Hi everyone,
hope you’re doing well. Today I decided to talk about most people’s favourite topic: food. How has food preparing and dining out changed for you since the pandemic? Do you eat out less and cook more? Have you been making healthier choices (because you have more time to prepare meals), or reaching for the cookie jar to curb pandemic-related anxieties? A sub-topic I’ll explore next week is the restaurant industry; let’s take a look at how the industry has changed during and after the quarantine, but for now, I want to focus on the grocery shopping experience as well as home-cooked meals.
Food is essential to life, as grocery stores remained open during the quarantine as part of the “essential services” industries. My experience at the grocery store was anxiety-ridden at the beginning of the quarantine, especially when I heard about the toilet-paper hoarding. I thought: “if toilet paper’s going to be gone, does this mean there will be food shortages in the grocery stores- will I have enough to eat?!” I looked into online grocery delivery for save-on foods and Wal-Mart, but couldn’t get a time-slot. I drudged to the grocery store, and noticed that certain items, like milk and rotisserie chicken- were rationed (“limit one per family”), shelves were empty, and grocery carts (like mine) were full. I even bought items I normally didn’t buy, like frozen vegetables, because they last longer and would save a trip to the grocery store. My experience was similar to many Canadians, with online ordering delays (“if you could get a time-slot at all“), items suddenly sold out. The one exception would be that I avoided large stores like Costco, and didn’t experience line-ups.
I read this food article from the Globe and Mail, which provided research on data on Canadian food trends during the quarantine. Because of the stay-at-home orders, 95 per cent of meals were prepared at home during the quarantine, as baking and cooking from scratch increased by 40 per cent. Before that, one in four meals involved a restaurant, which means that the pandemic promoted more home-cooked meals. I think this a positive consequence from COVID-19, that people are slowing down and making more efforts to nourish their bodies by using wholesome ingredients. I want to add that this positive trend was also because of deprivation. Remember: grocery stores were already open before the pandemic, the difference is that now (for the most part), restaurants are closed. Although some restaurants still offered take-out, most were closed and people were encouraged to stay home and avoid leaving unless it was absolutely necessary. The difference between the two is that food preparation is essential, but dining out is not (I’ll explore this topic next week).
And lastly, what were people cooking? My friend and I talked about the sourdough trend on instagram. For myself, cooking was a way for me to deal with boredom and pandemic-related anxiety. Baking and kneading dough was a way for me to leave my mind and interact with something tangible, overall quite therapeutic and soothing. Although people have more time to cook from scratch (and therefore, can make healthier foods that require more preparation), “[many] are choosing to make comfort foods that are higher in calories, sugar, and fat.” I understand where people are coming from, because I’m also an emotional eater, I make efforts to control myself. On my end, I’ve always made food from scratch, I have been trying new recipes versus making the dishes I know by heart, because it requires more time learning to make something new step-by-step. In addition, I have been exploring different cuisines; stead of ordering take-out, I have been making Indian and Turkish food.
What have you been cooking during the pandemic? Feel free to share.
Sincerely,
Guest
