Holiday Cooking and Baking Brings Joy, yet Stress, to Most Americans: Kerrygold Aims to Bring Holiday Calm to the Table This Season

EVANSTON, Ill., Dec. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Holiday cooking and baking is a revered tradition this time of year, but the shopping, prepping, and serving of festive food is also a source of stress, according to a new U.S. survey commissioned by leading butter and cheese brand, Kerrygold. *

Nearly 9 in 10 consumers (89%) find the work involved with holiday meals to be stressful – even more anxiety-producing than holiday decorating, sending out cards or getting their child to sit on Santa's lap for a photo.

Kerrygold is offering home cooks a way to disconnect from the stress of the season with a new Holiday Calm campaign that brings a bit of Ireland to U.S. kitchens with soothing sounds and calming visuals of crashing waves off the Irish coast and cows grazing on green pastures in Ireland – along with comforting recipes using the world-famous Irish butter and all-natural cheese. The campaign aims to help consumers relax and reset by immersing their five senses of sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch.

"At Kerrygold, we believe the rich flavors of our products can make any moment a little more special," said Alexandra Vinci, Brand Manager at Kerrygold. "We want to lend a hand during this busy time of year by offering stress-reducing strategies and relaxing recipes in the kitchen, as well as transporting home cooks to the tranquil serenity of Ireland."

Top Holiday Anxieties

The new Kerrygold survey demonstrates a significant need for holiday calm, with U.S. adults identifying multiple mealtime worries:

• Ensuring everything tastes delicious (44%)
• Having enough food to feed everyone (43%)
• Timing meal prep just right (42%)

Another source of stress is the need to adapt recipes or provide different options for family and friends following specific diets or eating styles. For half of the holiday hosts, they're juggling up to seven different dietary requirements for the meal – from gluten-free (21%) and lactose-free (20%) to vegetarian (20%) and keto (11%).

For more than a quarter (29%), they find it stressful to know what recipes to make. When finding the best dish to create, most Americans said they tend to play it safe and stick with tried-and-true family recipes during the holidays.

"We've curated a range of seasonal recipes that can take family favorites to the next level with an elevated taste to truly make the meal special," Vinci said. "Using Kerrygold butter ensures the creamy, superior taste comes through in every bite, especially if you're balancing multiple requirements. Butter is a shortcut to flavor and Kerrygold pure Irish butter is gluten-free and low lactose."

For holiday entertaining, consumers prioritize main entrees and side dishes, and put less emphasis on planning for appetizers. Kerrygold can make pre-meal noshing easy and stress-free with its award-winning Dubliner® cheese that can be a crowd-pleasing ingredient on simple charcuterie boards.

Holiday Baking Woes

Baking is always big during the holidays, and this year Americans say their must-haves to bake this holiday season are pies (66%), breads and rolls (56%), cookies (50%) and cakes (43%). Yet 59% of consumers are often fearful of baking flops.

To ease the worry of baking disasters, Kerrygold is offering up no-fail baking recipes and techniques, including a Hummingbird Cake with decorative cream cheese frosting and stunning pies with always-perfect flaky crust.

For holiday recipes with Kerrygold butter and cheese, and to explore Kerrygold's soothing sights, sounds, scents, tastes and touches, visit kerrygoldusa.com/kerrygold-comforts.

About Kerrygold

Kerrygold was established in 1962 as a premium brand, befitting the rich quality of grass-fed Irish milk. Kerrygold initially launched as a single product brand and is now regarded as Ireland's most successful food brand, reaching 1 billion in annual sales in 2019. Since its creation, Kerrygold has been synonymous with quality, and today, Kerrygold has a special place in the hearts of consumers all over the world.

Kerrygold dairy farmers are committed to the co-operative ideal; working together to produce only the very best grass-fed dairy products. Kerrygold cows graze freely on the fields of 14,000 small family farms; each one using unique dairy farming traditions passed down through generations of family. It is this grass-fed milk that delivers the rich tasting, higher quality dairy products that Kerrygold is famous for.

Today, consumers all over the world enjoy the unique taste of Irish grass-fed dairy. Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter is the number two butter brand in the USA and Kerrygold Dubliner Irish Cheese is the number one specialty cheese.

*Kerrygold commissioned Atomik Research, an independent market research agency, to conduct a nationally represented consumer survey of U.S. adults (1,004) who are involved in helping with holiday meals, including baking, cooking, and shopping for ingredients.  The survey was conducted between November 23-26, 2021, and the margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points with a confidence interval of 95 percent.

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SOURCE Kerrygold