Food Consumption Patterns in Romania during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Food consumption behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic has changed worldwide as a consequence of the restrictions imposed by law and/or due to the fear of contamination. Although some similarities are found among countries, there are still many particularities for each nation. The present study focused on Romanian consumers and their consumption behavior related to four main food categories: fruits and vegetables, meat and meat products, bread and bakery products, and milk and milk products. Frequency of buying, shopping habits, place of purchase, and concerns related to the place of purchasing food products during the COVID-19 pandemic were analyzed in comparison with the pre-COVID-19 period using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics regarding an online survey. Three types of behavior were identified as being related to the frequency of buying and to organizing a shopping list (less often, no change, more often). Two groups of consumers were identified as being related to the place of purchasing food: people with the same habits and people with new habits. Concerns related to the location of the stores and to the choice of buying directly from producers were also investigated using the ordered logistic regression. The empirical study revealed the new consumption patterns with a reflection on future trends.

Household Food Waste in A Sample of the Libyan Community

Background: Consumer behaviors at the household level have an impact on the quantity of food waste and the economic resources of the family and the country. This study aimed to assess food waste in a random sample of the Libyan community. Methods: A questionnaire was designed for the study and distributed randomly through social media, short message, e-mails, and via face to face interviews from November 26 to December 21, 2019. Results: Forty percent of the respondents used a shopping list for food; while 15% of the respondents discarded food. The percentage of monthly expenditure on food was significantly (P < 0.05) associated with shopping list, income, education level, and employment. Meanwhile, the quantity of food waste was associated (P < 0.05) with education level and place of living. Moreover, the economic value of food waste was associated (P < 0.05) with the shopping list. The bread was the most food waste commodity followed by vegetables and pasta. The quantity of discarded food accounted for 2661 tons/year with an estimated value of 163 million Libyan dinars/year. Conclusion: To reduce household food waste by the Libyan community it is required to improve the quality of bread and raise consumer awareness of the impact of food waste on the environment, economy, and society. This could be achieved through mass media extension programs as well as seminars and workshops.

Profiling Hungarian hypermarket shoppers

PurposeHungarian economy went through substantial changes in the past few decades and hypermarkets gained high popularity among customers, therefore profiling Hungarian hypermarket shoppers is essential to understand their behavior.Design/methodology/approachThe paper investigates the profile of Hungarian hypermarket shoppers based on a wide questionnaire survey. In the presented research, Computer-Aided Personal Interviewing questionnaires were analyzed using multidimensional scaling and k-means clustering.FindingsResults showed that Hungarian hypermarket shoppers regularly plan their shopping but they buy 8–9 items instead of the planned 4–5 items. However, only 25% of respondents reported the use of shopping list and in spite of the wide digital possibilities, they do not use their mobile devices neither for creating shopping list nor for checking coupons online.Originality/valueThis study explores the profile of Hungarian hypermarket shoppers, which may give additional information for the players of the retail environment about the customers' behavior and preferences.

Analysis of Changes in Shopping Habits and Causes of Food Waste Among Consumers Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poland

Food waste is a worldwide phenomenon that needs to be reduced. The causes of this problem vary widely. The study used the Computer-Assisted Web Interview method. There were 500 respondents from all over the country and among them 60% women and 40% men. The sample selection was purposeful. Before the pandemic began, the highest percentage of consumers shopped two to three times a week. As of March 2020, the frequency of this activity has decreased for every fourth respondent. Also during this period, an increase in the frequency of shopping alone was observed, as well as an increase in the number of people who outsource their shopping list to others. Nowadays, the vast majority of respondents usually create a shopping list before doing it and follow it. Before the pandemic, this was the case for only 46% of respondents, while during the pandemic it was the case for 81%. Exceeding the expiration date was the most common reason for throwing products in the trash before as well as during the pandemic. Over-shopping as a cause of food waste increased almost fourfold during the pandemic. A positive aspect is noticeable for the ‘I don’t throw food away’ response. The percentage of respondents increased from 16% to 21%. During both survey periods, respondents most often indicated that they throw away fruits, vegetables, bread, and dairy products. During the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers’ shopping behaviour changed. They attended grocery stores far less frequently, mostly on their own, and purchased larger quantities of products. Nonetheless, consumers planned their purchases and checked expiration dates before putting food in their shopping carts. Households were thus forced to respond quickly, adjusting their shopping behaviour. These behaviours have implications for the subsequent activities of retail merchants.

Piano Puzzler Preparation

This section, newly created for the third edition, is a response to the many private piano teachers and classroom music teachers who have suggested that it should be possible to create a fun and useful curriculum based on the Piano Puzzler segment of public radio’s Performance Today, which has been broadcast weekly since 2002. These exercises are necessarily for pianists and composers who play the piano because they require keyboard skills and a working knowledge of modes, harmony, and other compositional vocabulary and grammar. All of the exercises may be approached as improvisations and/or compositions to be notated. The penultimate exercise in this book, “Be a Private Ear,” provides a detailed checklist of the main compositional features that go into composing a piano puzzler. The Private Ear Checklist is a kind of shopping list that reminds you of what ingredients you need to cook something that Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, or Stravinsky might prepare. The final exercise is to use the skills developed in the preceding exercises to compose one’s own piano puzzler.

Analisis Resepsi Remaja Perempuan terhadap Gaya Hidup Berbelanja Fashion Melalui Tayangan Video ‘Belanja Gak Aturan’ dalam Akun Tiktok @handmadeshoesby

This research was conducted to analyze the reception of teenage girls in the case of shopping lifestyle which has been shown through the video entitled "Shopping without any limit" on the @Handmadeshoesby tiktok account. In this video, there is a woman who went shopping for fashion products without any shopping list and she took a large quantity of fashion product without any consideration or trying out the product first. This has attracted researcher to find out how teenage girls interpret the messages in the video. This study used a qualitative research method with a reception analysis study. The number of informants was 10 people. The research used interviews and observation as a data collection techniques. This research uses Stuart Hall's encoding-decoding theory in which the message creator made messages with certain meanings that are expected to be accepted by the audience. But the audience can also interpret messages according to their own experiences. The results showed that there were differences in the reception between one informant and another. The reception of young women to the video “Shopping without any limit” that was displayed @Handmadeshoesby tiktok account has different interpretations. The aspects presented in the video were not fully approved by the informants. These interpretations comes from knowledge and experiences gained from everyday life.Keywords : Lifestyle, tiktok, reception analysis