People around the country have been buying up an unprecedented amount of food, leaving the shelves of many grocery stores bare. And that means Americans are cooking more than usual.
According to the New York Times, the company has seen a spike in traffic to its food section, something it often sees during global news events.
I buy groceries as usual, but when people started to panic buying, we are forced to stockpile as well in fear that everything will get sold out when we need them pic.twitter.com/UAyx7AZKxr
— Siti Hawa Mohd Nor (@sitiawe_) March 15, 2020
“Our editors have told me that they’re getting lots of emails and messages asking for recipes using pantry ingredients,” said the Times’s Jordan Cohen in an email.
Correspondents’ dinner chaos hits high-profile guests already marked by political violence
Breaking: WH Correspondents’ Dinner Shooter Identified, Appears to Be Kamala Harris Donor on Public Listing
Trump strikes defiant tone after another shooting: ‘I can’t be concerned’
WH Correspondents’ Dinner Cancelled After Shooting Despite Trump Wanting the Show to Go on
Secret Service in line of fire at WHCA shooting still unpaid due to Dem-led shutdown
Man charged security checkpoint and shot Secret Service agent at White House correspondents’ dinner: Trump
Trump rushed from same hotel where Reagan assassination attempt unfolded in 1981
Breaking: Shooter Reportedly Shot Dead or Apprehended at WH Correspondents Dinner with Trump in Attendance
Breaking: Shots Reportedly Fired at WH Correspondents Dinner, Trump and Melania Rushed Out
Trump shares details on ‘very sick person’ who fired shots at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Trump and Cabinet members evacuated from correspondents’ dinner after shooting
King Charles to meet Mamdani in New York during US state visit next week
Illegal alien accused of biting 3-year-old girl’s face at Texas park; ICE lodges detainer after arrest: DHS
Trump vows to ‘get to the bottom’ of Fed’s multibillion-dollar building renovation after probe shift
Winery belonging to Ilhan Omar’s husband shut down amid financial spotlight
The New York Times’ cooking section will also soon see its paywall lift in response to the coronavirus crisis, according to a source at the paper.
The same trend of mega traffic has been noted at Allrecipes.com and Fexy, which owns recipe and cooking websites Serious Eats and Simply Recipes, as well as Relish, a recipe website that you can order ingredients from.
Conde Nast’s Bon Appétit, however, hasn’t noted any upticks.
“We’re seeing over 50% increase in traffic on recipe pages as compared to what we saw on the same dates as last year, and a noticeable jump on the sites in the past week,” Cliff Sharples, co-CEO of Fexy wrote in an email.
Sharples said the company had just finished a survey with its audience about how the coronavirus crisis is affecting consumer behavior, and found that 20% of the audience is considering trying online grocery shopping for the first time in the next 30 days.
At Allrecipies.com, where traffic is up 18% compared to last year at this time, the company said that the top trending article is “how to stock an emergency pantry.”
Correspondents’ dinner chaos hits high-profile guests already marked by political violence
Breaking: WH Correspondents’ Dinner Shooter Identified, Appears to Be Kamala Harris Donor on Public Listing
Trump strikes defiant tone after another shooting: ‘I can’t be concerned’
WH Correspondents’ Dinner Cancelled After Shooting Despite Trump Wanting the Show to Go on
Secret Service in line of fire at WHCA shooting still unpaid due to Dem-led shutdown
Man charged security checkpoint and shot Secret Service agent at White House correspondents’ dinner: Trump
Trump rushed from same hotel where Reagan assassination attempt unfolded in 1981
Breaking: Shooter Reportedly Shot Dead or Apprehended at WH Correspondents Dinner with Trump in Attendance
Breaking: Shots Reportedly Fired at WH Correspondents Dinner, Trump and Melania Rushed Out
Trump shares details on ‘very sick person’ who fired shots at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Trump and Cabinet members evacuated from correspondents’ dinner after shooting
King Charles to meet Mamdani in New York during US state visit next week
Illegal alien accused of biting 3-year-old girl’s face at Texas park; ICE lodges detainer after arrest: DHS
Trump vows to ‘get to the bottom’ of Fed’s multibillion-dollar building renovation after probe shift
Winery belonging to Ilhan Omar’s husband shut down amid financial spotlight
As restaurants closed in China this year to contain the coronavirus outbreak, millions of Chinese people, cooped up inside their homes, also discovered an interest in cooking, cooking shows and food content.
Though the country’s grocery supply chain remains strong, consumers aren’t taking any chances and have been stocking up, with endless anecdotal evidence of cleared supermarket shelves and long lines at stores like Trader Joe’s and Costco . Restaurants have also largely moved to take-out and delivery only. Some have closed, a move that Mohamed El-Erian says is a sign a recession is about to come.
Story cited here.
