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REPORT 02 Dec 20

2021 EXPERT OUTLOOK ON EATING AND DRINKING

Will homes remain the main destination for food and drink experiences? How can diets help
maintain mental health? And who will people turn to for their groceries? In this part of the 2021
Expert Outlook, we speak to three experts about how the events of 2020 are shaping eating and
drinking habits.

Location Global

Featured Experts
Dr. Anna Sulan Masing
Dr. Anna Sulan Masing is an academic and food, drink, and culture writer. She is a co-founder of
Voices At The Table and founder of Black Book, a platform for Black and non-White people
working in hospitality and food media. She also runs Sourced, a public research project that
explores people’s relationships with food and drink.

Lydia Richards
Lydia Richards is a certified sommelier from the Sommelier Society of America and founder of
Vino Concierge, a wine consultancy that offers tastings and wine education programs. She also
co-founded Hispanics in Wine, a platform that aims to amplify the voices and stories of Hispanic
and Latino communities in wine.

Eve Turow-Paul
Eve Turow-Paul is an author and consumer behaviourist who focuses on the intersection of the
digital age, food trends, and wellbeing. She is the author of Hungry: Avocado Toast, Instagram
Influencers, and Our Search for Connection and Meaning and is also the founder and executive
director of the Food for Climate League, a non-profit that promotes the democratisation of
sustainable eating.

Author
Luana Sambell
Luana Sambell is a behavioural analyst on the Cultural Intelligence team at Canvas8. With an
MSc in consumer behaviour, she’s interested in how pop- and sub-cultures shape people’s
preferences, judgements, and decision-making. Outside of work, you can usually find her cycling
around London looking for dumplings or natural wine.

Highlights & Data

A local mindset has emerged as a result of Food and drink discovery is likely to shift
pandemic restrictions, helping to fuel away from being a primarily out-of-home
interest in seasonal produce and regional experience, with many people now
food cultures beginning their search online

A sense of powerlessness around In a similar vein, people are seeking ways


COVID-19 and climate change has led
some people to adopt sustainable eating
habits (i.e. reducing food waste or growing
veg)
The food industry and food media are in
the process of decolonisation as people
seek stories and conversations that
expand their culinary knowledge
Canvas8 Member : powern@amvbbdo.com
to recreate social drinking experiences
virtually and at home amid ongoing
uncertainty around the pandemic
People will not only be scrutinising their
diets in terms of physical health but will
also look to use food and drink to maintain
their mental health

Scope
From raising sourdough starters to concocting makeshift cocktails, the world of food and drink was
largely confined to people’s homes in 2020 – and it’s likely to remain there in 2021. People have
gained a newfound appreciation for their kitchens, with research carried out in the early months of
the pandemic finding that over half of Americans were cooking more often while in lockdown. At the
same time, brands have enabled them to experiment with food and drink domestically by offering
services such as home delivery from Michelin-starred restaurants and sommelier-curated wine
cases.

But not all food and drink experiences have been frivolous during this year of uncertainty. People
have also been taking a more conscious approach to their diets, whether that’s by looking for
diverse communities and brands to support or eating to improve their physical and mental health.
Indeed, 75% of people around the world say they plan to eat and drink healthier because of the
pandemic. In response, Tonic Health is offering vitamin sachets as a quick way to enhance
people’s immunity, while the rise of low- and non-alcoholic spirits from brands such as Haus is
helping to promote mindful drinking, and mood-boosting foods are turning eating into a stress-
busting activity.

In this chapter of Canvas8’s 2021 Expert Outlook, Dr. Anna Masing, an academic and food, drink,
and culture journalist, explains why the future of the food industry may be defined by community;
Lydia Richards, a sommelier and founder of Vino Concierge, provide insights into how people are
consciously drinking; and Eve Turow-Paul, an author and consumer behaviourist, explores the
ways in which diets will diversify in the coming year.

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DIVERSE DIETS
People will be hungry for equitable access to food

Eve Turow-Paul, consumer behaviourist and author of Hungry: Avocado Toast, Instagram
Influencers, and Our Search for Connection and Meaning
Prior to COVID, the way we experienced food cultures was through travel. Now, that’s pivoted to a
local lens where interest in Community-Supported Agriculture initiatives (CSAs) has skyrocketed in
the US, and people familiarised themselves with local farmers and found that there’s a lot to be
explored. Food culture has become a bit boring because you can fly halfway around the world and
eat the same things. Those indigenous ways of farming and cooking have been pushed away
because people eat the same thing year-round and want the same thing available to them whether
they’re in Shanghai or New York City. But there’ll be more local exploration happening in 2021 as
 Canvas8 Member : powern@amvbbdo.com
we’re being forced to investigate our own regions and neighbourhoods.

