Baked Feta Pasta. Freakshakes. Cloud Bread. Tacros. Nacho Tables. Avo Toast. Chances are that those of us who have selected the Food category on Instagram have been served some of these viral food trends over the past decade.

But a OnePoll study has found that 77 per cent of Americans who use social media also experienced food-related FOMO (dubbed FOODMO) in relation to missing out on these trends.

And almost 75 per cent of the 2000 people surveyed in the OnePoll study said they instantly crave food when they see it online. Given the average respondent clocked up four hours of their day online, that’s a lot of food trends to both digest and replicate.

The One Poll survey, conducted on behalf of EnvyTMApples, also found that social media plays a significant role in the recipes people have found online. And that more than half of all those surveyed attempt to make an average of four online recipes per month to prevent said FOODMO.

Dietician and Food Network presenter of How Healthy Happens, Ashley Hawk said in a statement on StudyFinds.org that her simple advice to followers and clients was to start with wholefoods.  “Many people often think you have to compromise taste and flavour in order to eat ‘healthy’, but this mentality of thinking you have to sacrifice is often what leads us to crave the foods we deem
‘unhealthy’ and drives our FOMO when you see an indulgent snack on social media that you would rather be having,” she said.

The study found that the emotional anxiety surrounding FOODMO also drove those surveyed to post their meal on socials at least six times per month. Almost a quarter of those who participated in the OnePoll survey said they looked to YouTube and Facebook to discover trendy food inspiration.

And some 73 per cent of respondents said they spent extra time preparing their meals just to make them more worthy for the ‘Gram. When trying out a new recipe, 46 percent of respondents enjoyed the meal for themselves, but also
shared the meal with their family (25 per cent) or friends (10 per cent). The average person follows at least 10 food-related accounts on social media according to OnePoll, whose team members are part of the Market Research Society.

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