Theoretical And Empirical Evidence: Food Consumption In Bhutan

2.1. Theoretical and empirical evidence: Consumption theory
The household food expenditures in developing countries like Bhutan have received considerable attention in recent years because of the fast economic growth and increasing concern about food consumption. The strong link between food expenditures and income is well illustrated in consumer demand theory, and food expenditure share is commonly used as an important index of the household welfare and economic wellbeing (McDowell et al., 1997). Hopper (2011) demonstrates the close relationship between household income and the purchased quantities of milk, cream, cheese, eggs, meat, fish, fresh fruits, and fresh vegetables. Income is also found to be one of the most prominent measures of food consumption behavior (Muhammadet al., 2011). However, Chinese consumers also are enjoying a rapidly expanding array of branded products choice and a rapidly

By areas, food consumption expenditure is higher in urban areas than in rural areas because mostly higher income earners are living in urban areas than in rural. Food expenditures represent 40% of the total expenditures of an average person in Bhutan. There are stark differences in total consumption expenditures and the share of food in total expenditures by consumption quintile. It is estimated that the richest quintile has expenditure levels that are seven times as high as the poorest quintile. As seen in other countries, the share of food versus non-food decreases significantly from the poorest to the richest quintile. The poorest quintile spends 62% of their total expenditures on food. This compares to only 31% for the richest quintile. However, as argued by Umeh and Asogwa (2012), the budget share of food expenditure for large households is smaller because they are likely to spend more on non-food items such as education and