A major force in 2020, especially in the US, has been the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s
already impacted food culture but will play a bigger role moving forward. Systematic racism is very
much still a part of the food system. In 2021, there’s going to be an increasing acceptance and
celebration of diverse ways of eating as ingredients, traditions, and food cultures become less
homogenised.

People are waking up to the benefits of buying local and seasonal produce

Zen Chung (2020) ©

Food culture has become white-washed around the world and I would anticipate the pendulum is
going to start swinging back in the other direction. People will start to think about what grows
locally, who the local talent is, how we are celebrating skill sets, traditions, origins, and creativity.
There’s also a deep yearning for connection and community that is going to transform the way
people identify and connect with food and beverage brands. Most likely, brands that do a good job
of creating community were already doing a really good job at conjuring this sense of connection,
and that’s just going to grow in importance in the years to come.

Another behavioural shift during the pandemic is that people are yearning for a sense of impact and
purpose as a lot of us feel helpless right now. We know that climate change is present and not
being dealt with with the same immediacy. Because of this, people are wasting less food, growing
food at home, or learning to cook, and these habits and behaviours will be long-lasting. All this
indoor time has brought people in touch with their yearnings to use their bodies, to be outside in
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nature, to commune with nature, and to utilise all of their senses. And a lot of people are realising
that doing these sustainable things is delicious, fun, and fulfilling. Whether that means eating more
varieties of locally grown produce, wasting less food, or exploring new things to eat, there’s an
openness and willingness for sustainability. It’s interesting to see people wanting to make an
impact on the climate and that’s not going anywhere.

We know that climate change is present and not being dealt with with the
same immediacy. Because of this, people are wasting less food, growing food
at home, or learning to cook
Eve Turow-Paul, author and consumer behaviourist

We all need to feel safe and in control, we need to feel like we belong to a community, we need to
feel like our lives have meaning, but the way that we are fulfilling those needs has changed pretty
dramatically. People are also putting their mental health above their physical health to a certain
degree, especially when it comes to dining. And brands should not be shying away from the mental
health issues that are happening worldwide.

There is also a communitarian side of wellbeing that is being underfed, and my expectation is, as
soon as it’s allowed, people will flock to immersive community-based experiences. We know that
nothing brings people together more than eating. There are a number of brands who have created
a wider system and are making it more of a lifestyle. For example, there is Sweetgreen, which
created the Sweet Life Festival. The festival wasn’t created to sell salad – it was made to create a
sense of community and bonding among customers.
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Lockdown measures have made home-based culinary exploration the norm

Ba Tik (2020) ©

HOMEGROWN CONNOISSEURS
Without traditional expertise, DIY discovery will be the new normal

Dr. Anna Sulan Masing, food and culture writer and founder of Black Book
2020 was about deconstructing everything because the world has literally fallen apart around us. In
2020, the question is ‘how do we rebuild it?’ Across the industry, there’s rebuilding and
recalibrating that coincides with decolonising and dismantling. In multiple discussions I’ve been
having in 2020 about decolonising the food industry, there is an audience for complicated stories.
The readership for food media is diverse. People want deep food stories, they want to be
challenged, and these stories need to shift the perspective on their audience – it’s not just a White
audience anymore. There’s so much more in that audience. Mainstream food media hasn’t
accepted the challenge yet. In the US, Bon Appetit has done it, but it took a lot to have a subtle
change. It’s a brand to look out for to see if they follow through.

In 2020, It’s been especially difficult for big brands to pivot in a useful, graceful, and meaningful
way because they’re on a trajectory. It’s been smaller brands or individuals who’ve made the
most impact during the pandemic because they’re able to adjust and react quickly to how things
are going. There are many individuals within the food media who are changing the industry. In the
US, the team behind Whetstone has changed food conversation and they’ve been doing this for
years. In Puerto Rico, Alicia Kennedy’s writing is changing the way food is being thought about. In
the UK, Jonathan Nunn’s Vittles newsletter is re-centring the meaning of food within communities,
which is important because food has shifted into community spaces and neighbourhoods. The way
the consumer world works now, we have to think and deal with things in a lot more complicated and
nuanced ways, which newsletters are able to address. Obviously, blogs did that beforehand, but
the cultural context was different then.

Restaurants and bars were once seen as a place to gain knowledge when you
go out – having that interaction with front-of-house staff is a gateway to
learning about food and drink
Dr. Anna Sulan Masing, food and culture writer and founder of Black Book

Another key behavioural shift that’s happened in 2020 is around knowledge. There is a knowledge
quest that’s happening from the consumer. Restaurants and bars were once seen as a place to
gain knowledge when you go out – having that interaction with front-of-house staff is a gateway to
learning about food and drink. However, that kind of conduit has been thinned out. It will be
interesting to see where people will find that knowledge instead. It will still be in the restaurants, but
that might not be the driving force. Instead, it could be in things like reading the wine list before the
reservation. In terms of delivery, again, people want to have that information and connection, like
getting a delivery box with an online tutorial. It feels engaging as they learn. People will respond to
prompts to go and investigate on their own, conducting their own research.

