Why consumers choose nostalgic foods summary
- Economic pressures push consumers toward comforting familiar foods during uncertainty
- Seventy eight percent of UK adults still enjoy childhood crisp flavours today
- Nostalgic foods reduce feelings of vulnerability by reinforcing safety and predictability
- Retro techniques like fermentation and pickling build trust through perceived authenticity
- Low consumer confidence increases demand for comforting foods evoking simpler happier times
In many markets, food focused around nostalgia has become popular, and people have been embracing retro foods made with traditional techniques.
Consumers are increasingly drawn towards food that takes them back in time, either to their own childhoods or simply to a period when food was prepared in a different way.
What is drawing consumers towards such foods?
Economic hard times drive consumers to nostalgia
In many markets, consumers are increasingly pressured by the cost of living, and food inflation in particular.
In the UK, for example, “the continued pressure on household budgets remains a central influence“ on food, explains Kiti Soininen, head of UK food and drink research at consumer analytics company Mintel.
Such hardships, according to Soininen, drive consumers towards nostalgia. Adults continue to enjoy flavours of crisps (potato chips) that they liked when they were children, for example – in fact, this is the case for 78% of them.
“Food and drink that is rooted in trusted and practical traditions of the past reduce consumers’ feelings of vulnerability and lack of control”, says Soininen.
Furthermore, nostalgia provides consumers with a sense of safety.
“Safety is the element of this that is tied to economic uncertainty, which can make it hard to justify trying something completely new, or really over-the-top innovative”, says Michele Scott, director of insights for market intelligence company Innova Market Insights.
The consumer takes a risk trying a new product: if they don’t like it, they’ve wasted their money. However, if they buy familiar food they already love, they can usually be assured that they will enjoy it.
Nostalgia is most popular in the indulgent categories, such as confectionery and salty snacks, says Scott.
The popularity of retro foods
Meanwhile, retro foods in Germany are popular for similar reasons; because consumers are looking to the past.
Many Germans gravitate towards foods that are made through “traditional expertise”, using “ancestral” practices such as fermentation and kept using old-school practices like drying or pickling.
“In periods of economic uncertainty, consumers rely more heavily on familiar indicators such as origin, craftsmanship and authenticity”, explains Mintel’s director for food and drink, Hannah Sandow. Tried and tested cooking techniques provide trust, which matters a lot in times of economic restraint.
Retro foods also provide consumers with a sense of familiarity when times are tough.
They “offer a source of comfort and can bring up really positive emotions and memories. They also feel safe: you know what you’re getting, at least to some extent”, says Innova’s Scott.
While not all consumers want food that reminds them of the past, the popularity of these foods cannot be ignored. Uncertainty around the cost of living is driving consumers towards the familiar, the comfortable and that which reminds them of a simpler time.
