TYPICAL diets in Spain are becoming more healthy – at least, if supermarket shopping trends are anything to go by.
Kantar Worldpanel's research, carried out for German chain Aldi, found that consumers in Spain are tending to buy more fruit and vegetables, less meat, and although they do not go grocery shopping so often, are spending and buying more on their less-frequent trips.
The gradual leaning towards vegetables and fruit and away from meat, and larger shops more spaced apart, was seen over the first six months of this year compared with consumer habits in the last few years, but is unlikely to be entirely due to lockdown, since a follow-up study has seen a similar tendency over July, August and September.
According to Aldi's research and analytics director Ignacio Cid, purchases of fresh produce rose by 9% between January and June inclusive.
Compared with the same period in 2019, the fresh produce which shifted the fastest was eggs, with sales of these shooting up by 23%, followed by vegetables, with 18% more sold, and fruit, increasing by 12%.
Overall, in the last five years, fruit and vegetable consumption has risen by 7% and 13% respectively, according to the study.
Protein from animal sources – fresh meat, sausages, cheese, fresh fish and seafood – went down in that time by 2.5%.
Whilst these trends were already gaining ground slowly since 2015, lockdown was what accelerated the change in habits – and also the amount spent per shop.
A combination of fresh produce, fruit and vegetables costing more than processed foodstuffs, together with eating at home rather than in restaurants, means the average household now spends €2,069 a year on fresh goods, compared with €1,921 a year in 2019.
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