In 2020, Americans made a strong shift toward non-traditional and smaller fall and winter holiday meals simply because of smaller group sizes and less traveling due to the pandemic. Chicago-based IRI reports more pork, seafood, and other less traditional options were on the plate. In some cases, consumers even spent more money on these holiday meals even though they were smaller. For example, many consumers were plating cuts of prime beef.
“People splurged a little bit more and took a chance on cooking some of the finer cuts and had a great time doing it,” explains Chris DuBois, IRI’s senior vice president. “Cooking behaviors changed, and gatherings changed.”