# Meal snackification · Consumer Trends 2027 · Zorraquino
> The disappearance of structured mealtimes is turning traditional meals into multiple eating moments through more flexible, tailored formats.
URL: https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/meal-snackification

![People eating standing up from cardboard trays in the street.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0w1142l8/production/847822804bb7d415d92157a9aae04b3cb629202b-2400x1351.webp/people-eating-standing-up-from-cardboard-trays-in-the-street.webp?w=1600&q=85&auto=format&fit=max)

Trend 02

# Meal snackification

1. [Consumer Trends 2027Home](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027)
2. [Trend 01Value of imperfection](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/value-of-imperfection)
3. [Trend 02Meal snackification](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/meal-snackification)
4. [Trend 03Skill economy](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/skill-economy)
5. [Trend 04Perpetual engagement](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/perpetual-engagement)
6. [Trend 05Infinite collecting](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/infinite-collecting)
7. [Trend 06Agentic robotics](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/agentic-robotics)
8. [Trend 07Ancestral remix](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/ancestral-remix)
9. [Trend 08Luxury survivalism](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/luxury-survivalism)
10. [Trend 09Business beyond death](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/business-beyond-death)
11. [Trend 10Fleeting megalomania](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/fleeting-megalomania)
12. [Social trend 01Post-ownership living](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/post-ownership-living)
13. [Social trend 02Intentional tech](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/intentional-tech)
14. [Social trend 03Adaptive belonging](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/adaptive-belonging)
15. [Social trend 04Multi-stage living](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/multi-stage-living)
16. [Social trend 05Climate by default](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/climate-by-default)

Meal snackification

The disappearance of structured mealtimes is turning traditional meals into multiple eating moments through more flexible, tailored formats.

Trend axes

- Micro meals
- Flexible eating
- Post-Meal Culture
- Adaptive nourishment

Some figures

30

Mercadona supermarkets reported by the Barcelona Restaurant Guild for unfair competition, accused of being “supermarket-restaurants”.

48%

Growth in consumption of supermarket ready meals and ready-to-eat dishes in Spain since 2023, according to Kantar.

6/10

People in the United States are replacing some of their meals with snacks, according to a survey by the International Food Information Council (IFIC).

€4.3bn

Revenue of the ready-meals sector at the end of 2025, showing remarkable momentum, according to the DBK Sector Observatory.

## No table, no clock

The way we eat is no longer driven by rigid structures but adapts to far more personal and fragmented rhythms. A model is emerging that blurs the lines between breakfast, lunch and dinner, replacing them with a series of intakes that are smaller, more flexible and tailored to each moment.

Everyday cooking is losing its status as a daily obligation and becoming a more occasional activity, reserved for enjoyment or socialising. At the same time, eating takes on an increasingly individual character. Each person manages their own timing, choices and needs without following shared patterns. Eating stops being a collective, scheduled act and becomes an autonomous experience.

This change in habits has a direct impact on the food industry. Snacking, traditionally associated with the sporadic and the unhealthy, is being reframed as a valid and even desirable alternative. Functionality is key here. Options designed to deliver specific benefits such as energy, focus and digestive wellbeing are multiplying, legitimising these new consumption patterns.

With demand driven especially by younger generations, manufacturers are responding by expanding their ranges with products designed to be eaten anywhere, at any time, capable of replacing full meals without sacrificing nutritional standards. Eating is thus no longer organised around fixed times and becomes part of daily life in a more fluid way.

## Cases

01 / 10

## Cooking, the last cultural gesture

The transformation of eating habits is not just a matter of convenience or pace of life; it is also a deep reflection of cultural changes that affect collective identity directly. The gradual replacement of daily cooking with ready-to-eat solutions is redefining what we eat and what eating means in society.

Leading voices in the sector point to a possible decline in home cooking, outlining a scenario in which the kitchen loses relevance within the home. This is not just a functional shift. The kitchen, for decades the heart of many homes, is now fading through disuse.

