Women Craving Cooking. ~Considering "Food and SNS"~

Graph 4 shows the "Percentage of People Who Cook Every Day," while Graph 5 shows what they "Value Most When Cooking," broken down by generation.

Let's focus on the results for teenagers in both sets of data. In terms of cooking frequency, cooking is still a rare activity for teenagers. For girls who don't cook regularly, cooking is a major event. That's precisely why they place importance on searching for recipes and carefully following them to make something delicious.

Conversely, cooking frequency increases with age. As this happens, the sense of cooking as something out of the ordinary diminishes, and a tendency to prioritize efficiency and speed emerges. Teens enjoy cooking as an event, while those in their 30s and older handle it as part of daily life.

As for the crucial 20s? 34% responded that they "cook almost every day." Comparing this to the 6% of teens who enjoy cooking as an event and the 59% of those in their 30s who handle it as a daily routine, it's clear that their 20s represent a transitional period where their relationship with cooking significantly shifts.

Did you notice the sharp increase in cooking frequency with age? You might wonder if rising marriage rates are influencing these numbers. Anticipating that possibility, we analyzed all the data used this time separately by marital status. Even then, regardless of marital status, the unique results specific to the 20s generation emerged consistently.

Next, let's examine the differences in each generation's relationship with social media.

Teens are highly digital natives, adept at separating SNS from daily life. They use SNS purely as a platform to showcase their special-occasion selves. The popularity of limo parties and night pools among them likely spread as perfect SNS content because it perfectly aligned with their unique "on-off switch" mentality, characteristic of the so-called "Merihari Bubble Generation." For these teens, cooking is ultimately just an event and tool for self-presentation. That's precisely why they post their dishes on SNS, their special-occasion space.

In contrast, older generations, particularly those in their 30s and above, were already adults during the smartphone boom years of 2006-2010. Not digital natives like teens, they lack the dexterity to mentally compartmentalize daily life and events based on SNS. Consequently, SNS may begin to encroach on their everyday lives, leading to fatigue or a mindset where they feel they don't want to post or don't need to.

Meanwhile, those in their 20s find cooking shifting from an enjoyable event to a daily necessity. They still haven't fully let go of the desire to be praised, yet they can't quite adapt to the social media habits of teenagers. At the same time, they aren't as detached and philosophical as those in their 30s and above. They are a "generation caught in between" – both in terms of cooking and social media. This seems to relate to the aforementioned unique twist characteristic of those in their 20s.

What do women seek to fulfill through cooking?

So, what exactly is this in-between generation—their 20s—seeking when they want someone to praise their cooking, yet not necessarily for the taste? (What follows is purely my own, 23-year-old, down-to-earth opinion.)

After becoming a working adult and moving out of my parents' house, I proudly started living alone. I was this capable woman☆, working hard while also handling household chores properly. On weekends, I'd even cook healthy meals for my boyfriend☆☆... That ideal version of myself collapsed easily within the first three months. Amidst the hectic days, my life transformed into one where I never touched a knife. But then I had a moment of clarity: "My body is important!" Resolved, I started relying on search terms like "easy" and "one-pan meals." Every day, I'd whip up something barely deserving of being called cooking—something quick, packed with veggies, and just for me.

Still, I want you to acknowledge that I'm somehow managing to keep cooking for myself. The beautiful meals I made during my student days, sparing neither money nor time, belong to the world of fiction. My twenties, witnessing the reality of food preparation, are spent living desperately, twisted between fiction and reality.

Teenagers want praise for the quality of their cooking, for the food itself.
Those in their twenties want praise for themselves as cooks, for facing the reality of cooking.
Those in their thirties and older, for whom cooking is routine, don't seek praise.

The relationship between food and social media reveals how each generation seeks self-affirmation.

Now, the theme for the final installment next time is "Food and Romance." Food has always been an indispensable presence in the realm of romance. I want to take a deep dive into the relationship between "food and romance." Stay tuned!

Note*1 <Survey Overview>
・Title: Food Lifestyle Lab Survey vol.5
・Survey Method: Online Survey
・Survey Participants: 1,200 individuals aged 15–79
・Survey Period: September 2016
・Survey Company: Video Research Ltd.