Food and drink are coming back to neighbourhoods and communities. It’s about comfort, and the
key to that is trust. People want to gain knowledge but they want that knowledge to feel trustworthy,
and they also want to trust the people they’re spending money and time with. I’ve seen this in
 Canvas8 Member : powern@amvbbdo.com
wine shops and wine bars. A lot of neighbourhood wine bars were scraping by, but since lockdown,
people are more likely to walk around their neighbourhood where they’ve discovered these places.
Having a nice bottle of wine has been a perk when you can’t do a lot. And having the model of a
small grocery that can deliver, be a part of and support the community, and also somewhere you
can go to have a chat with the owner has been the key, not necessarily just the wine. In London,
Nobody Asked Me in Hackney and Diogenes the Dog in Elephant and Castle have done incredibly
well with this.

Shared dining experiences have been sorely missed throughout 2020

Askar Abayev (2020) ©

LIFTING SPIRITS
Conscious consumption will level up in the post-pandemic era

Lydia Richards, certified sommelier and founder of Vino Concierge

With everything going on with the pandemic and civil unrest, it’s been a year where people have
tried to find alternative ways not just to drink, but to really work on their mental health and
physiological health. I’m seeing this through CBD products that have been slowly coming towards
us and becoming more accepted, even outside the US. On the health-conscious side, we’ll see
food and drink with a lot less sugary, artificial flavours. People are being more conscious about the
drinks they’re putting into their bodies. The blend of hard kombuchas, hard seltzers, and low-
alcohol cocktails – it’s all merging into one big category we will see moving forward into 2021.

Since 2015, the drinks industry has really focused on premiumisation. Craft beer, in general, has
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not gone that well, but then you see premium wines, premium craft distillers making this huge jump.
Then the pandemic happened and it shuffled everything. In 2021, I think we’ll see people being
more conscious about what they're drinking. I think their beverage experiences in terms of alcohol
are going to change. It's not going to be just ‘drink because I feel stressed or sad’. People are
going to find creative ways to have these drinking experiences at home because the holidays are
coming and so on. The virtual gatherings, the virtual happy hours – that's something that brands
can touch upon. If you're engaging with consumers at that level where you create a beautiful
experience at home or are supporting those experiences at home, that’s become really important
because people are trying to find creative ways to make their home lives a little bit better.

People are trying to not just buy anything and will be really conscious about the decisions they're
making. And because they have a lot more time on their hands, they really research what they're
spending their precious dollars on. In 2021, environmentally conscious people are going to be
sourcing products or brands that communicate the message that they’re taking care of the planet.
They want to know if a winemaker’s viticultural efforts are organic, biodynamic, and sustainable.

It’s been a year where people have tried to find alternative ways not just to
drink, but to really work on their mental health and physiological health
Lydia Richards, certified sommelier and founder of Vino Concierge

There will also be a huge push for diversity, especially the rise of Black retailers and sommeliers
and support for more diverse and minority businesses in general. We’re seeing a lot of young
people interested in where things are coming from and wanting that explanation. We’re seeing
people of colour getting more of the limelight and brands reaching new communities. The alcohol
industry has traditionally been very narrow-minded in the way it advertises products, and investing
in diverse communities will help to positively impact sales.

In 2021, spirits are to have a massive presence in the market because they’re more versatile and
open than wine. This is because winemakers tend to engage consumers in restaurants and
retailers and that’s suffered a huge blow in 2020. Brands that are trying to reach out and engage
with consumers in direct-to-consumer channels work well, and 2020 has taught us that brands that
don’t have an online presence are not going to be able to push sales because they don’t have
those typical channels available. As a brand, you have to be engaging constantly and, sadly, only
bigger brands have bigger budgets to do this. Maker’s Mark has done an incredible job with this.
Not only has it created digital activities to connect with American consumers directly, but it’s
socially conscious and gotten into matters that people are interested in, donating to restaurant
worker relief programmes when COVID hit and running a campaign during Black Restaurant Week.

For smaller or craft brands, investing in digital activities to engage their customers and partnering
with sommeliers or influencers can spread the word of their authenticity. Having reputable
ambassadors for brands is crucial, and having people that are more authentic will end up winning at
the end. Partida Tequila is an excellent example of a brand that’s reaching its customers online
and making it really accessible for people to find its products.
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