassy and Bloom Cafe and Cakery in Delhi helped raise the fruit’s profile.
Ecological threats
Açaí is vital to the livelihoods of many Amazonian families, but harvesting the fruit is physically demanding. The tall, slender palms are difficult to harvest mechanically, so pickers climb the trees to gather the fruit before extracting the pulp, often using small machines at home. As the berries are highly perishable, the pulp must be processed quickly and transported promptly to processing plants and cold-storage facilities.
The industry has also faced criticism over child labour and exploitative working conditions, underscoring the importance of ethical sourcing and traceability in building more sustainable supply chains.
The expansion of açaí cultivation poses ecological risks, too. The spread of açaí palms at the expense of other vegetation can reduce biodiversity. Madson Freitas of the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, a Brazilian research institute and museum, has described this process as the “açaí-fication” of the Amazon. Yet açaí is cultivated in agroforestry systems alongside other crops, including coffee, making the effects of cultivation on shade, soil and biodiversity dependent on how these systems are managed. Both açaí and coffee production are vulnerable to drought and climate change, with El Niño sometimes intensifying dry conditions.
Amazonian forests, like forests elsewhere, provide vital ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration. The threats they face are therefore central to debates about the bioeconomy. Another challenge concerns circularity in the açaí economy. About 85 per cent of the fruit’s mass is seed, leaving roughly 15 per cent as pulp. The latter is used to make açaí purée, often blended with sweeteners and other flavourings to balance its naturally tart taste. Discarded seeds can create waste-management problems and risk polluting rivers and soil. They also offer opportunities for the circular economy, particularly in the organic beauty industry, where researchers and businesses are exploring alternative uses for this material.
The bioeconomy offers opportunities, but it also raises questions about the appropriation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge, including through biopiracy. Brazil has taken steps to protect the identity and cultural heritage associated with açaí. In January 2026, the country formally designated açaí and cupuaçu as national fruits, reinforcing their place in the national imagination amid concerns about the commercial and cultural appropriation of its forest resources and associated knowledge.
Lessons for India
Açaí’s journey from an Amazonian staple to a global wellness trend illustrates how produce from remote corners of the world can become accessible to consumers with a click. India, too, has considerable potential to develop its indigenous fruits, flowers and vegetables into value-added products.
Shahtoot (Morus alba), jamun (Syzygium cumini), phalsa (Grewia asiatica), amla (Indian gooseberry or Phyllanthus emblica), ber (Indian jujube or Ziziphus mauritiana), karonda (Carissa carandas) and Indian cherries are among the fruits with considerable potential for food processing. Familiar autumn staples, sita phal (custard apple) and singhara (water chestnut) have already found their way into ice creams, flavourings, flour and other processed foods. Rhododendron (Rhododendron arboreum), sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) and kaafal (Myrica esculenta) from the Himalayan region offer further possibilities, as does the wider range of non-timber forest produce found across the country.
There are other opportunities to explore. A rare wild blueberry was recently reported in Vijoynagar, Arunachal Pradesh, while pineapples from the northeast have gained visibility through fruit fairs and other promotional platforms. India’s horticultural diversity could support not only new processed foods and export markets beyond mangoes, but also fruit tourism that connects consumers with local landscapes, farming traditions and forest communities.
Developing value-added products from native fruits and other forest resources could create livelihoods, preserve cultural knowledge and bring greater recognition to India’s natural wealth. Realising that potential will require investment in processing, infrastructure, cold storage and supply chains. Alongside, it will require safeguards for intellectual property and biodiversity and measures to ensure local communities’ share in the benefits. That is the lesson of açaí’s rise to fame: a fruit can go global while the communities behind it are left behind.
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth