How people are eating differently during the covid-19 pandemic
How people are eating differently during the covid-19 pandemic

As we enter the “new normal”, our food habit is also going through a major transition. Gone are the days when people didn’t care much about what they’re eating and they were just consuming the food to fill their stomach.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has paved the way for a healthy and home-cooked eating. People have become conscious not about themselves but also their surroundings. Issues like food waste, animal welfare and food security have come at the forefront and prior concerns around packaging sustainability and sustainable sourcing take a back seat.

Remote working and confinement have widely led to resurgence in home-cooked food and semi-cooked food. As people are still skeptical about ordering food online and they have the limited access to the food-service, home-cooking has become the day-to-day activity.

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With their daily edible items like biscuits and breads, people are making easy and quick treats at home like pudding, cakes, exotic sandwiches and pizzas. These trends will continue to play out over the coming months as consumers, retailers and manufacturers adjust to the “new normal” and wait to see when the pandemic will end.

Are people eating differently during pandemic?

Prior to the pandemic, an upward trend was observed in the consumption of meat-based products. But now, various data suggests that numerous plant-based companies are experiencing accelerated growth to meet higher demand since the onset of COVID-19 globally. The shift towards the plant-based diet has increased the evidences of more home cooking, gardening, and reliance on shelf-stable foods. The dependency on local farmers and community-supported agriculture producers has also increased, though it’s too early to discern if these shifts will translate to changing habits.

Demand for intermediaries like bread and biscuit is increasing

As people prefer home-cooked food, so they have been going for those food-items which are healthy, easy to cook and satisfy their taste buds. It has been seen that how easily cake can be baked at home using biscuits and bread crumbs. This also led to a rising demand in breads and biscuits during the lockdown as people were experimenting a lot with these readily available food-items. Even the demand of baking soda, baking powder, essence and sauces has also increased during this period.

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How breads have become an essential part of important meals

Gone are the days when your humble bread was a part of your breakfast regime. Blame it on our fast lifestyle or the emergence of variations in breads, they have slowly and steadily become a part of our staple diet. Unlike our other stables including Chapati and rice, breads are economical, easily accessible and are filling to the stomach. An increasing number of specialty breads made with specialty grains such as sprouted grains, ancient grains, chia, flax, sunflower and pumpkin seeds are making their way into the center aisles along the perimeter of grocery stores and finally to our kitchens.

Innovations in bread during the lockdown

Such is the power of bread, which has served so many during the Covid-19 crisis. Even many bread companies have come up with delicious and healthy variants of bread as the demand of it has gone up tremendously. Besides no added preservatives bread, companies have come up with such ingredients in the bread that have been helping them to strengthen their immunity during the lockdown. The whole grain and seeds breads are a healthy pick for most people, as it contains a decent amount of protein and fiber, and is packed with flax, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds. Flaxseed bread is one of the vegan-friendly bread options, you can enjoy two slices for just 100 calories. Oatmeal breads make it an excellent breakfast choice for fast energy.

 
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