Food Barometer 2024
What do Portuguese want to eat?
The FOOD Program carries out an annual barometer to find out the main trends on demand and supply of healthy and nutritionally balanced meals.
A survey was carried out among consumers and restaurant owners to find out their opinions on topics such as healthy eating and food waste. Find out the main results of the FOOD Barometer 2024.
What consumers say
88% of people pay more attention to healthy food. 51% say they have changed their eating habits in the last year to eat better and healthier. And 48% of people say they eat between 11 and 14 healthy meals a week.
81%
They highlight health as the main motivation for opting for a healthier diet.
61%
Of the Portuguese, they reveal that they opt for a healthier diet because they like this type of meal and are looking for greater diversity.
56%
They say environmental and animal concerns are a relevant factor in favoring a healthier diet.
83% think that restaurants should offer a healthier menu:
What restaurants offer
The majority of restaurants (74%) believe that they promote healthy eating.
32%
They point to an increase in demand for more balanced meals.
35%
They also note a greater demand for vegan meals.
38%
Restaurant managers believe that offering healthy options brings sustainable sources of income.
Cooking healthy dishes
In Portuguese restaurants there is more and more knowledge and ease with healthy meals.
68% have vegetable dishes on their menus.
More than half of the establishments have changed their habits and suppliers in order to have local and healthier products.
59% use organic products on their menus.
In terms of costs, 55% of restaurant managers consider it more expensive to prepare healthy meals, while 44% consider it more demanding.
Priority: taking care of your health and… the planet!
Food waste is also a concern for the Portuguese.
98% of consumers indicated that this is an important or very important issue for them.
80% would like to know which restaurants have concrete measures against food waste.
79% of restaurant managers said they had already implemented measures to limit food waste .
The importance of meal vouchers
65% of Portuguese consider that social meal vouchers increase their purchasing power. 78% say that if the amount they receive in meal allowances were higher, it would improve the quality of their meals.
* It should be remembered that although the amount of the meal card allowance is 10.20€/day, according to a study carried out by Netsonda for Edenred, the Portuguese receive an average of 5.77€/day.