In Quebec, a quarter of the population says they experience no pleasure from food. Surprising? This is what a new survey conducted by the Léger firm with just over 2,000 participants reveals.
The results were published in the latest issue of Bouillon, a guide for the food industry produced by Ilot, specializing in strategy and brand management in the food sector.
“We not only wanted to look at the purchasing behavior of Quebec consumers, but also their relationship with food,” explains Guillaume Mathieu, co-founder and partner of Ilot.
And the results are astonishing to say the least. In fact, 25% of respondents responded that food gave them no pleasure. The study, which divides the population into four main eating profiles, dubs them “practico-practical”.
This is the profile that surprised Guillaume Mathieu the most.
“We have so many cooking shows, cookbooks. And we know it, Montreal is a city of restaurants. It gives the impression that Quebecers are food lovers, but ultimately, for one in four people, the dimension of pleasure is absent from the relationship with food,” he emphasizes in an interview.
Conversely, “enthusiasts” represent only 17% of the population. As the name suggests, they like to discover new recipes and look for quality and freshness of products. They are good consumers of wines and cocktails, and are also more inclined to frequent public markets and delicatessens than other profiles.
The “organized” and the “spontaneous” each make up almost 30% of the population. In the first group, 82% consider their food-related decisions to be completely planned. They carefully scan the nutritional facts tables and look for the good deal. They are the ones who go out to restaurants the least often.
As for the second group, 70% go to the grocery store several times a week. The “spontaneous” make their purchases according to their desire of the moment and regularly visit restaurants. Unlike others, they care less about product quality and are little influenced by promotions and discounts.
The four main profiles are themselves divided into four sub-profiles, namely practical “disinterested or functional”, organized “frugal or conscientious”, spontaneous “without fuss or curious” and passionate “sensible or explorer”.
“The eight profiles that we find are particularly well defined. They are very different. It is not true that there is a Quebec eater or a type of Quebec eater,” argues Sébastien Poitras, vice-president, public affairs and communications, at Léger.
This is the first time that Ilot has done such a survey. “Our objective is to follow these trends year after year, to possibly refine the data. The notion of pleasure linked to food, for example, is something that we will want to explore,” concludes Guillaume Mathieu.