The Major Trends of Food Consumption in Hungary

In the beginning of the 20th century the food consumption levels were much lower than later in the century, when food production increased as well. The selection of foodstuffs became wider and we can observe the modernisation of nutrition principles too, which both had a positive impact on consumption. The variety of food was also affected by the increasing life expectancy. The emergence of more modern ways in food consumption is halted not only by the traditions but by the fact that healthier foods are more expensive than fat or cereal prices. There is a significant correlation between the income levels and the quality of consumed food, as it can be observed that in different regions in Hungary. My aim was also to investigate the change in consumer behaviour in parallel with the increase of income levels; to see which sort of foods are preferred by the wealthier, and which are preferred by the ones with less income. It is also important to analyse the economic and social indicators on regional and other spatial levels and to compare them with food consumption. The annual net income per capita is usually higher in more developed regions than in the less developed ones. Therefore, the expenditure spent on better quality and more expensive food products is also higher. Similarly, in the case of the population there are differences in consumer habits according to purchasing power. For instance, for people with higher income one of the most important factors is to buy healthy and high quality food, but for the ones with lower income it can be a struggle only to find food in sufficient quantities, and quality cannot be as much of an issue. In the consumer basket, foodstuff accounts for approximately one-third of the overall expenditure. In this study I analysed the annual expenditure of Hungary’s population on foodstuffs and the annual quantity of food consumed by households per capita on a regional level between 2010 and 2013.