Millennials, those born between 1984 and 2004, according to The Atlantic, is a generation that's tech-savvy and marketing-wise. They don't buy everything touted by marketers, even when it comes to food. Such marketers, however, really really want to find a way to reach this demographic. And much attention has been paid to their proclivities when it comes to food. Who knew, for example, that pizza-shaped cookies are near and dear to young adults' hearts? Well, they are, according to a New York Times article.
And let's take cereals, for example. For years they have been among Americans' favorites for breakfast, but their popularity has been decreasing over the last decade or so. That may be partly because there are more choices now than in the past smoothies, yogurt, and breakfast sandwiches, for example. Another reason, as cited here, is that millennials don't go for breakfast cereals because it's inconvenient after that bowl is finished you actually have to clean up afterwards (I'd guess that disposable bowls just aren't ecologically friendly enough)!
Further, although millennials say they're into health and nutrition, the annual survey run for the IFIC (International Food Information Council) Foundation says, maybe not so much. For example, while 61 percent of the general population says they have cut back on foods higher in solid fats, that's true of only 54 percent of millennials. And 33 percent of the younger group say they're eating smaller meals or snacks, compared to 41 percent of the general population. As one might expect from this digitally-immersed group, more of them (33 percent) trust food and nutrition bloggers as good sources of food and nutrition information, while that's true of only 24 percent of the general population.
Thus it seems that this cohort of young adults is developing its own ways of accessing and using nutrition information. Hopefully they will be able to use that information to more effectively deal with the diet-related health risks that currently face us (e.g., obesity).
