Why Isn’t Anyone Grocery Shopping Anymore?
There is something appealing about going out to a restaurant and being surrounded by people, noise, and good food. My friends and I love to go out and enjoy a carefree night full of exciting new drinks and dishes at one of Washington, D.C.’s new restaurants. It is the one time of the day that everyone seems to silently agree to ignore their phones for a couple of hours.
On the other hand, I have also watched the number of food deliveries among my generation skyrocket. I wanted to know: Were people really going out to eat this much or was the explosion of food delivery apps like Uber Eats, Postmates, and Caviar encouraging people to stay in? How was technology, which had so seamlessly infiltrated into our everyday lives, influencing the food industry?
Christopher Myers, the same seasoned restaurateur mentioned in chapter 1, certainly had two cents to contribute. He was quick to tell me that one trend he’s not so thrilled about as a restaurant manager is the trend toward food delivery. For one, he says, very few foods improve with time so the quality of the food that is being delivered is inferior to the quality of the food you’d get in a restaurant. Second, he says, “I like food. I love people. I like food. I love hospitality. It’s hard to be hospitable when you’re delivering a package to somebody.”
Millennials, apparently, beg to differ — and they’re not the only ones. A recent article by Saveur declared that young people are spending most of their time eating out at restaurants and bars, grabbing food on the go, or ordering food to be delivered. With a reputation for being an overworked, highly stressed, and underpaid generation, this reveal might not come as a surprise. The food choices they’re making are quicker and more convenient. But the article provokes another idea: What if it’s not just millennials?
Data shows that more people in general are eating out at restaurants and increasing the variety of their food sources. No longer do we do one major grocery haul for the week at Stop & Shop, BFS, or Costco; with the growing number of alternative options like farmers markets, boutique supermarkets, online shopping, and food delivery services, people are buying their weekly food from multiple places.
I have to wonder whether millennials are really trending toward one option or another, or whether we’ve become so accustomed to having unlimited options that when we’re looking for a meal that we haven’t planned, we tend to just choose something on a whim.
Of course millennials are still seeking out the hottest, most Instagram-worthy restaurants or crafting aesthetically pleasing meals at home when they have the time. But on the nights that we’ve come home late, to an empty kitchen, wanting nothing more than to collapse onto our beds, what’s going to stop us from grabbing a Whole Foods meal-to-go or sending in an UberEats order on our way home? The number of convenient options just keeps growing.
It’s almost as if the constant bombardment of new foods and recipes in the media, on social media apps, and among the people surrounding me has overwhelmed me. I have so many options available to me that no particular one stands out. I’ve lost my ability to listen to what my body is craving, and I’m not the only one: The young people of Generation Yum no longer rely on our bodies to tell us what we need or are craving because the image culture surrounding food has exploded, leaving us with an absurd surplus of options. Instagram influencers tell us which new crazy food fad we should try, lifestyle bloggers and nutritionists post the healthy recipes we should be eating, and our newspapers send us recipes of the day. I no longer cook based on what I am craving, but on the new ingredient or recipe I want to try.
As exciting as all these sources of food inspiration and new food options are, they are also overwhelming. Options make it easier and easier for us to ignore our internal hunger cues and to eat instead by all the visual cues we’re bombarded with on social media. That’s why the movement toward mindful eating is so timely. In one of my favorite episodes of the Chasing Joy podcast, host Georgie Morley speaks with nutritionist McKel Hill about how to return to listening to your body’s internal hunger cues; together they offer tips on how to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle even when you’re at your busiest. To listen, just click the link below!
