Allrecipes, the world's #1 digital food brand with more than one billion annual visits, today published highlights of its global survey of more than 7,000 home cooks for the new 2013 Global Food Trends Measuring Cup Report, revealing insights on the shopping, cooking, and eating behaviors of family-focused women around the globe. To compile the Trends Report, Allrecipes surveyed home cooks in the 13 largest of its 18 communities worldwide*, and confirmed that cooks everywhere are embracing digital technologies at record rates for meal planning and cooking inspiration.

According to the survey results, mobile is a big factor in driving global growth. Nearly half of global consumers are turning to their smartphone for inspiration while shopping for food.  While US home cooks continue to lead global smartphone adoption for seeking meal solutions — with more than one-third of online cooks using their smartphones to find recipes  (source: Allrecipes Then and Now Survey 2012), home cooks in other communities around the world are quickly catching up. The UK and Argentina lead with 27 percent and 25 percent, respectively, for cooks using mobile phones to access recipes in-store and on the go.

The use of online food videos for meal planning and preparation is also a global trend. In communities around the world, the percentage of home cooks visiting video websites for meal planning doubled in 2012 from 9% to 18%. Top global markets for online food video consumption are Poland (30%), Brazil (29%), and Argentina (28%).

"The unprecedented adoption of web and mobile technologies across the globe is allowing family-focused cooks to discover, create, and share everyday recipes and meal planning solutions like never before," says Patricia Lee Smith, vice president, International, Allrecipes. "We are thrilled to see Allrecipes' global web and mobile sites grow by 113% last year. As home cooks across the globe increasingly leverage technology that changes how they shop, plan, and share recipes, Allrecipes will continue to focus on creating new ways to inspire and connect them." 

Additional 2013 Global Food Trends include:

We are more alike than different. Health concerns, desire for greater meal variety, and a love of cooking are fueling home cooking growth in markets around the world.

Cooks around the globe are cooking more meals at home compared to a year ago, and 80% are cooking daily. Top motivators include desire to 'eat healthier' (56% of respondents), increase meal variety (48%), and a 'love of cooking' (43%).

Peers' palates influence what's cooking!

The importance of online recipes with ratings and reviews surged 126% globally last year, rising to 61% compared with 27% the year before.

Global cooks are redefining "healthy" meals.

Health and nutrition are global considerations as 56% of cooks around the world cite "healthy and nutritious" as criteria for their everyday meals.  While prepared ingredients show growth in popularity, you will still find fresh produce in 86% of global grocery carts every week.

Download the full report including charts and graphs here: http://press.allrecipes.com/wp-content/uploads/CANADA_FINAL_AR_March2013_MeasuringCup.pdf

Methodology

Data provided is from Allrecipes' online survey of 7,463 global participants fielded on the respective sites in September 2012. No incentives were used to reward or incent participation.

* The 13 communities surveyed include: Germany, France, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Russia, Quebec,Poland, Australia and New Zealand, the Netherlands, United States, Canada and the United Kingdom and Ireland.