How did eating habits change during Covid-19?

The spread of Coronavirus has changed our lives and, perhaps, its impact on society will lay the foundations for a new model of cooking and catering.

A few weeks ago we talked about how starred chefs moved to give advice to those who were in difficulty with the management of a 100% home family life, often sharing through social networks both recipes and tips for sustainable and reasoned shopping.

But has our routine really changed? Let's have a look at the statistics.

Experts inform us that, in this period of health emergency, the choice of consumers has been oriented towards the preparation of cooked foods, preferring frozen preserves and foods and avoiding fresh foods such as fruits and vegetables that, alas, deteriorate quickly.

In addition to this, smart working or lockdown in many countries have given us back the joy of slowing down to have breakfast at home, avoiding the bad habit of skipping the most important meal of the day due to the rush for tight work rhythms, or start a new day by eating junk foods such as unhealthy industrial snacks or croissants.

Let's see, in particular, what happens in Asia. Asian consumers are unlikely to go back to their habits of dining out, and will prefer delivery food, takeaways and eating at home once life goes back to normal after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Over 6,000 respondents in 11 markets – China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia – were polled between March 6 and 17.

Among them, in China, 86 per cent of those interviewed said they would eat at home more often than before the outbreak, followed by 77 per cent in Hong Kong. In South Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam that number stood at 62 per cent.

These are interesting numbers that make us understand how the spread of the virus has radically changed the social habits related to food. Probably, the new routine, acquired in this period, will continue even after the end of the pandemic, leading us to ask ourselves about the future of our diet and the concept of restaurant we know nowadays. We will talk about it in the next article ... stay tuned!