Top Ten Spanish Markets for Foodies

Going out to eat these days is usually very exciting and adventurous due to the sheer amount of diversity in restaurants in most areas of the US. In the mood for sushi? Or curry? Or just a burger? There’s a place for all those foods and much more. The interesting thing is that the tastes of “foodies” continue to expand and grow even beyond these flavors.

How are Millennials Different?

Foodies are millennials that tend to want “the next best thing” or something they have not tried before in food or drinks. Generally, these are the group of Millennials that put pictures of food on Instagram of what they are going to eat, especially if there is an aesthetic presentation to the dish or drink. Moreover, they will constantly be on the look out for the next interesting food object. So how are foodies important in marketing trends to Millennials?

How big is the market for millennial foodies?

Well about 25% of Millennials are the “foodies” or food sophisticates that take alot of interest in food, and with 83 millions Millennials in the U.S. that is pretty good chunk of an already large market. According to the Hartman group, some descriptions for this population in terms of consuming food are:

• They prefer non traditional food tastes
• Choose to consume trend-forward food
• Enjoy less common cooking styles
• Experiment with new recipes and food types
• Seek out new and different away-from-home dining experiences

Generally, foodies are looking for the next best thing, and are even willing to cook for themselves to create new and exciting dishes. Foodies will experiment with their food and get creative with traditional dishes. In fact, According to Sopexa, 84% foodies cook out of creativity.

Instead, other qualities that can attract the attention of foodies, such as the ability to be creative with a food/beverage product in terms of customization. As mentioned before, 84% of foodies cook out of creativity.

By marketing the flexibility of a product, loyalty can be attained since it will allow multiple dishes/drinks from one product. The convergence of allowing creativity, the exotic, and the natural could result in a highly popular product among foodies, and the general U.S population as well.

What do you think of these foodie traits? Do you consider yourself a foodie? Please comment below!

the magazine rack at my local Barnes & Noble is a miraculous place. From one end to the other, we can see all the myriad lifestyles of Twenty-first Century Americans laid out in subject and gendered order. We start out with gender-neutral political and current-events publications, move onto music and film; traverse across the Women’s Domains (crafts beauty, homemaking, food and health) to the men’s world of woodworking, computers, comics and half-naked women. (The naked ones are on the high top shelf, wrapped in plastic so that the teen-aged men don’t get any funny ideas.)

Which always makes me wonder why we don’t have half-naked men on the top most shelf of the women’s section….

But I digress….

For some time now, I’ve been troubled by the aging out of women from fashion magazines. You will know when you’ve finally aged out when you look at who’s on the cover and have zero idea of what she’s done to get there. Sure, I may know that Zendaya is a Disney Network starlet of some talent, but I’ve never seen her work. And who would have thought that Demi Lovato, who has some connection to the Jonas Brothers (or *a* Jonas Brother) would be taking up so much cover space on the fashion mags?

It’s when you realize your formerly favorite fashion magazines are now in a contest to court a much-younger generation that you understand: perhaps you’ve finally aged out of their prized demographic.

It can be a sad time indeed, in front of the crafts and adult coloring books….

As I sat there on that bench, perusing a crochet pattern magazine, I realized that right past the beauty and decorating mags was an entire rack devoted to the next phase of life, with lifestyle advice that could take most of us well into our old age. There’s just one thing about this, or shall I say two things: the topics of these mags are either food (from a gastronome perspective) or health (from the fitness perspective. No longer do the food and lifestyle magazines focus on losing weight or family meals in 20 mins or less. Now it’s about the long, leisurely five-course meal topped with good wine and a fantastic dessert. It is about the palate, not the waistline. The indulgence, not the diet.

It’s about being a Foodie — and not the torpedoes otherwise.

I’ve always hated the term “Foodie.” It sounds like something a kid would say. Worse, it sounds not like someone who appreciates food, but someone who consumes food for mostly emotional reasons. “Foodie” makes me uncomfortable. Even though I’m one of those people who really enjoys food, I don’t attach strong emotions to it. I certainly don’t attach enough emotions to it to want to immerse myself in “Foodie” lifestyle magazines.

The flip-side of that lifestyle coin is the Health & Wellness magazines. I can’t begin to tell you how I hate the word “Wellness” too. It reeks of something New Agey that left my life when I turned my grunge wardrobe in to the Salvation Army. “Wellness” has been incorporated into the lexicon of healthcare billing departments, so Health & Wellness it is! This is the more hip of the two middle-age lifestyle choices, with smiling, thin middle-aged models in athleisurewear on the covers. Lots of stretchy yoga pants, tank tops and serene smiles.

Still, I am as uncomfortable with these magazines as I am with the Foodie mags. Maybe it’s just not where I’m at in life. Maybe I’m not one of *those* people, of either lifestyle persuasion. Maybe at this point in my life, I don’t need style or makeup or decorating or meal-making advice (although a new recipe and change of curtains go a long way to sprucing up a fusty kitchen.)

Maybe it’s that, as we middle age, we don’t need those magazines the way we once did. There’s no desperate or urgent need to be swan-thin and perfect like Women’s Fitness tells us we can be.