Many Millennials identify with the foodie label, but what that label means may differ greatly from person to person.
When someone says that they are a foodie, a number of different adventurous food items come to mind, but not everyone who identifies as a foodie is eating raw fish and quinoa. In fact, the term foodie is rather loosely defined and up to interpretation, and a number of differences have been found among those who have chosen to adopt the foodie label.
According to a report from The Washington Post, Millennials are the most likely age group to be concerned with the foodie way of life, and a new study from Ypulse has revealed that these young Americans display many difference in how they approach food and eat. The data from the survey, which included responses from 1,000 people, was categorized by region, age, gender, race, academic status and parental status, and overall it revealed that Millennials are huge foodies, and they currently outspend the rest of the population on restaurants, according to The NPD Group.
However, although Millennials are obviously food lovers, there is a range in how young Americans approach food, with differences between genders and racial backgrounds. Even those who identify themselves as foodies display differences from other self-identified foodies. For example, nearly the same percentage of young men and women identify as foodies, but they differed in the types of trendy foods they would try. Men were more likely to experiment with trendy types of beer, while women chose healthier trends to sample. Females were also more likely to try more aesthetically pleasing dishes, such as meals depicted on Instagram and Pinterest.
While there are distinct differences between genders, there are even greater differences when it comes to race and geography. According to the report from The Washington Post, people on the East and West coasts, and those in the Midwest, have experimented with more foods than those in the South. This fact is being attributed to the fact that many food trends originate in costal urban areas and then trickle down to other areas.
In addition to the geographical differences, there is also a race gap in the adoption of the foodie lifestyle. The Washington Post reported that African Americans are less likely to try a slew of food trends than other Millennials, with nearly a third of African American Millennials reporting that they haven’t tried any of the listed trends on the Ypulse survey, while 15% of whites and Hispanics and 18% of Asians have. However, despite the fact that many have not tried the trends included in the survey, more young African Americans consider themselves foodies than those of other races.
Additionally, Asian millennials were the most likely to have tried a given trend, but were less likely to identify as foodies, and this is being attributed to the fact that many trendy foods come from Asian heritage.