Millennials buy fewer potatoes, Bord Bia finds

Irish people are eating potatoes on average more than three times a week, but millennial consumers are buying them with less frequency than the overall market.

Those are some of the findings of Bord Bia market research which also revealed that potatoes are still the most consumed carbohydrate in Ireland. Some 97% of all households buy potatoes with a growth of 1.3% recorded up to last September. However, the research highlighted a need to inform and educate millennial consumers around the positive nutritional value of potatoes.

Bord Bia fresh produce and potato manager Lorcan Bourke said the findings will provide the industry with invaluable insights on how to future proof younger generations to enjoy potatoes.

“The research established that there was very little rejection of potatoes as a food. On the contrary, many of the millennials interviewed were waxing lyrical about how they ‘loved their spuds!’ We do know that the millennial generation as a cohort are eating differently to previous generations seeking taste, convenience and health in their food.

“Potatoes tick all the boxes across these three criteria, but only when people have full knowledge on how to use them in their busy lifestyles,” he said.

Bord Bia’s fresh produce ambassador and TV dietician Aoife Hearne said there is a need to dispel the myth that potatoes are fattening or that carbohydrates as a food group are bad for people: “Consuming potatoes is to be encouraged as we all need good quality carbohydrates for our bodies and particularly for brain function,” she said.