by Charlotte Beal
WHAT’S HAPPENING
- In May 2008, our “Consumers Eat It” trend told you about early changes to eating habits in light of food sticker shock. Now that the recession is official, it’s time for an update on the sitch — and the main developments are that foodies are going budget and even non-foodies are adopting foodie behavior because it can be cheaper. Say hello to the scrimpavore era.
- First and foremost, consumers are starting from scratch in the kitchen, being forced to learn how to cook rather than just assemble pricey convenience foods (i.e., roasting a chicken rather than always reaching for the supermarket rotisserie bird). Food magazine sales are up, as is registration at cooking schools for nonprofessionals (NYTimes.com 12.10.08). The Charlotte Observer took the KFC Challenge — can you make a seven-piece chicken and biscuit meal for $10? — and offered readers ideas for nine meals under $9 (1.14.09). Celia Sack, owner of Omnivore Books on Food in San Francisco, said that customers have been showing new interest in old books on topics like making butter, preserving foods and infusing liquor with seasonal flavors — presumably all to save money and use leftover ingredients (KCRW.com/goodfood 1.10.09).
- Today, consumers have to think more like executive chefs (or at least mess hall chiefs), running their kitchen with an eye on the bottom line: maximizing yield, using leftovers wisely, learning how to cook what’s on hand without recipes. Shoppers feel less control at the supermarket — they have to plan meals in reverse, buying what’s on sale and making the most of it (LATimes.com 12.10.08).
- What’s on the menu? In two words, peasant food. Cost-effective grains are replacing meat; think bulgur, farro and quinoa (Everyday Food 1.09; SFGate.com 1.14.09; LATimes.com 1.14.09). Consumers are slow-cooking in order to tame humble cuts of meat into tenderness and are slowly starting to embrace the cheap chicken thigh after years of breast worship (Bon Appétit 1.09). They’re eating less seafood because that was mainly a restaurant indulgence (MediaPost.com 12.18.08).
- Even those who were foodies before the recession ($100K-plus households buying price-is-no-object ingredients) are making compromises. NPD found that organic sales fell (4%) in August 2008, for the first time since February 2006 (Boston.com 12.9.08). Common behavior: going for private-label organics, saying no to the priciest organic items like meat and produce, buying “natural” meat instead of certified organic, and choosing hormone-free milk instead of full-on organic. They still tend to buy premium for the kids, though.
WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS
- Our 2006 trend “Joy of Cooking” explained how consumers were redefining what “scratch” cooking meant in order to put more of a personal, artisan spin on what they were consuming. Then in 2007, “Foodie Nation” chronicled the growing trend of sophistication. Well, what consumers started three years ago is morphing into a back-to-basics version of foodieness because of economic pressures. “Scratch” is returning to its original meaning, because consumers are beginning to understand that less processed often means less expensive (but more time and sweat equity). Having gotten used to delicious stuff, meanwhile, everyone wants to figure out how to continue to eat that way. The Scrimpavore’s Dilemma: Eat well, eat cheap.
- Tom Colicchio’s 2000 book Think Like a Chef turned out to be way ahead of its time. Consumers are craving lessons in the fundamentals of cooking so that they won’t be financially restricted by a list of recipe ingredients.
RESOURCES
- Omnivore Books on Food: 3885a Cesar Chavez St., San Francisco, CA; 415-282-4712
- Think Like a Chef by Tom Colicchio (Clarkson Potter 2008) is available at Amazon.
