Fitness and health have always been important to me, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve become even more self-aware of what I eat and where my food comes from. A key turning point was a year and a half ago when I watched the documentary “Food, Inc.” by filmmaker Robert Kenner. After watching it I literally was on the fence for a month contemplating becoming vegan. But alas, my love for a good piece of steak won out. However, it did leave an imprint on where and what type of food I buy. My fiancé is of the same mind so when he moved in we started searching out ways to buy locally sourced food and meat from animals that are treated humanely. Many of our friends, especially those with kids, tend to be food aware as well. My parents on the other hand, though health and wellness is important to them, think “organic” is a big grocery money scheme. This got me thinking…who are the most food aware? Is there an age difference?
Using our online panel of consumers I asked a series of questions to find out. When looking at health and wellness attitudes, eating well is important to both young and old. Where we do see differences are those 44 or younger are more motivated to improve their health and wellness and like dining at restaurants that specialize in farm-to-table. Bob and I are huge fans of farm-to-table restaurants and have been excited by the recent addition of a few establishments near us.
Top-2-Box: Strongly agree | 44 or younger | 45 or older |
Improve health and wellness | 70%↑ | 46% |
Dine at restaurants that specialize in farm-to-table | 46%↑ | 26% |
Up arrow indicates significantly higher value at 95% confidence level. |
Across the board, younger consumers are more likely to buy organic products. I think the only time my parents buy organic is when my brother comes to town with his little ones as he and my sister-in-law insist on organic only.
Buy Organic Always / Usually | 44 or younger |
45 or older |
Vegetables and fruit | 69%↑ | 32% |
Meat | 58%↑ | 22% |
Bath and Body Care | 58%↑ | 20% |
Cleaning Products | 53%↑ | 19% |
Up arrow indicates significantly higher value at 95% confidence level. |
Now, when asking about participation in various “green” activities (i.e., recycling, composting, and gardening) we see no difference by age. However, younger consumers are more likely to participate in farm co-ops and raise chickens.
Yes % | 44 or younger |
45 or older |
Participate in Farm Co-op | 19%↑ | 2% |
Raise Chickens | 16%↑ | 3% |
Up arrow indicates significantly higher value at 95% confidence level. |
From our research, it appears that younger consumers are more engaged in wellness activities related to food than older consumers, even though both groups believe health and wellness to be important. Buying organic can be expensive – so the question becomes how much are people willing to pay for organic products or meat from animals that are treated humanely. This might be a good topic for a conjoint study which would pit various product options against one another to see how price comes into play when grocery shopping.