Four generations, four worldviews, one table
By Vaughn Woods, CFP®, MBA
Vaughn Woods Financial Group, Inc. — La Jolla, California
I want to be clear about what I am and what I am not.
I am not a nutritionist. I have no credentials in food science and no interest in pretending otherwise. What I do for a living is watch patterns — in markets, in balance sheets, in how families behave when circumstances change. Recognizing a shift while it is still anecdotal, before it becomes a headline, is most of the job.
And by that standard, something is unmistakably underway.
A friend invited me to brunch and served rice flour pancakes with a homemade passion fruit compote. My associate’s family is vegetarian. My daughter and I have both given up alcohol – I am five years in now. Halibut carpaccio has quietly become my regular lunch. When a federal apparatus pressed hard for everyone to take the COVID vaccines, my wife was the one who counseled restraint, and I listened to her rather than to the consensus. Mocktail menus and alcohol-free bars are opening in cities that had none a few years ago. Grocery store sushi kiosks have turned a specialty item into a Tuesday purchase. Gen Z’s worldview on food is converging, from an entirely different direction, with much of what the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement argues. And Peru – a country most Americans could not have named a single dish from twenty years ago – is now routinely called home to one of the best cuisines on earth.
None of those are data points on their own. Together they are a trend.
Four generations, four operating assumptions
Gen Z treats food as self-optimization. Protein is the organizing nutrient, sleep and training are the scoreboard, and the body is the project. This is the cohort walking away from alcohol at a rate that is restructuring an entire industry. Notably, their skepticism of processed food, seed oils, and synthetic dyes now overlaps substantially with the MAHA critique — two groups that agree on very little else arriving at the same grocery list.
Millennials kept the values and lost the headroom. This was the farm-to-table generation, and then housing costs and children arrived. They report the highest sensitivity to food inflation of any group and still buy organic produce more often than their elders. They did not abandon the plan. They lost the margin. Anyone who has rebalanced a portfolio in a tight year knows exactly what that looks like.
Gen X is the generation actually moving the numbers. The cohort that quietly accounts for the largest share of U.S. consumer packaged goods and quick-service spending of any generation, and leads adoption of the GLP-1 medications. Many are cooking for teenagers and aging parents in the same week. That is the squeeze where health and financial planning stop being separate subjects.
Boomers change through prescription rather than trend — and it works. They are the group posting the fastest gains at the gym.
Whether any of these worldviews is nutritionally correct is a separate question, and an open one. It does not matter for the purpose of watching the trend. Belief is already changing behavior, and behavior is changing categories.
Vegetarianism: smaller than the narrative, wider than it looks
Ask most people and they will tell you vegetarianism is surging. It is not.
Gallup’s long trend puts U.S. vegetarian identification at 4% and vegan at 1%, down from 6% in 1999 (Jones, 2023). A Harris Poll conducted for the Vegetarian Resource Group early this year found 5% overall, with a modest generational gradient: 7% of adults 18–34, 5% at 35–44, 4% at 55–64, and 2% at 65 and older (Vegetarian Resource Group, 2026).
Here is the number that actually matters. Sixty-seven percent of American adults say they eat vegetarian meals always, sometimes, or usually (Vegetarian Resource Group, 2026).
That is the honest headline. Not a wave of conversion — a rotation. My associate’s vegetarian family is genuinely rare. The vegetarian Tuesday at everyone else’s house is not.
The gym numbers reverse the story you would expect
Fitness facility membership reached a record 81 million Americans last year, 26.1% of the population and up 5.2% year over year (Health & Fitness Association, 2026). By generation:
- Gen Z (18–24): highest penetration of any group at 35.5%, and also the highest churn
- Millennials (25–34): close behind at 33.2%
- Gen X: leading gains in small-group training formats
- Age 65 and older: the fastest-growing cohort by growth rate, up 8.6%, with the lowest churn of any group
The young join fastest. The old stay longest. Free weights are the fastest-growing equipment category since 2021, which suggests the message about protecting muscle as we age is finally landing (Health & Fitness Association, 2026).
Habits beat intentions, in fitness and in portfolios, for the same unglamorous reason: they survive the weeks when motivation does not.
Sobriety went from a personal decision to a market
Non-alcoholic beer, wine, and spirits crossed $1 billion in U.S. off-premise sales for the first time last year, growing 22% year over year (NielsenIQ, 2026). Non-alcoholic spirits, still a small slice, grew roughly 70%.
Five years ago, ordering something interesting and alcohol-free at a restaurant meant club soda and an apologetic shrug. Now there are dedicated bars, real menus, and no explanation required. I did not stop drinking because of a trend. But I have watched a trend catch up to my kitchen, and it has made the choice considerably easier for everyone who comes after.
