The Humble Gourmand

Unless you’ve been sleepwalking through trips to the grocery store for the past year, you’re probably familiar with at least one of these avant-garde culinary terms: organic, heritage, artisanal, free-range, local.

Sure, you might not be on intimate terms with all of them, but these days, the question of how well your food has been treated has grown nearly as important as what you eat in the first place. Sometimes, among restaurants and friends, it gets almost competitive. Does the lettuce grown within 50 miles of your home really taste better than the lettuce grown within 100 miles?

You’d also need to be pretty oblivious to be entirely unaware of worsening economic conditions in the US. Widely publicized over-extensions in the housing market have spread to the credit markets in general. Labor conditions have softened and prices — particularly those for food and energy items — are heading upward in semi-alarming fashion.

The cost of raw materials such as corn, wheat, and crude oil for US producers was up significantly in January, after declining the previous month, according to the Labor Department’s Producer Price Index, or PPI. Your first thought might be, “Well, I don’t buy any corn, wheat, or crude oil.” Perhaps not. But corn’s chief use in this country is to feed livestock. Wheat is the building block for hundreds of food products. Crude oil is refined into the diesel and gasoline used by the vehicles that transport goods to your grocery store or market.

Inflation at the raw materials level filters through to finished goods. That was evident in the January PPI report, which showed a 1.7% increase in food prices — the ones you pay at the store. Indeed, you may have noticed that the cost of a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread now hovers around $4. Paying $50 for the same bag of groceries you got for $40 last year is disconcerting, because your paycheck probably hasn’t increased that much.

But do these creeping signs of a squeeze actually change purchasing — and noshing — behavior? If prices continue to spiral upward, how will they affect the overarching consumption patterns of American eaters? Will devotees of all things organic change their collective tune in favor of the cheaper, pesticide-filled foodstuffs of our youth? Will the so-called localvores abandon their self-induced mandates and eat things that were (gasp) grown 500 miles away?

The outcome depends on how much certain things are worth to each and every food shoppers. Now, no economics professor could ever condone the use of the word “worth” to measure anything. It’s highly subjective. An empirical analysis is the only way to accurately gauge changes in behavior and isolate their causes, but we’ll be steering clear of regression analysis here — much to your disappointment, I’m sure. Instead, I’ll bring you the results of an informal Humble Gourmand survey that indicates consumer behavior will vary depending the savviness, awareness level, and price elasticity of individual food shoppers. They shake out in three distinct groups:

The Top-of-the-Food-Chain Victors
To the victor go the spoils. I’ll eat whatever I want, regardless of the fertilizers used on it or how much it costs, they say. These folks tend to be the (self-admittedly) less savvy food shoppers. They buy what could be called more traditional food items, based on habit and a lack of interest or effort, and pay little to no attention to how things are grown or raised.

Some contend they would be more willing to make an effort at conscious consuming if their wallets were fatter. “I don’t buy organic in general because it is more expensive — and besides ease of preparation, cost is my next concern,” one respondent said. “I prefer to buy local, but only if it’s as easy as going to the grocery store is.”

Interestingly, many of these people nurture a healthy skepticism for all things organic.

The Middle-of-the-Road Buyers
Perhaps because they feared some imagined truckloads of judgment or condescension, many of my informal survey’s respondents said they made largely sustainable choices at the grocery store, but not necessarily because certain items are proven to be better for us or the environment. They said eating all-natural or organic seems healthier in a vague but important way: “getting back to nature” by cutting down on uber-processed foods and knowing what you are putting in your body. This was cited in addition to lesser exposure to pesticides, artificial hormones, and other scientific miracles that allow for the existence of things like 3-lb. chicken breasts. Seems reasonable.

These folks also note, however, that price and convenience are key determinants of their organic efforts. They say they are less likely to spend a fortune at Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck), other natural and organic food stores, and some farmers markets. (They’re harder to find in winter anyway but not impossible.)

The Conscious Consumers
Throw questions in the direction of this crowd and you’ll come away with an education, an optimistic outlook – and potentially a sense of inadequacy not felt since middle school.

“My diet is what is best for me and the environment,” a dear friend told me. “The food is delicious, and I can enjoy my dinner, knowing my choices contribute to a better future for our planet.”

Heady stuff, but she has a point. To many, sustainability and support of local farmers are crucial values not to be given the shaft in slim times. These folks say their (inelastic) demand for organic and local food items will necessitate cuts in other areas of spending.

So, tell us: where do your food-buying habits fall? Have you already noticed higher prices for items in your hypothetical shopping cart? What have — or might — you change about your consumption habits in times of economic uncertainty?

1. Anderson

   March 20 11:27 a.m. 1

   It's interesting for me to read this article, as an American who can relate to the topic, but who is not currently living in the US. Almost without exception, food is significantly more expensive here in France than at home in the northeast US. Additionally, the always-worsening relationship of the dollar to the euro means that I'm often spending even more than I realize when I do my quick calculations. Here, I have found that much more of the food I eat is local, or organic, or what have you. I wonder if that is because being a smaller country, it is more possible for smaller producers to prosper. There are also many more markets here than I am used to, and they sell not just produce, but meat, seafood, cheese, olives and nuts, most anything you could want. Interestingly, though, they are not the cheap option. When you go to the market, you are not getting haymarket (yes, I"m from boston) prices, but in fact paying a premium for the premium products you are buying. So, the seafood at the market is more expensive than that at the supermarket, but the selection is enormous, and everything is fresh and delicious. And I also just love to go look at the layout of things I've never even heard of. I did not know there were so many kinds of shellfish in the world.

   Of course, there are important exceptions to the "France is expensive" generalization: French wine is much cheaper here! As are French cheeses and other little fancies that would cost a fortune at specialty groceries back home.

2. Alison

   March 20 12:20 p.m. 2

   Thanks for the overseas perspective! We certainly envy your access to wine and cheese over there, but the Euro must be making life pretty difficult. It's enough to make anyone think twice about taking a trip across the pond...