Food convenience shapes urban agro-industrial demand: a perspective from Guayaquil, Ecuador

Urban food systems face a growing tension between sustainable healthy diets and everyday food practices shaped by time, affordability, availability, and convenience. This Perspective article argues that urban agro-industrial demand in Guayaquil, Ecuador, should not be interpreted only as a matter of taste, individual preference, or insufficient nutritional knowledge, but also as a practical response to the constraints of urban life. The article combines recent literature with exploratory survey evidence derived from a 2024 research project conducted with 241 residents of Guayaquil. The survey examined self-reported usual diet, frequency of processed/agro-industrial food consumption, declared motives for consumption, and attitudes toward local or sustainable agro-industrial products. Convenience and speed of preparation were the most frequently reported motives for consuming agro-industrial products, followed by longer shelf life, lack of time to cook, and lower price. The findings also suggest that processed/agro-industrial products are embedded in everyday urban diets through frequently consumed food groups such as fats and oils, processed dairy products, processed bakery products, sugar-sweetened beverages, processed meats, and snacks. Willingness to pay more for local or sustainable products appeared conditional, especially on price differences. The article proposes that local agro-industry should not reject processing, but improve its quality by developing accessible, practical, safe, and nutritionally appropriate products. It highlights the need for future research using probabilistic methods, more precise food frequency measurements, willingness-to-pay assessment, and acceptance testing of local agro-industrial innovations.