Sushi is the clearest generational tell
The U.S. sushi industry now runs about $22 billion, and the National Fisheries Institute’s Sushi Council reports that growth is spreading well beyond coastal markets. The most telling finding in that report: lower-income Gen Z consumers report eating sushi more frequently than higher-income Baby Boomers (National Fisheries Institute Sushi Council, 2026).
Read that again. Income used to predict sushi consumption. Now generation does.
Boomers are eating more sushi than they used to — my parents’ generation would not have touched it — but still far less often than Gen Z and Millennials, for whom it is simply food. And the engine of that adoption is not the sushi restaurant. It is the grocery store kiosk, which removed price, formality, and intimidation in one move.
Peru, and why it belongs in this conversation
Maido, in Lima, was named the world’s best restaurant in 2025, and the World’s 50 Best awards will be held in Lima this November for the first time in the event’s history (The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, 2025). Peru has spent a decade collecting culinary honors that used to go to France and Italy.
Peruvian cooking is where all of these threads meet: seafood prepared raw and simply, sharp acidity, native ingredients, almost nothing processed. Ceviche and tiradito were doing what wellness culture now recommends long before anyone marketed it. The passion fruit compote at that brunch was not a coincidence. It was a Peruvian ingredient arriving in an American kitchen by way of a trend nobody labeled.
Three recipes worth cooking
The MAHA Cookbook: Taking Charge of Your Health with Vibrant, Whole Foods by chef Pete Evans was published by Skyhorse in November 2025. It is a commercial cookbook inspired by the MAHA report rather than a government publication — worth knowing before you buy. Whatever you make of the politics, the cooking is straightforward whole food, and three dishes stand out (Evans, 2025):
- Skillet-Baked Bacon, Spinach, and Cherry Tomato Omelet — a one-pan breakfast built for steady blood sugar. Protein and fat first thing is the single change I would suggest to almost anyone.
- Thai Pork Skewers with Lettuce Cups and Nam Jim — from-scratch cooking that does not feel like a chore. The dipping sauce is where it lives.
- Wild Salmon with Minted Pea Purée and Lemon Broth — the one to make when dinner should feel like an occasion without much effort.
Send me your recipes
I would genuinely like to hear from you.
If you have a recipe you turn to when the week has gotten away from you, or one that has been in the family long enough that nobody remembers who wrote it down, please send it to me at vw@vaughnwoods.com. I collect them, I cook them, and I am always interested in the next one.
There is a reason a financial advisor pays attention to this. Everything I do professionally assumes my clients will be present, clear-headed, and capable of good judgment when the decisions that matter arrive. A portfolio can be rebalanced. A retirement date can be moved. Health is the one position you cannot re-enter later.
Cook something this week. Invite someone.
Vaughn Woods, CFP®, MBA, is President and Founder of Vaughn Woods Financial Group, Inc., an independent fiduciary advisory practice in La Jolla, California.
References
Evans, P. (2025). The MAHA cookbook: Taking charge of your health with vibrant, whole foods. Skyhorse Publishing.
Jones, J. M. (2023, August 24). In U.S., 4% identify as vegetarian, 1% as vegan. Gallup.
National Fisheries Institute Sushi Council. (2026, April 3). U.S. sushi industry report.
NielsenIQ. (2026). 2025 beverage alcohol year in review.
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. (2025). The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list.
Editorial note: Nutrution and health information in this article is general in nature and is not a substitute for consultation with a qualified physician. Discuss any medication, vaccination, or treatment decision with your healthcare provider.
Disclosures
Vaughn Woods, CFP®, MBA is President and Founder of Vaughn Woods Financial Group, Inc., an Investment Advisor Representative of Bolton Global Capital, Inc. Client assets are held in custody through Pershing LLC, a subsidiary of Bank of New York Mellon. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute personalized investment or tax advice.
We are unable to accept orders via email. If you wish to place an order, please consult your registered representative or contact the home office trading desk at (800) 649-4554.
This email system is for business purposes only and any information, including attachments, transmitted in this email is not confidential. Any message may be reviewed by authorized compliance personnel and/or produced to regulatory agencies or others with a legal right to access such information.
Past investment performance is not indicative of future results. Securities offered through Bolton Global Capital, Inc., Bolton, MA. Member FINRA, SIPC. Advisory services offered through Bolton Global Asset Management, a registered investment advisor, 579 Main St., Bolton, MA 01740 (978) 779-5361.
Investors should be aware that there are risks inherent in all investments such as fluctuations in investment principal. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Asset allocation cannot assure a profit nor protect against loss. Although the information has been gathered from sources believed to be reliable, it cannot be guaranteed. Views expressed in this newsletter are those of Vaughn Woods and Vaughn Woods Financial Group and may not reflect the views of Bolton Global Capital or Bolton Global Asset Management. The information provided is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered individual recommendation or personalized investment advice. Representatives and Advisors of Vaughn Woods Financial Group are not tax or legal professionals, if you need tax or legal advice, please make sure to consult a tax professional/CPA and/or a lawyer. VW1/VWA0405