How Did The Pandemic Impact Our Eating Habits?

We all know that eating out is part of everyday life—and a lot of us absolutely love it.

Being Brazilian, we culturally socialize around food and music, but food and friends are always a huge deal for us.

I also had the unique and amazing opportunity to travel the world and that made me appreciate food even more.

I developed a wide appreciation for a variety of cuisines, and I am always excited and looking forward to trying new dishes.

We are thankfully way passed the pandemic, but it is important to know how it completely changed how we perceive life and the things that we used to do before the lockdowns, and that involves our eating habits.

In this post we will share some interesting information about how the pandemic impacted the restaurant industry and we hope you enjoy it!

I love going out for dinner with my friends. It’s always fun to share stories and make new memories around food and lots of laughter with our loved ones.

I’ve been eating out my whole life, and the one thing I’ve found is that if you make a habit out of eating at nice restaurants, it becomes much more fun.

It’s almost like going to a spa or spa-like atmosphere—you enjoy the experience more and you’re more likely to continue eating at restaurants.

My point is, when you treat yourself to a nice meal, it creates a lasting memory. And that’s how it works for me. I love to treat myself to great meals, because I enjoy the whole experience.

I often go out for a good meal with Anna and other friends. It’s much more fun to eat out with friends, and I feel like I’m experiencing a special occasion every time!

Whether it’s a first date or a special event, someone’s birthday, there’s nothing more fun than eating out with friends.

This post is a little different as we want to show you how the pandemic changed some interesting data around our eating habits and eating out.

For months there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding covid and on so many aspects of life as we know it. We had to adjust, and it was extremely hard on us all as a collective.

With lockdowns, restaurants closed, and we were not allowed to socialise with friends and family. That undeniably sent us into the habit of ordering food and eating in.

We stopped going to restaurants and socialising with friends. All these changes caused a huge shock to our systems and a lot of us struggled a lot during those times.

Now that everything is back to normal, it is interesting to know how those changes impacted life today as well.

There has been a massive increase in the volume of people dining out since the beginning of 2022, as restrictions eased.

For example:

• ¼ more diners are searching for Chinese restaurants post pandemic.
• Interest in Italian restaurants has more than doubled!
• 222% more people are searching in 2022 for Japanese restaurants.

I find this data extremely fascinating! We all know how the pandemic impacted our lives but seeing the numbers of how it changed such ordinary habits like eating out is so interesting.

And if you love going out for dinner but also enjoy saving some money, tastecard are experts in delicious foods and even better deals! 

With tastecard you can get amazing discounts at the best spots to eat out like 2 for 1 meals or ü0% off food at popular chains like Zizzi, Pizza Hut, Café Rouge, Bella Italia, and much more.

Or you can support local indie restaurants with loads of great discounts at cuisines like Chinese, Italian, Indian, American, Thai, and more.

On average, members save around £18.88 per meal, meaning they could save themselves £226.56 a year if they eat out once a month, and that’s not including all the other fabulous Member Perks, attractions, and cinema deals they offer too! 

tastecard recently conducted research that showed that there is more interest than ever when it comes to eating out! Check below:

Across the board, there are huge increases in search volume for people looking for specific types of food.

Interest in Japanese restaurants has jumped 222% too, with more 25,000 searches alone in April 2022.

Term Cuisine Specific	Search volume April 2019	Search volume April 2020	Search volume April 2021	Search volume April 2022
italian restaurant near me	18,689	3,768	8,711	38,137
chinese restaurant near me	60,124	28,861	27,492	79,111
indian restaurant near me	113,532	34,120	69,204	236,794
spanish restaurant near me	2,967	298	3,362	7,005
french restaurant near me	3,493	577	2,207	5,823
japanese restaurant near me	11,414	2,547	10,960	25,356
vegan restaurant near me	3,130	229	2,096	3,365

Eating out isn’t just about sitting down to a meal. It’s about creating a great experience, one that’s memorable and fun.

We tend to eat more while we’re socializing because of how enjoyable the social interaction is.

We also tend to enjoy the food more when we’re eating out than when we’re home cooking.

Eating out with friends is something we all enjoy. We may have different motives when we go out, but the common goal is to eat delicious food and enjoy our evening together…especially if we can have amazing deals!

*This post is in conjunction with tastecard but all thoughts are my own.