Buying, cooking and sharing food have historically been acts loaded with cultural meaning. The disappearance of these everyday rituals also implies a symbolic loss.

Today, true luxury lies less in the cost of food than in the time it takes. Handing meals over to ready-to-eat products saves effort and frees up hours that go to other priorities.

However, this handover has implications. As cooking declines, an essential part of control over our diet is outsourced, with possible consequences both for health and for culinary cultural diversity. Cooking is much more than a chore: it is an exercise in autonomy, knowledge and connection with our surroundings.

At a time when various factors are straining food systems, preserving culinary traditions takes on a new dimension. Cooking stops being a routine and can become a conscious, revolutionary act that connects identity, culture and the future.

Zorraquino spotlights

1. 01  
Traditional mealtimes lose their rigidity and give way to a more flexible, fragmented way of eating, in which food is woven continuously into the day.
2. 02  
The kitchen is no longer central to homes and daily life and becomes a more occasional space, linked to free time and leisure or to moments of greater dedication.
3. 03  
Eating becomes an increasingly individual act, reinforcing the idea that each person organises their food around their own pace of life and context.
4. 04  
The snack is establishing itself as the dominant format, in different product versions, blurring the traditional categories of breakfast, lunch and dinner and normalising new ways of eating.
5. 05  
Brands take on an important role as enablers of new habits, driving solutions that not only feed people but also fit lifestyles in which speed, convenience and functionality are decisive.
6. 06  
The transformation of eating is not just functional; it reaches into culture. The trend reduces the practice of cooking and, with it, changes habits, references and part of domestic identity.

Zorraquino playlist

- COCINAME (FIESTA VERSION)Moictani · 2026
- La Cumbia Del MoleLila Downs, Flaco Jimenez, Max Baca · 2006
- BilbainadaKojon Prieto y los Huajolotes · 1997

[See the whole playlist](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/playlist)[Listen on Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/16F0xiupype1stR6dvDcfH)

