Has Your Eating Habits Changed Lately? Blame It On COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic has changed everything and its certain that life won’t be the same again in near future. Trends and taste of people change with time, but this time it’s pandemic that’s to be blamed. The indefinite period of lockdown in most countries have forced people to seek for immunity-boosting food.

The extended stay in their homes have forced people to resort to stress baking and stress eating, but their health concern has also forced them to look for option which could help them tide over such unforeseen situations. The current trend is that of panic buying. Frozen foods, instant meals are easy to stock and are selling out. But health concern has also helped prices of avocados surge by 60%. On the contrary butter prices have been tumbling with every passing day with the closer of restaurants.

Sylvain Charlebois, professor and senior director at Agri-food Analytics Lab in Halifax believes that coronavirus has changed everything. “People are more concerned about putting food on the table than anything else. The mind-set of the consumer has changed,” says the professor. Some experts are also of the opinion that the current food trend will continue post COVID-19 too.

Healthy Food Trend

People across the world are focusing on healthy food. They are making a habit of eating healthy food. Avocado is one such food which is at the top of the list of buyers. A rush in demands of the avocados have seen a price surge after the pandemic.

When the lockdown was announced, farmers in Mexico, anticipating a demand drop-off the world’s top producer, slowed down the harvest activities. But contrary to their amazement they found an increase in demand for avocado toast and guacamole.

According to the data of researchers IRI, other items that are sweeping out from the shelves are citrus fruit. People are now kind of aware that Vitamin C is good for immunity and in the COVID-19 scenario consumers are looking for food which is good for their immune system. That also explains that why citrus fruits have registered an upsurge in their demand.

According to Tan Heng Hong, APAC food and drink analyst at Mintel, Asian consumers are turning to traditional and old remedies to safeguard themselves from the virus, In Vietnam, people are going for black garlic and Indonesians are stocking up on Jamu – a traditional medicine made from natural ingredients.

Comforting food

Due to lockdown, people are home isolated. For a lot of people, eating has become an escape from boredom and stress these days. Customers are going for the items at the grocery store they had been shunning just a few months ago. Like packaged foods, in particular, have been given new trending life.

“Traditionally, food has a comforting role,” Tan of Mintel said.

Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestle, has observed a strong demand for essential food and drinks items during the lockdown. Sean Connolly, CEO of Conagra Brands echoes Mark’s observation and remarked that most of the food and drinks items have observed a surge in sales.

Snack consumption is also trending up. Because people are stuck at home. They’re spending more time doing activities that lead to munching, like binge-watching on Netflix and chill.

According to research agency, Euromonitor International Ltd., snack sales at a popular store in South Korea were up 9% from a year earlier in the first week of March.

Restaurant Demand Losses

The huge spike for grocery store buying is not enough for the providers. The loss from the closure of restaurants is severe to overcome in some markets. That’s why there have been things like milk dumping. Milk dumping only means disposal of excess milk as demand from cheese and butter makers have gone down considerably.

Belgium’s storied Pomme Frites purveyors are another victim. Belgium remains the world’s top shipper of frozen potato products, hawking fries, crisps and mash to more than 160 countries. The vast majority exported and demand dried up as the food-service industry grinds to a halt.

Restaurants are still performing takeaway orders but selectively. While home cooks, in general, are not using as many ingredients as they might eat at a sit-down meal.

Nicholas Fereday, consumer goods senior analyst at RaboResearch, New York mentions that in the current scenario consumers will be pleased to see that $20 goes a lot more at the grocery store than it does at a fine-dining or quick-serve restaurant. The revival of packaged foods might have some longer-term impacts on buying habits,” adds Fereday.

The coronavirus pandemic is far from over and a cumulative effect of food habit of people will be far more pronounced in coming months.