IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/agfoec/v10y2022i1d10.1186_s40100-022-00234-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Post-lockdown changes in diet in Italy and the USA: Return to old habits or structural changes?

Author

Listed:
  • Gabriele Scozzafava

    (University of Firenze)

  • Caterina Contini

    (University of Firenze)

  • Francesca Gerini

    (University of Firenze)

  • Leonardo Casini

    (University of Firenze)

Abstract

This study analyses the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food consumption at the end of the first lockdown in the New York State (USA) and in Italy (spring 2020). The results of our study show that important changes occurred in food habits in these two countries, in which lockdown was very similar. Three models of response to the shock of the lockdown were noted in both countries. The first model (40%) includes individuals who largely increased their food consumption, the second model (26%) showed a more virtuous and responsible behaviour, while the third model (34%) displayed no change in food consumption. Diet quality in terms of healthiness and sustainability declined in the USA, while in Italy, approximately one-third of the sample showed an improvement in diet in these same areas. The use of sociodemographic, motivational, and behavioural variables to profile subjects who adhered to each food model has made it possible to obtain information that can be used to develop communication campaigns and policies for a healthier and more sustainable diet.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriele Scozzafava & Caterina Contini & Francesca Gerini & Leonardo Casini, 2022. "Post-lockdown changes in diet in Italy and the USA: Return to old habits or structural changes?," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-20, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agfoec:v:10:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1186_s40100-022-00234-7
    DOI: 10.1186/s40100-022-00234-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s40100-022-00234-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s40100-022-00234-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephen Johnson, 1967. "Hierarchical clustering schemes," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 32(3), pages 241-254, September.
    2. Francesca Gerini & Tommaso Fantechi & Caterina Contini & Leonardo Casini & Gabriele Scozzafava, 2022. "Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet and COVID-19: A Segmentation Analysis of Italian and US Consumers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-20, March.
    3. Brenna Ellison & Brandon McFadden & Bradley J. Rickard & Norbert L. W. Wilson, 2021. "Examining Food Purchase Behavior and Food Values During the COVID‐19 Pandemic," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 58-72, March.
    4. Brian E. Roe & Kathryn Bender & Danyi Qi, 2021. "The Impact of COVID‐19 on Consumer Food Waste," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 401-411, March.
    5. G. V. Kass, 1980. "An Exploratory Technique for Investigating Large Quantities of Categorical Data," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 29(2), pages 119-127, June.
    6. Lucia A. Leone & Sheila Fleischhacker & Betsy Anderson-Steeves & Kaitlyn Harper & Megan Winkler & Elizabeth Racine & Barbara Baquero & Joel Gittelsohn, 2020. "Healthy Food Retail during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Future Directions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-14, October.
    7. Jill E. Hobbs, 2020. "Food supply chains during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 68(2), pages 171-176, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sylvain Charlebois & Mark Juhasz & Janet Music, 2021. "Supply Chain Responsiveness to a (Post)-Pandemic Grocery and Food Service E-Commerce Economy: An Exploratory Canadian Case Study," Businesses, MDPI, vol. 1(2), pages 1-19, July.
    2. Huidan Xue & Yujia Zhai & Wen-Hao Su & Ziling He, 2023. "Governance and Actions for Resilient Urban Food Systems in the Era of COVID-19: Lessons and Challenges in China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-25, August.
    3. Eulalia Skawińska & Romuald I. Zalewski & Joanna Wyrwa, 2023. "Students’ Food Consumption Behavior during COVID-19 Lockdown," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-28, June.
    4. Yajia Liang & Taiyang Zhong & Jonathan Crush, 2022. "Boon or Bane? Urban Food Security and Online Food Purchasing during the COVID-19 Epidemic in Nanjing, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-25, June.
    5. Janet Music & Sylvain Charlebois & Louise Spiteri & Shannon Farrell & Alysha Griffin, 2021. "Increases in Household Food Waste in Canada as a Result of COVID-19: An Exploratory Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-11, November.
    6. Svetlana Fedoseeva & Ellen Van Droogenbroeck, 2023. "Pandemic pricing: Evidence from German grocery e‐commerce," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 1139-1156, October.
    7. Y. Zhao & C. Huang & J. Luo, 2022. "How to Prepare for the Next Pandemic -- Investigation of Correlation Between Food Prices and COVID-19 From Global and Local Perspectives," Papers 2211.15515, arXiv.org.
    8. Martina Vecchi & Edward C. Jaenicke & Claudia Schmidt, 2022. "Local food in times of crisis: The impact of COVID‐19 and two reinforcing primes," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(4), pages 850-873, October.
    9. Yui-yip Lau & Christelle Not & Gaurika Pant & Mark Ching-Pong Poo, 2024. "Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Purchasing, Food Packaging, and Food Wastage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-24, August.
    10. Rachel Gillespie & Emily DeWitt & Stacey Slone & Kathryn Cardarelli & Alison Gustafson, 2022. "The Impact of a Grocery Store Closure in One Rural Highly Obese Appalachian Community on Shopping Behavior and Dietary Intake," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-12, March.
    11. Samantha M. Sundermeir & Megan R. Winkler & Sara John & Uriyoán Colón-Ramos & Ravneet Kaur & Ashley Hickson & Rachael D. Dombrowski & Alex B. Hill & Bree Bode & Julia DeAngelo & Joel Gittelsohn, 2022. "A Commentary on the Healthy Community Stores Case Study Project: Implications for Retailers, Policy, and Future Research," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-11, July.
    12. Clement O. Codjia & Sayed H. Saghaian, 2022. "Determinants of Food Expenditure Patterns: Evidence from U.S. Consumers in the Context of the COVID-19 Price Shocks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-17, July.
    13. Jairus Rossi, 2024. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Consumer Perceptions of Local Food Market Channels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-18, May.
    14. Dimitris Skalkos & Zoi C. Kalyva, 2023. "Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Choice Motives: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-16, January.
    15. Xiqian Cai & JunJie Wu & Wenchao Xu & Jialiang Zhu, 2024. "Negative emotions increase unhealthy eating: Evidence from the Wuhan lockdown during COVID‐19," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(4), pages 604-635, April.
    16. Lea Kubíčková & Lucie Veselá & Marcela Kormaňáková, 2021. "Food Waste Behaviour at the Consumer Level: Pilot Study on Czech Private Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-24, October.
    17. Fang, Da & Guo, Yan, 2022. "Flow of goods to the shock of COVID-19 and toll-free highway policy: Evidence from logistics data in China," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    18. Strobl, Carolin & Boulesteix, Anne-Laure & Augustin, Thomas, 2007. "Unbiased split selection for classification trees based on the Gini Index," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 483-501, September.
    19. Hache, Emmanuel & Leboullenger, Déborah & Mignon, Valérie, 2017. "Beyond average energy consumption in the French residential housing market: A household classification approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 82-95.
    20. Claudia Quinteros-Cartaya & Guillermo Solorio-Magaña & Francisco Javier Núñez-Cornú & Felipe de Jesús Escalona-Alcázar & Diana Núñez, 2023. "Microearthquakes in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Zone, Mexico: evidence from buried active faults in Tesistán Valley, Zapopan," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 116(3), pages 2797-2818, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:agfoec:v:10:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1186_s40100-022-00234-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.