Creative communications agency Bray Leino’s 2017 Food and Drink report examines UK consumers’ behaviours and attitudes to the food they buy, comparing remain-voting London with the North East and North Wales, two places Brexit was strongly supported.
Key insights include:
Animal Welfare is people’s most important food issue:
Consumers’ top 5 most important food issues were GM, Britishness, Authenticity, Sustainability, and Animal Welfare. The single food issue that concerned most respondents was high animal welfare standards, with 78% claiming to be very or quite concerned. Women were more concerned about animal welfare standards than men.
Interestingly, the number of 18-24 year-olds claiming to be concerned was significantly lower than in other age groups, in stark contrast to the widely reported increases in vegetarianism and veganism amongst young people. This reflected the fact that throughout the research there was a general pattern for those living at home or with family to be more apathetic on many food issues and this group is populated mainly by young adults.
Social media is the not the go-to channel for food inspiration:
Despite social media’s ubiquitous presence and influence across so many areas of modern life, when it comes to food and drink the research indicates that the established channels still lead the way. Food and drink websites, cookbooks and cookery programmes were used far more often by consumers, with cookbooks the most popular medium for recipe ideas and inspiration (used by 42%), ahead of celebrity chefs who were influenced by 28%. Only 16% of people use Facebook and YouTube for recipe ideas.
Londoners are more likely to claim they eat healthily, BUT…
Government statistics show that London has the lowest obesity rates in the country (though still 59% are overweight or obese), however, it’s not all clean living and healthy lifestyles.
London respondents were significantly more likely than those in Wales and the North East to say they eat fast food takeaways at least 2-3 times a week. London also leads when it comes to ready meals, with 9% claiming to eat a ready meal at least once a day and nearly 1 in 4 saying they eat ready meals 4-6 times a week or more.
The desire to buy British is strong everywhere:
63% of respondents said they were concerned with buying British – with no significant differences geographically. Remain-voting Londoners were just as likely to be concerned with Britishness as people in the Brexit-voting strongholds of Wales and the North East.
The research comprised interviews with 600 people. It covers British attitudes towards foods, health and wellness, food fads, trends and marketing channels. It reveals a number of important insights on the UK food and drink map.
