What are the important thing Spanish meals tendencies? Abstract
- Spanish shoppers prioritise naturalness and more healthy selections pushed by ingredient consciousness
- Demand grows for handy prepared meals providing flavours and less complicated formulations
- Excessive protein curiosity rises throughout demographics with notable development since 2023
- GLP‑1 weight reduction medicine present low affect and restricted uptake
- Meat discount will increase as plant‑primarily based tendencies surge throughout Spanish social platforms
In Spain, shoppers are tapped into lots of the broad macro-trends which might be spurring on the meals trade globally.
Some, they’re embracing. Some, they continue to be sceptical about.
1. Naturalness and well being are buy drivers
Customers in Spain are prioritising each wholesome consuming and ‘naturalness’, explains Jimena Ávila Martín, senior analysis analyst at analytics firm Mintel.
Spanish shoppers are more and more prioritising naturalness, with 42% citing it as a high think about buying selections. They’re more and more delicate to ingredient lists.
Moreover, 45% “really feel responsible” when consuming ultra-processed meals.
“This mixture is pushing manufacturers to ship merchandise that really feel each nutritionally improved and minimally processed, utilizing brief, recognisable components and avoiding formulations that seem synthetic or overly engineered.”
In keeping with AI-driven analytics platform Tastewise, conventional Spanish dishes like paella and tortilla are seeing sturdy development.
2. Comfort
Then again, Spanish shoppers are additionally drawn in direction of comfort, and prepared meals specifically.
“Prepared meals are rising as busy shoppers in Spain search fast options with out shedding conventional flavours,” says Mintel’s Martín. “Consumers now count on freshly ready, in‑retailer choices and versatile portion sizes tailor-made to totally different moments, together with snacking“.
Curiosity in prepared meals supported a 5.9% gross sales bump in 2024.
An ‘alternative for innovation’, Martín says, is prepared meals that mix comfort with easy components. Many shoppers worth prepared meals however at present see them as ultra-processed. Style and dietary worth are nonetheless related to house cooking.
3. Excessive protein
As elsewhere in Europe, the excessive protein development has seen reputation in Spain.
The proportion of Spanish shoppers who cited excessive protein as a high issue when buying rose from 16% in March 2023 to 21% in September 2025, in response to Mintel. Whereas the best curiosity has been seen in younger adults, curiosity is rising throughout all demographics.
The development “continues to achieve momentum throughout generations and meal events“, says Martín.
4. Customers are shifting away from meat
Spain has seen a substantial shift away from meat. In keeping with Mintel, 46% of meat-eating shoppers have already restricted their meat consumption, in comparison with 54% who haven’t.
In the meantime, of those that haven’t but diminished meat consumption, 20% are contemplating doing so.
Whereas round 59% of shoppers consider that consuming meat is ‘outdated’ in fashionable diets, 57% consider that there’s a lot of stress in fashionable occasions to not eat meat.
Spain is having an “explosive plant-based second”, in response to Tastewise. Vegetarian and vegan diets are seeing large engagement on social media.
5. Restricted impression of GLP-1s
GLP-1 weight-loss medicine have began to affect the Spanish meals panorama, suggests Martín, however their impression is at present restricted.
“Client curiosity in GLP‑1 medicines for weight reduction is comparatively low in Spain in comparison with different markets, influenced by their excessive price and restricted protection by the SNS”, Spain’s well being service.
As of 2025, solely 6% of grownup Spanish shoppers agreed that the usage of diabetes medicine to suppress urge for food was a superb answer for weight reduction, though 37% expressed curiosity in how these medicine might be used to assist with their very own weight administration.
Such figures are among the many lowest in Europe and globally, says Martín, indicating a normal scepticism in direction of the medicine amongst Spanish shoppers.