## More on the trend

### References

- [@agencia\_lavecina](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZCFjGptBJR/)
- [Qué es un “mercaurante” y por qué el Gremio de Restauración ha denunciado a Mercadona](https://elpais.com/gastronomia/2026-06-19/que-es-un-mercaurante-y-por-que-el-gremio-de-restauracion-ha-denunciado-a-mercadona.html)
- [Snack Trends 2026: Global Innovation and Market Insights](https://www.innovamarketinsights.com/trends/snack-trends-2026-global-innovation-and-market-insights)
- [@dannsac](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZE9ftfCJ7I/?img%5Findex=3)
- [El consumo de platos preparados en el hogar crece un 3,8% impulsado por su calidad, variedad y comodidad](https://www.hoyplatospreparados.es/prensa/notas-de-prensa/el-consumo-de-platos-preparados-en-el-hogar-crece-un-38-impulsado-por-su-calidad-variedad-y-comodidad/)
- [Las ventas de platos preparados continúan al alza y cerrarán 2025 con más de 4.300 millones de euros](https://www.dbk.es/es/detalle-nota/platos-preparados-2025)
- [‘Snackification’: el picoteo sustituye a la comida tradicional y afecta a la industria](https://www.expansion.com/empresas/distribucion/2026/04/15/69df275e468aeb0d0c8b456e.html)
- [Algo extraño está pasando en España: cada vez comemos más a través de snacks y picoteos puntuales](https://www.xataka.com/magnet/nuestra-forma-alimentarnos-esta-viviendo-revolucion-silenciosa-que-se-nota-industria-snackification)
- [¿Casas sin cocina? Así están cambiando los platos preparados los hogares y rutinas del país](https://www.lavanguardia.com/comer/al-dia/20260129/11451364/casas-cocina-asi-cambiando-platos-preparados-hogares-rutinas-pais.html)
- [Cocinar no es una pérdida de tiempo](https://www.diariosur.es/malagaenlamesa/cocinar-perdida-tiempo-20250503004157-nt.html)
- [Los platos tradicionales que podrían desaparecer a causa del cambio climático](https://www.lavanguardia.com/comer/al-dia/20240430/9606704/dieta-mediterranea-desaparecer-tortilla-lasana-cambio-climatico-extincion.html)
- [“Luchamos contra el estigma de que los platos preparados no son saludables o tradicionales”](https://revistamercados.com/luchamos-contra-el-estigma-de-que-los-platos-preparados-no-son-saludables-o-tradicionales/)
- [Comprar, abrir, calentar y a comer: la “falta de tiempo” y espacio empuja al alza el consumo de platos preparados](https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20260212/consumo-platos-preparados-cambio-habito-falta-tiempo-espacio/16934710.shtml)
- [ALDI lanza un abrigo que es también una nevera y se antoja el “outfit” ideal para ir de pícnic](https://www.marketingdirecto.com/creacion/campanas-de-marketing/aldi-lanza-abrigo-nevera-antoja-outfit-ideal-ir-picnic)
- [ALDI Blind Boxes Giveaway](https://corporate.aldi.us/newsroom/news/aldi-blind-boxes-giveaway)
- [KFC abraza el egoísmo en esta voraz campaña (porque compartir está sobrevalorado)](https://www.marketingdirecto.com/creacion/campanas-de-marketing/kfc-abraza-egoismo-voraz-campana-compartir-esta-sobrevalorado)
- [This Rotisserie Chicken Purse Might Be The Summer’s Weirdest It Bag](https://www.delish.com/food-news/a71450950/chomps-rotisserie-chicken-purse/)
- [KFC creates “unhinged” Pickle Puffer stuffed with gherkins](https://www.dezeen.com/2026/03/23/kfc-pickle-puffer-jacket/)
- [La marca Lactantia crea un chaleco para el experimento viral de hacer mantequilla corriendo](https://www.reasonwhy.es/actualidad/lactantia-disena-chaleco-butter-run-hacer-mantequilla-corriendo)
- [Waitrose | The Gastronaut](https://creative.salon/articles/work/waitrose-gastronaut-wonderhood-studios)
- [Orchestra stops commuters in their tracks playing tune entirely on veg & kitchen utensils with Strictly star on vocals](https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/37822778/orchestra-plays-tune-veg-kitchen-utensils/)
- [@dinnerwithfriendsnyc](https://www.instagram.com/dinnerwithfriendsnyc/)
- [Telepizza cambia tu táper recalentado por pizza](https://controlpublicidad.com/campanas-publicitarias/telepizza-cambia-tu-taper-recalentado-por-pizza/)
- [Frozen Snack Brand TAST!EZ Drops a First-of-its-Kind Game Night Loungewear Set Designed for Snacking and Tabletop Game Play](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/frozen-snack-brand-tastez-drops-a-first-of-its-kind-game-night-loungewear-set-designed-for-snacking-and-tabletop-game-play-302703162.html)
- [Ni zapatillas ni camisetas: la forma más inesperada de ver el Mundial es con un estadio para snacks, espejos rosas y muebles convertidos en cromos](https://www.revistainteriores.es/estilo-de-vida/gustaf-westman-colaboracion-nike%5F13696)
- [You can try Domino’s new Detroit-style pizza for free, but you have to act fast](https://www.fastcompany.com/91599408/you-can-try-dominos-new-detroit-style-pizza-for-free-but-you-have-to-act-fast)

Pages 219–248 of the report

[![A woman works with a 3D printer in a home workshop full of materials.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0w1142l8/production/e33a19291523998e224fa09ac33214b08796faca-2400x1350.webp/a-woman-works-with-a-3d-printer-in-a-home-workshop-full-of-materials.webp?w=1600&q=85&auto=format&fit=max)](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/skill-economy)

Next trend · 03

[Skill economy](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/skill-economy)