A fondness for food

　　A nation of foodies?

　　The UK has become a nation of foodies, with increasingly sophisticated tastes and an appetite for world cuisines. Witness all the TV food programmes and cookery books, the celebrity status of many chefs, the popularity of farmers' markets and regional food fairs, the trend in food related travel and the money we spend on doing up kitchens. Jamie Oliver won massive support for his campaign for improved standards in school dinners and Gillian McKeith had phenomenal success from her 'you are what you eat' approach to eating. And yet, we are also labelled a bad food nation.

　　The ready meal boom

　　The UK eats the most ready meals in Europe. Pizza, pasta, oven chips all quickly re-heated and no messing. Supermarkets and convenience stores display a dazzling range - the more exotic the better. Julia Michna, head of 'meal solutions' at Marks and Spencer observes that 'Britain's multiculturalism [means] ethnic cuisines, which people are often scared of cooking from scratch, are far more popular. One quarter of chilled meals are Indian, and nearly one in five is Chinese'. Only 18% of sales are for traditional British food. We want a tastier, spicier variation on the bland, standard UK diet.

　　Taste, time, trends - and talent

　　Why do ready meals seduce us? Convenience certainly; people commonly say they are too busy; they don't have enough time to cook. Other relevant trends in the ready meal boom are social; as more people live alone they are less motivated to cook from scratch. Families often eat apart, and ready-meals allow them more flexibility. Lloyd, 26, from Devon, says 'I think ready meals are okay. They do what that say (give you a fast food fix). My favourite is Marks and Spencer jacket potato with cheese.' Ashleigh, 22, from Downpatrick, says 'My favourites are pizza and frozen meals which I have about twice a week.'

　　Culturally of course, some people would say that the main problem is that the average British person has no talent for cooking; our passion for ready meals is all a disguise of our basic incompetence and confusion in the kitchen. What do you think?

Anatole
November 2006