Chicory’s Bi-Weekly Recipe Trends: Week of 4/13

We’re entering our second month on pause here in New York and rounding out Chicory’s seventh week of working from home. We watched as consumers across the country became at-home bakers, making their own sourdough bread starters and banana bread, then shifting to comforting classics and finally, taking on food trend challenges like Dalgona coffee to mix up their morning routines. All of these trends continue to give us a fascinating glimpse into how consumers are using food in varied and intentional ways, most recently to pass the time, learn new cooking and baking skills and ease anxieties. 

But in the past two weeks, traffic patterns within our network indicate a new phase on the food trend front. Americans are moving away from classic comfort foods following Easter, and instead looking to food and cooking as a form of escapism in the home. They’re thinking outside of their comfort (food) zone and using food as a way to explore the world from their homes. 

… But, yes, everyone is still baking a lot of bread.

Overall traffic to recipes remains at seasonal record highs for us. Easter showed tremendously high traffic volume in the ranks of Thanksgiving 2019 traffic, but it didn’t peak there. Currently, the average Sunday during COVID-19 is reaching levels that match those of Christmas Eve, typically the second-highest trafficked day each year.

There’s also a steady increase in recipe ordering, though not as drastic as the growth in recipe views. This indicates that, while online grocery is becoming a more common channel for shoppers, they’re also looking for ways to clear out what they’ve already got packed in their pantries. Easter was the third-highest day for orders in the past year, only beat out by the A-list holiday contenders, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

We’ve also witnessed new trends take off among food shoppers and home cooks. Consumers are taking to “project baking,” whipping up tons of banana breads and sourdough starters. And as the weeks go by, fewer and fewer recipes fall into the “quick and easy” camp (typically our most popular recipe trend) and are being replaced by from-scratch cooking, whether that be a scalloped potato dish or easter ham.

Recipes not only provide a space for inspiration, but also help consumers satisfy their cravings, whether that’s  comfort food to an adventurous new kitchen challenge. And with many having stocked their pantries in the first weeks of the pandemic, recipes provide them with ways to use those products. While Easter may have marked a particularly high spike, we’re anticipating unusually high traffic to recipes compared to previous spring and summer seasons. 

How long will these at-home cooking habits last? While we expect some amount of flocking to bars and restaurants when the country re-opens, we also suspect that many will lean into the cooking skills they’ve acquired during their time sheltering in place, hosting cocktail hours and cookouts to make up for lost time with loved ones (and slowly re-integrate into social settings).

Ingredient engagement trends within our network of 100 million monthly viewers revealed a new phase for shoppers during the coronavirus pandemic. Shelf stable ingredients that shoppers had been stockpiling, like tomato sauce, olives and egg noodles saw a decline in views, being swapped out for ingredients that signal a small return to normalcy as shoppers experienced their first holiday since COVID-19 began. 

Shoppers sought out classic Easter fixings, like ham, pineapple, and green beans to celebrate at home in familiar ways. Plus, the growth in views of ingredients like food coloring, marshmallows and pudding mix indicate that whipping up a special, sweet treat is a way that many Americans are breaking out of the stay-at-home monotony.

As we continue isolating at home, consumers will continue to look for small ways to celebrate or mark special occasions, even if the group around the dinner table is smaller than in previous years.

“How-to” recipes are declining in popularity as April progresses,  while classic comfort foods like scalloped potatoes and green bean casserole are gaining favor. Some of the most popular recipes in our network the week leading up to Easter were dishes that top our charts in mid-November as shoppers prepare for Thanksgiving. The Easter holiday certainly influenced this shift, with scalloped potatoes reappearing year over year as a popular preparation. Their Easter menus were rounded out with cheesy comfort foods made from shelf stable ingredients, (like lasagna) rather than egg-filled brunch items or strawberry-based desserts, which were popular in previous years.

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