Heading Towards a New Normal : Change in Food Trends due to COVID -19

COVID-19 is greatly impacting a wide range of things in every aspect of all of our lives. We are spending a great amount of time at home, and this is hindering our physical exertion causing us to resort and adapt to very limited means of maintaining our health.

Although limited, this lockdown has helped us incline to new and innovative ways of maintaining our health and essentially get through these terrible times that will definitely go down in history and remind us of a time where we lived an extremely restricted life.

People are heading towards adapting a healthy plant-based diet as people were made aware about the multiple health conditions associated with a meat-based diet. An inclination towards vegetarian meat also is keenly observed amongst many.  Due to the Coronavirus outbreak in China, people have begun to think how they consume food. The 'thinking' involves getting to know more about how their food is sourced, made & finally delivered.

There is speculation that this pandemic is initiating a great shift of people’s eating habits from meat-based diets to plant-based ones.

The food trends that can be seen to take over the food and beverages industry in the foreseeable future are as follows.

Many chef-driven, fine dining restaurants which were earlier focussed on providing customers a dining-in experience, will now venture into the delivery business. In the long term this will completely change the landscape of the delivery business in the country. A better experience right from hygiene & safe, to packaging & customer centric content will put forward a new wave of doing business in the food delivery sector.

There was a strong shift indicated in 2020 towards vegan & organic food. But with Covid19 taking the globe by storm, this trend will soon become a lifestyle for many. People will be more conscious about the food they eat and this market will see a rise in 'vegan only' brands. Many SME's have come up in the product space across the country promoting plant-based products, foods & more.

In late 2019 and early 2020 we saw many smaller cafes spring up; focusing on healthy, farm-to-table and vegan menus. As Indians, a lot of our diet is already vegan-friendly, hence, it is not too difficult for us to adapt. However, with the availability of vegan cheese, mayonnaise & mock meats in India, the transition seems easier.

India is known for its street food and people love it. However, with hygiene and cleanliness being the primary area of concern after COVID-19, street food is not going to be people's preferred option for eating out for months to come post the pandemic. Thus, we will see a rise of many gourmet street food brands in the organized sector that can provide great taste coupled with hygiene and convenience of delivery

With people switching from an animal based diet to a plant based one, we will see the popularisation of mock meat and meat alternatives. Many restaurants will give their customers an option to opt for mock meat instead of the real thing, hence allowing them to add the required protein content to their meal rather carb heavy vegetarian and vegan diet food options. This industry has already seen great potential abroad, and will probably make a big impact in the post COVID-19 era in India, in both F&B and retail.

Due to physical distancing being strictly enforced in India and around the world during COVID-19, a lot of the people will opt for enforcing this even after the pandemic is over to deal with the fear of another outbreak. Even after lockdown is over, restaurants will not be allowed to operate at more than a 30% capacity, hence there will be more and more F&B brands providing 'At Home' experiences.