Food Tastes in the United States: Convergence or Divergence?

ABSTRACT This study investigates how food consumption tastes have changed in recent decades across the United States. Using NielsenIQ data for over 77 million transactions, there is evidence of divergence in food tastes across regions from 2007 to 2016 and across households of different income, education, and race/ethnicity groups. Hispanics and non‐Hispanic Blacks diverged from non‐Hispanic Whites, while taste differences were unchanged between other races and urban/rural groups. The tastes of rural households across regions are unique in their apparent convergence. Overall, ideological differences measured by “political distance” were more strongly associated with changing food taste differences than geographical and supply‐side differences. There is also evidence of divergence in nonfood tastes, but to a much smaller degree.