We’re known as the generation that photographs our food. There’s #instayum, there’s #foodspotting, and there’s the overly clever #yummmm. Thanks to us, brunch is chic, and if you want rosé all day, no one will stop you.
What do millennials eat? Do we live out these hashtags in real life or is this a social media fairytale we tell? The numbers show that when it comes to meals, millennials are consistently inconsistent.
A few weeks back, a really interesting infographic (posted below) floated into my inbox. It took me some time to wrap my thoughts around it and even longer to put together a post, because well, it makes us look more than a little contradictory. In short, figuring out what millennials eat is complicated. Our eating habits are tied to technology, fitness, and of course, money. And while it makes us look more than just a little mixed up at first, the numbers tell an interesting story.
Millennials Eat In and Out
The infographic points out that the majority of millennials enjoy cooking, and nearly half of us also enjoy dining out, especially in more casual settings. And if you started salivating at the allusion to the best burger milkshake chain n this subtitle, you probably agree. And while I think many millennials have turned to dining in as an opportunity to save money, I also can’t help but wonder if the surge of subscription boxes isn’t also partially to blame.
If you haven’t waded into subscription box waters, you’ve still undoubtedly heard of Blue Apron, a company that is now nearly as ubiquitous as Birchbox and Stitch Fix. Blue Apron is estimated to clock in at $1 billion dollars in revenue in the next year. And they’re far from the only food box in the game. Hello Fresh, Plated, Purple Carrot. There’s even Carnivore Club, a smoked meat subscription service that I first learned of whilst listening to a true crime podcast about a string of grisly unsolved murders. Mmmm. So while some of us may be eating in to save, many others are also testing out new recipes and building our culinary chops.
Edible Currency
If a latte is served in a coffee shop and no one snaps a picture, does it still get sipped? Many millennials see themselves as foodies. Ditto for photographers. So it’s no wonder that photographing food is now a thing.
“We have this taste for arugula and prosciutto, even though we’re making $30,000 a year and five years out of college.”
And it’s not just any food. OK. It is any food. Literally any food. But a good chunk of it is fancy-pants food. A 2015 interview in The Atlantic that is sourced in this infographic features food writer Eve Turow saying, “We have this taste for arugula and prosciutto, even though we’re making $30,000 a year and five years out of college.” Now before all the Gen Xers and Boomers in the room start to smile, let me be the first to acknowledge that this is a problem. Maybe people would stop saying latte factor isn’t a thing if we renamed it the arugula effect. It’s true that we can and should critique this spending.
But when we’re done criticizing, we should also try to explore it in another way. For a generation that is crushed under colossal debt and is entering unchartered territory in a lot of ways when it comes to work, obsessing over food makes sense. Meals have become a currency of sorts. For better or worse, this is the generation of self-branding entrepreneurs. Social media is a pivotal tool in this. And we showcase what’s right in front of us. Whether it’s a mug or a meal, an outfit or an outdoor adventure, it becomes part of that brand. Call it showing off. Call it making the best of a less-than-ideal situation. But let’s also call it what it has become: an invaluable type of currency.
Penny Smart, Calorie Foolish
The most shocking part of the infographic was the claim that my generation is the most overweight generation. Impossible. What about barre before brunch? And don’t even get me started on Crossfit. All I know about the Crossfit club is that step one is to tell everyone you’ve joined. But seriously, how could a generation that coined the phrase Gym Tan Laundry* be the most obese?
*Full disclosure: I have seen approximately one episode of The Jersey Shore. If that means I need to turn in my millennial card, let me light it on fire for you.
And it’s true that there are conflicting reports about this. Some actually say that millennials eat like garbage, drink too much, and have managed to stay thin in spite of that. While others argue that not only are we more obese, it’s probably tied to the fact that when people try to save money, they tend to choose less healthy meal options. It’s quite possible that both are actually true.
The Final Course
Regardless of how you look at it, millennial meal habits are interesting. As with any generation, there are certain trends that stand out. That doesn’t necessarily they define us by any stretch. Really, I imagine that there are as many different takes on eating as there are opinions on why anyone ever thought The Jersey Shore was a good idea.
