PARIS — More than two years into a global inflation crisis, much of the world has been forced to make adjustments in household spending and monthly budgets. Some may even be holding back on Christmas presents! Yet nowhere has the impact of inflation been more noticeable than in spiking food prices.
Inevitably that means the world’s eating habits have changed — and not by choice.
Initially blamed on the supply chain shock during the COVID-19 pandemic, the financial burden of feeding families remains high amid the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, which together had supplied an enormous share of the world’s wheat, barley and sunflower oil before the war. Other factors, such as rising energy prices, have had a ripple effect on food transportation systems, further pushing prices up.
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While taking into account that the weight of higher grocery bills is felt most severely in developing countries and by low-income individuals, there have also been subsequent consumption and cultural shifts across all socioeconomic groups. As businesses worldwide have been compelled to raise prices, here’s a glimpse into how consumers from around the world have altered their eating habits.
Instant noodles boom
According to Japan-based weekly magazine Nikkei Asia, 121.2 billion servings of instant noodles were sold globally last year — an industry record. As inflation raises the cost of other, fresher foods, instant noodles present themselves as a cheap alternative for people having an increasingly difficult time meeting their daily nutritional needs.
The market has been growing for seven years straight and does not appear to be slowing down, with China consuming the most instant noodles of any country in the world. Indonesia is the second largest market, followed by India, Vietnam and Japan.
The popularity of instant noodles is even growing in countries like the United States and especially Mexico, where noodle soups have not traditionally been a staple in their culinary culture as they are in Asia.
Most major markets aside from Vietnam saw a substantial increase in instant noodle consumption between 2021 and 2022, and demand has continued upwards ever since. Mexico in particular saw one of the most dramatic increases in demand — growing 17.2% in 2021 and maintaining double digit growth at 11% the following year.
“Gastrocalypse” for European restaurants
Across Europe, the engine of restaurant consumption has seen a decline due to rising food prices.
In the French department of Vaucluse, for example, as many as 20% of its restaurants are projected to close by the end of 2023. According to French public radio station Franceinfo, even high-end restaurants with Michelin stars are vulnerable, such as the legendary Maison Prévôt, which shut its doors earlier this year.
In a recent piece for German Daily Die Welt, Dirk Schümer cited the closure of thousands of restaurants and pubs, which he dubbed a “Gastrocalypse,” making it is increasingly difficult in Germany to find somewhere to go with your friends and colleagues.
Fish and meat are the first to go.
“There are already hundreds of communities, especially in rural areas, where you can no longer go out for a drink or a beer,” writes Schümer. “Tourists and business travelers in the new desert have to stock up on pre-made sandwiches at the gas station or supermarket.”
Europeans are also making different choices at the grocery store. Spanish news website Ethic reported that 49% of Spaniards said that inflation has affected what they buy to eat at home, with fish and meat being the first foods to go. Fifty-five percent of consumers who prefer organic foods have said that they are switching or already have switched to non-organic brands due to inflationary pressures, according to a study by the Open University of Catalonia.
In France, a study conducted for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry concluded that while 89% of French consumers prefer to purchase domestic products, 60% have been priced out of this luxury and have switched to cheaper and imported alternatives.
South African and Argentine woes
With the price of potatoes in South Africa reaching all-time highs, chips (fried potatoes) — an important staple of the country’s communal lunch culture — are becoming too expensive according to Bloomberg. Chips, either served simply with bread or inside a Kota sandwich (a hollowed out loaf filled with cheese, sausage and ketchup) are often shared among several friends or colleagues for their mid-day meal. As the price of potatoes has nearly doubled in the last year however, many businesses that rely on chips have cut down serving sizes and raised prices — causing South Africans to more frequently eat solo.
Food inflation is at a staggering 107%
Argentina has long wrestled with exorbitant inflation, which the The New York Times reported has paradoxically prompted the middle and upper classes of Buenos Aires to flood restaurants — racing to spend their pesos before they lose more value. In April, the City of Buenos Aires reported that restaurant attendance was at one of the highest levels since local officials began tracking in 2015 — and was 20% higher than in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic sent the industry into free fall.
Still, eve while the “flight to consumption” has led to a boom in restaurant going for wealthier Argentines, families in the poorer suburbs of Buenos Aires are struggling to put food on the table. With food inflation specifically reaching a staggering 107%, people are increasingly turning to soup kitchens to feed themselves and their families. Homelessness in Buenos Aires has risen 34% in the last year, according to the Dominican newspaper Diario Libre.
