The National Post reports in its Wednesday edition that the cost of food may be contributing to dietary shifts, with a notable decline in the omnivorous diet and 10 per cent of Canadians reporting, "I do not buy beef," according to the latest edition of the Canadian Food Sentiment Index. Postmedia's Laura Brehaut writes that food remains Canada's top household concern, outpacing all other expense categories, including utilities (29.9 per cent) and housing (22.4 per cent). After peaking at 84.1 per cent in fall 2024 and dropping to 79.7 per cent in spring 2025, 81.1 per cent of Canadians identified food as the expense that increased the most in the past year. "As things rise, we have less money to spend on the various things we need, so people are trying to be very conscious in terms of where their spending goes and where they're going to be able to get the most value for the money that they are spending," says Stacey Taylor, assistant professor at Cape Breton University and co-author of the report, which tracks 3,000 respondents' perceptions of a range of food-related issues. People might have a particular food in mind when they start grocery shopping, but that swiftly changes as soon as they start looking at the cost.