So Tell Me…What do you make of millennials and meals? Do you see food in the same way as any of these statistics?
This really doesn’t surprise me very much, but being Gen X (and older Gen X) I have a different perspective. The food landscape changed a ton right before and as you guys came of age.
Millennials may spend more, but some of that is because you guys have grown up with so many options. Ask your parents about the grocery stores when they grew up versus today. I remember it being a really big deal in the mid 70s to go to a grocery store with a bakery, and the fruit choices during the winter were basically apples, oranges or bananas. Pineapples were amazingly exotic unless canned. And restaurant choices were a lot fewer at least in the south…basically burger joints, diners, pizza and a smattering of Italian and Chinese restaurants in bigger towns. Now Mexican is standard even in the middle of nowhere, and Mayberry probably would have a Thai place and grocery store sushi.
And, food doesn’t feel like an unreasonable thing to spend money on, particularly if you are buying it at the grocery store. You have to eat. Eating in is cheaper than eating out. Nevermind that you might be buying foods that are fully prepared and way more expensive than you need to be paying. It’s really easy for the cost to get out of hand if you aren’t tracking expenses.
Finally, I think about food TV. I love shows like Top Chef. TV food looks amazing, but you know it’s not usually low cal. But it’s popularized a lot of ingredients (pork belly!) and made people want to try lots of things. You can feel like a foodie who knows a lot about the culinary world even if you live in a backwater, because you can watch Food TV 24/7.
I really, really love these different insights, Emily. I do think that you’re right about part of our eatings habits is based on what is available to us. And the influences of the Food Network. I remember when HGTV came out and people called it the “new Food Network” in terms of its addictiveness and influence.
The hubby and I talk about the amount of new foods we tried after moving out from our parents house. Things we never ate at home. But 5 years later, they were everywhere. Blue cheese. Feta. Artichokes. Kalamata olives. Coconut curry. Any salad green other than iceburg. It changed fast. But now any restaurant will have these.
I grew up on iceberg lettuce! I convinced my parents to switch to greener greens. And I still remember the first time I brought home hummus. My dad took a bite and has called it “pumice” ever since! My mom, though, is a big fan!
You had me curious about the Carnivore Club, but at $50/month, I’ll just have to remain curious!
It’s a very cool infographic, but I think it’s ridiculous that people would rather go to a food festival than a music festival. Don’t most music festivals have food trucks these days? 😀
Right? All subscription boxes are a little too rich for my blood. And it’s not that I don’t like cooking. I hate the clean up. If I’m going to spend big, I prefer to eat out and let someone else worry about the dishes.
That statistic surprised me too!
I wonder how much of the obesity problem is the “treat yo’self” mentality. If I eat a salad for lunch, I “deserve” fries and a brownie for dinner, right? I’ll go to the gym tomorrow, I promise. I mean, I bought the yoga pants, so I’ll at least go to brunch in the vicinity of the gym…
It is hard to be healthy when the dietary guidelines aren’t based on good science and they change dramatically every decade. It almost makes more sense to say “Forget it. I’ll just eat whatever I want.”
These days there are so many documentaries and studies promoting different diets that it’s hard to know what’s right. Fat was bad. Now sugar is bad. Meat is bad. No, carbs are bad. Vegan is okay- you can still eat Oreos. No, Paleo is the way to go… Who knows?
We’re trying to eat more whole foods and it makes me feel much better, but our guidelines need to include more science and fewer lobbyists.
I definitely grew up with parents (OK, it was my mom and my dad just went along with it) who got into the whole calorie counting thing. My mom, who was never heavy, would go to Jenny Craig meetings for a half hour and leave me at the bookstore next door! I’d say my food choices are equal parts influenced by and a reaction to what I grew up eating.
PIC and I have had a lot of conversations about how, as Californians, we forget there is such a thing as growing seasons. We have everything year-round. Mangos and strawberries and apples and grapes don’t actually grow and ripen at the same time but JuggerBaby wouldn’t ever know that from our weekly grocery shopping! I knew that because I’m the grandchild of a farmer and a few things stuck but like Emily said, we have the amazing luxury of access to food all around the world.
