Guest column: Pandemic has forever changed our eating habits

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COVID-19 has changed us, but has it really changed the food industry?

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The food industry is gathering now at different trade shows and events for the first time in more than two years.

So, it is the first time in two years they have come together to figure out what consumers are now thinking, believing, hoping and most importantly, fearing. Trends, flavours, and tastes have changed since March 2020.

But after more than two years of the pandemic, it’s not easy to determine exactly how the consumer has evolved.

The Agri-food Analytical Sciences Laboratory at Dalhousie University, with the help of Caddle Insights, just published new data concerning the Canadian food market.

If we are to believe the forecasts, by 2025, the food market in Canada will be more home-based, more virtual and influenced by the greater curiosity of consumers who now have overall higher food literacy.

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First, let’s talk about home life.

One thing is clear, the work-from-home phenomenon is here to stay. Too many employers are saving immensely by keeping some employees home. The same applies to the employees themselves.

They’re spending less money on transportation, but also clothing, haircuts, makeup – you get the idea. It is estimated by 2025, 39.5 per cent of consumers — or two in five people — will work at least one day a week from home.

By spending more time at home, consumers have been cooking more and learning new culinary skills. Not only have 34.2 per cent of Canadians learned at least one new cooking style since the start of the pandemic, but 51.8 per cent have also learned at least three new recipes.

Almost 40 per cent of people have acquired new skills such as making bread or pasta at home, while 45.2 per cent have discovered new ingredients they did not use before the pandemic.

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In other words, food literacy in Canada has increased since the start of the pandemic. Consumers know how to make more informed choices through more in-depth knowledge of food.

The number of households that own at least one pet has also soared.

Since the start of the pandemic, 26.1 per cent of Canadian households — or one in four — have adopted a pet for the first time.
This is not a trivial fact since research tells us a pet owner will be more sensitive to ethical animal treatment. This will have a significant effect on choice of protein consumed. In fact, we estimate 3.2 million Canadians now consider themselves flexitarians, about one million are pescatarians, 913,000 are vegetarians and 560,000 are vegans.

Apart from veganism, all diet types with less meat or no meat are on the rise in Canada. This is something to watch very closely for food innovators. The prices at the meat counter lately probably haven’t helped, either. Beef prices have gone up by as much as 20 per cent in the last year.

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With more people moving to new areas and with COVID-19 outbreaks in some stores, many consumers are also shopping differently.

In fact, 26.1 per cent of Canadians have visited stores they hadn’t visited before the pandemic. It’s pretty much the same for restaurants. The legacy of the pandemic is to have prompted many consumers to reconsider where they buy their food on a regular basis.

These are great opportunities for the industry. Less populous regions are getting a second wind due to more people fleeing big cities in Canada and the food industry is rapidly adjusting.

As a result, the virtual food market is also exploding.

Almost 40 per cent of Canadians order food — either at retail or in food service — at least once every two weeks. By 2025, 30.1 per cent of Canadians will continue to buy food online on a regular basis. We anticipate by 2025, 10 per cent of food sales in Canada will occur online.

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Before the pandemic, estimates were around 1.7 per cent. Remove an increase.

And finally, to learn about food trends, Canadians stick to their social network.

Aside from family, YouTube, Tik Tok and Facebook are the most used communication vehicles that influence the diet of Canadians. The industry needs to increase its presence on these platforms if it wants to influence trends — especially after a pandemic which forced everyone to take in more information online.

In a nutshell, if you’ve changed your grocery habits since March 2020, you’re not alone.

Sylvain Charlebois is a professor and senior director of the Agri-Food analytics lab at Dalhousie University.