Changes of Urban Food Purchase Habits during the First Wave of COVID-19: Hungarians Living in Romania and Hungary Compared

Abstract The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, emerging economic uncertainty, a declining trust, digital solutions, and home office have changed consumer behaviour, including food-buying habits. Given that Central Eastern Europe has developed differently due to territorial differences, we focused our study on comparative analysis two countries. aim research was examine food purchase habits during first wave pandemic together with decisions their motivations emerged among Hungarian urban population In present study, conducted survey consumers Romania Hungary at beginning when lockdown implemented. Over two-month period, collected more than 2,000 completed questionnaires.