There are over 80 million Americans who enjoy cooking, cook often, and cook because they want to, not just because they have to. An additional 43 million share their enthusiasm, even if they don’t cook as often. This receptive audience bodes well for brands in the cooking space. However, this only makes up about half of adults, leaving a lot of room for brands to spark more enthusiasm. In today’s increasingly busy world, brands can encourage adults to cook more by helping them manage their time.

For the purposes of this Report, Mintel has used the following definitions:

• Enthusiastic Cooks are adults who cook four or more times per week, love or like cooking a lot, and typically cook because they want to. 32% of American adults aged 18+ are Enthusiastic Cooks, which equates to roughly 81 million people.

• Avoidant Cooks cook three or fewer times per week, dislike cooking or only like it a little, and cook because they have to, not because they want to. 27% of American adults aged 18+ are Avoidant Cooks, which equates to about 68 million adults.

• Aspiring Cooks cook three or fewer times per week, but still love or like cooking a lot and cook because they want to. They’re also interested in improving their skills. 17% of American adults aged 18+ are Aspiring Cooks, or 44 million people.

• Unenthusiastic Cooks cook four or more times per week, but do so out of necessity. They either don’t like or only like cooking a little. 12% of American adults aged 18+ are Unenthusiastic Cooks, which equates to about 33 million adults.

• Non-Cooks never cook. About 13% of the sample population never cook, which equates to about 33 million people.

Note: The parameters for defining the segments in this Report have changed from Cooking Enthusiasts – US, October 2018 and previous Reports of this title. Though this Report covers similar topics, the segments presented here should not be compared to segments in previous reports.