Home cooking falls to pre-pandemic levels in North America
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Americans are returning to pre-pandemic habits and cooking at home less, according to a Gallup-Cookpad global survey published Monday.
Why it matters: Much of the increased workload of the pandemic home cooking boom was shouldered by women, the survey said.
- The new study shows a "clear tendency to return to pre-pandemic habits" in many regions of the world.
- But "if everyone is returning to normal ... it's an exacerbated trend for the United States in Northern America more generally," Andrew Dugan, the research director of the study, told Axios.
State of play: People in the U.S. and Canada ate the fewest number of home-cooked meals per week out of any region in the world in 2022, averaging only 8.4 meals per week — the same rate they exhibited in 2019.
- In the U.S. specifically, the eating-at-home rate reached a "historic low" last year, at 8.2 meals per week compared to 9.4 seen in 2020.
- The downward trend in North America is being driven largely by the U.S., whose population is significantly larger than Canada's, Dugan said.
- Canada saw more modest drops in cooking and eating at home than the U.S., he added.
Zoom in: The new study showed a widening gender gap when it comes to home cooking.
- Last year, women in North America reported cooking 1.7 more meals per week than men.
Between the lines: A variety of factors could explain the pullback in home cooking, including workers returning to the office — and cooking fewer lunches — and feeling more comfortable going out to eat, Dugan said.
Go deeper: Marriages are becoming more "egalitarian." Just not with housework