We did realize that this might be something unique to the coasts, though, when friends from the center of the country were surprised to see we had more than one Asian food restaurant – and it was just “Asian” to them because they didn’t have the multiplicity of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Burmese and more foods that we have. Just to point to one general area of food.
And oh my goodness, we have the internet! There is literally no recipe I can’t find by kermit typing a few food related words. This is entirely a total 180 from twenty years ago. I remember learning to cook pre-internet. It was “remember everything I just did, and do that exact same thing, without measuring anything.” Needless to say, I was a terrible cook as a teen.
I didn’t think that taking food pictures were a millennial thing but my friends from the silent generation/baby boomers (ish) generations have teased me about them for years. So, I guess? I like remembering delicious foods!
I love remembering delicious foods! I always add a page to our travel journals to document what I ate. In Costa Rica, I have mamon chino (rambutans). I could not get enough of them. They were delicious, and they are the goofiest looking thing I’ve ever eaten!
When I was young, most of our family meals were based on potatoes, whereas anything with potatoes, pasta, rice, cous cous or noodles is a normal carb for our meal and it seems boring to stick to the same old formula every night.
We don’t eat out all that often at home to be honest, but when we go away, a huge chunk of planning is on where we will eat and how to find the most authentic food… and a lot of it gets snapped! I reckon cooking standards for a wider range of foods have improved, which means we expect higher standards from restaurants, and we like to take a pic when our food is presented artistically to us.
That’s interesting, Sarah. I, too, love to snap photos of my food when it looks like a work of art, especially if we’re traveling. I don’t always share the photos on social media, but I do like to flip through them with my husband to remember our travels.
Come visit for In-N-Out, my treat!
Only if I can drink my weight in milkshakes. My husband had never been to one, so when we honeymooned in Arizona, it was our first dinner! Worth every calorie.
I came for the pie, I left when it became arugula. 🙂 Just kidding. Is this when I yell: “Oh KALE no!”
::dies::
You are the best, Maggie. The absolute best.
Wow I’m shocked at the obesity claim as well. I feel like millennials tend to be a very health conscious generation. I won’t dispute that millennials do like to drink a lot (maybe I’m a little biased because I’m a fresh graduate and I’m basing my opinion on what I saw in my college days).
I’m shocked that millennials prefer living a comfortable life now and possibly an uncomfortable life later on by buying expensive and decadent meals on a limited income. It seems to me like a backwards way to live but I sure won’t be judging anyone for their spending mistakes (er…. choices)!
Loving the humor in this post! I agree that millennials (I’m one, barely) are foodies, and sometimes it doesn’t make much sense in light of financial realities like massive student loans or low incomes. Food is an in-the-moment gratification, so it makes sense if you’re not seeing a ton of quick progress in your bigger goals, you might want it on your plate. But we’ve also just been exposed to so much more, whether through travel, celebrity chefs, diverse restaurants, and food brand marketing.
I’m the kind of person who could eat the same things every day, but I could also go for a different ethnic cuisine every day of the week. I do stock more ingredients so I can make those foods without going out.
This is all very interesting. To be honest, I don’t think about my food too much. We don’t eat out to save money, except for occasional trips to the drive-thru (no more than once every two weeks). We eat our typical rotation of meals that we like.
I do think about what we feed the kids a lot. There seems to be so much pressure on parents to feel kids organic, super “healthy” food. Should I feel guilty about feeding the kids macaroni and cheese, fish sticks, processed cheese slices, regular old ground beef? No. We ate that stuff growing up and turned out fine. And my kids eat tons of fruits and vegetables. They have never eaten kale or quinoa. They do eat cereal with food coloring.
Parents are likely influenced by social media in feeding their kids, as much as they are with feeling the need to order fancy instagram-worthy food for themselves. All you need is a couple of parents to brag about a cute bento box creation on Facebook before everyone else feels like they’re slackers.