A new report reveals what time we eat dinner, where we're most likely to eat, and one very specific global food trend that's on the rise.
Stepping inside an Ikea is like being transported to a magical land of meatballs and sofas. Whether you’re heading in to grab a bite of its new falafel balls, to pick up some more lingonberry sauce, or to deck out your home office, the Swedish furniture giant has a lot to offer.
Ikea recently conducted a global survey to get a sense of how people are cooking, eating, and spending time together in their homes. They gathered responses from over 31,000 people across 31 countries to inform their data, making it one of the largest cooking and eating surveys ever conducted. And honestly? A lot of these results are surprising—especially what time people eat dinner!
I attended the company’s virtual press conference last month, where representatives unpacked the data and talked about what it means. Here are the most interesting things I learned from the 2026 Ikea Cooking & Eating Report.
When do most people sit down to eat?
Around the world, we’re sitting down to eat at an average time of 6:44 p.m. And the average length of time we spend eating dinner is 27 minutes—although 5% of respondents eat in 10 minutes or less. I’m surprised by how late this average dinner time feels, considering how hungry I get as soon as that clock strikes 5:00 pm and the work day is done.
People in Spain dine the latest, starting at 8:54pm on average. And people in Finland eat the earliest, at 5:17 p.m. So I guess I should move to Finland!
Where are we sitting down for that meal?
Step aside, dining room table: there’s a new hot spot in town! According to the survey, 18% of us eat on the sofa. This comes after the kitchen table (44%), dining room table (34%), and living room table (25%). And apparently 4% of us eat in bed—although Gen Z is twice as likely to do so than other generations. Part of why so many of us are eating on the sofa is tied into our screen habits. Of those who live alone, 54% report eating while watching TV, and so do 40% of people who live with others.
In the press conference I attended, this launched a discussion about the future of the dining table. While most people are eating at various surfaces and tables in their homes, the concept of a table reserved only for dining is becoming less popular. Instead, multifunctional tables are reigning supreme as places where people eat, do homework, craft, fold laundry or do other household chores.
Which I guess is good news for a place that sells every kind of table (I’m actually writing this story at an Ikea desk). But I do make a habit of not eating here!
Do most people prefer home-cooked meals or ordering takeout?
As it turns out, 47% of us prefer a home-cooked meal to takeout. But this is where a pretty significant generational divide occurs. Gen Z is least likely to prefer home-cooked meals (33%) while Millennials follow closely behind (38%) and then older generations (55%). Slovenia and Spain are tied as the two countries that prefer home-cooked meals to takeout (57%) more than anyone else.
And no matter where you are on the planet, when something goes wrong in the kitchen, 62% of us will fix it by ordering takeout.
The Biggest Factors Driving Our Food Choices
Both nostalgia and taste are very important. Around the world, it was clear that childhood plays a big role in the foods we enjoy eating. And while those comfort foods show up frequently, there is still room to explore, with 25% of respondents saying they want to try new foods more often. Eighteen percent of people said that they identified as picky eaters growing up, but only 13% consider themselves picky eaters now. Of all the countries surveyed, Japan was the pickiest (21%) and China was the least picky (7%).
According to the survey, 64% of people want to eat something that tastes delicious. This makes sense to me anecdotally, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the data back it up. After that, priorities are about wanting healthy ingredients (48%), something easy (40%) and something quick and budget-friendly (37%).
A lot of us cook from scratch (46%) and use fresh ingredients (59%). And we’re all basically creatures of habit, because 40% of us eat the same thing for breakfast every day. But we do enjoy more variety when it comes to dinner; only 20% of us eat 10 or fewer different dinner meals.
This Flavor Trend Is Still on the Rise for 2026
Spicy foods are hot right now (sorry, couldn’t help myself). Worldwide, 27% of people prefer spicy flavors, and the countries where spicy food is most preferred over sweet are Norway (47%), Sweden (45%) and Finland (39%). Young people in particular are driving up a global craving for spicy food.
But sweet foods certainly aren’t going away anytime soon, with a whopping 46% of global respondents reporting a sweet tooth! This divide over sweet and spicy flavors is probably why the “swicy” trend is really popular right now. It’s a little bit of the old mixed in with the new—even McDonald’s recently got in on the swicy action with their new hot honey menu. Picking up a bottle of hot honey (or mixing up your own) just became the easiest way to hop on the trend.
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