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Introduction: The primary aims of this study were to evaluate the changes in dietary behavior among the Croatian adult population during the COVID-19 outbreak and to explore the impact of confinement on cooking habits.Methods: The study was based on results from COVIDiet_Int cross-sectional study—a part of COVIDiet project (NCT04449731). A self-administered online questionnaire was used to assess the frequency of food consumption, eating habits, and sociodemographic information. A total number of 4,281 participants (80.5% females and 19.4% males) completed the questionnaire.Results: The Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS) score before the confinement was 5.02 ± 1.97, while during the confinement, the MEDAS score increased to 5.85 ± 2.04. Participants who had higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) during the confinement were mostly females (88.8%), aged between 20 and 50 years, with the highest level of education (66.3%) and normal BMI (70.6%). The majority of participants maintained their dietary behavior as it was before COVID-19 confinement, while 36.9% decreased their physical activity. Participants with higher MEDAS score were more eager to increase their physical activity. Additionally, higher median values of MEDAS score were noted for participants with body mass index values below 24.9 kg/m2 (6.0 vs. 5.0 for participants with BMI above 25 kg/m2). Participants in all residence places increased their cooking frequency during the confinement (53.8%), which was associated with an increase in vegetables, legumes, as well as fish and seafood consumption.Conclusions: According to our findings, Croatian adults exhibited medium adherence to the MedDiet during the COVID-19 confinement. The results suggest that cooking frequency could be positively associated with overall dietary quality, which is of utmost importance in these demanding times.

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PurposeThe goal of this paper is to explore the Croatian young consumers' perception of functional food, to investigate underlying attitudes and their willingness to buy functional food in the future.Design/methodology/approachConsumer survey was conducted using a self‐administered questionnaire on a sample of 1,035 young consumers aged between 14 and 30 years. Research questions focused on knowledge about functional food, attitudes and buying behaviour regarding functional food. Data were analysed using univariate statistics, bivariate correlations and factor analysis.FindingsAbout 40 per cent of young consumers are familiar with the concept of functional food, and 27 per cent of them are regular buyers. The usual place where functional food is acquired is supermarkets and most commonly bought are functional dairy products. The most important functional food attributes are taste and price/quality ratio. Consumers are satisfied with functional food health enhancing characteristics and less satisfied with its appearance and durability. Three factors that explain young consumers' attitudes towards functional food are health awareness and confidence, lack of trust for functional food and its price and quality. More than half of respondents are willing to buy functional food in the future (51.8 per cent). Female consumers aged between 19 and 30, living in smaller households with higher income are more likely to be functional food consumers in the future.Research limitations/implicationsA limitation of this study is the sample including only young consumers. Further research is needed to analyse other consumer groups, and to determine which segments are most appropriate for functional food products marketing.Practical implicationsResearch results indicate a need to increase consumer familiarity with functional food and improvements in some of its characteristics. Overall positive attitudes toward functional food should be reinforced and young consumers can be influenced through targeted advertising.Originality/valueThis paper gives the first account of young consumers' perception of functional food in Croatia. The results of this research can be used to plan further marketing activities.