Younger cooks are more likely to turn to social media for meal ideas and recipes. — AFP
In the land of fish and chips and Sunday roasts – Britain – culinary habits are changing rapidly. In addition to street food culture, homemade food is increasingly becoming a serious alternative to ultra-processed foods, at a time when young people are taking much of their kitchen inspiration from social media.
Britain has made obesity one of its major battlegrounds. Indeed, more than one child in five is overweight or obese before entering elementary school, while 25% of adults are obese and 38% overweight. Against this backdrop, the annual report from the British supermarket Waitrose* reveals just how much eating habits are changing in the country.
Not only are people getting busier in the kitchen, and increasingly forgoing meals and snacks eaten out, but they also love to cook!
No less than 55% of consumers told Waitrose that they’d rather have a home-cooked meal than order a takeaway. Also, 46% of the 3,200 consumers surveyed revealed that they cook from scratch every day. That’s not to say that people are cooking for hours on end, but that they now take the time to make recipes.
According to the analysis, British consumers are prepared to cook for around 30 minutes on weekday evenings. Indeed, it seems that home cooking is gaining ground, despite the latest OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) report on time spent at the table ranking Britain at the bottom of the list, at only one hour 19 minutes per day.
By comparison, the French, world champions in the field, devote two hours 13 minutes to sit-down meals.
There are several driving forces behind this change in habits. For example, 38% of consumers surveyed say they make their own bread, while 28% have tried making their own pickles. This new passion correlates with people’s desire to know more about what’s on their plate.
According to the retailer, Britain’s growing concern about ultra-processed foods has prompted 61% of home cooks to get into the kitchen to prepare dishes from scratch.
These new skills have largely been boosted by the social networks from which apprentices draw their meal ideas. Recipe books as sources of inspiration now seem obsolete, at least among 18 to 34-year-olds, with young cooks more likely to watch TikTok videos for ideas.
And while the social media platform is regularly criticised for its zany hacks and biased information, when it comes to cooking, it at least has the merit of giving free rein to the culinary imagination. Yes, young consumers are less likely to follow instructions when cooking.
In fact, 72% of them say they feel confident when cooking without a recipe. So what are people making? For nearly three-quarters of consumers (72%), Indian cuisine is the repertoire from which they most often draw to prepare homemade dishes instead of opting for take-out.
But, strange as it may seem given the inflationary context that logically points consumers towards homemade food as a way of reducing expenditure, British households are also interested in top-of-the-range ingredients. Sales of Cornish salt flakes soared by 79% year-on-year in 2024.
The same is true of extra virgin olive oil, up 15%, and apple cider vinegar, with sales up 6% in the distributor’s supermarkets. In fact, this supports consumers’ broader desire to improve the quality of what they eat, and the fact that they’re prepared to go the extra mile at a time when they’re going to great lengths to prepare their food.
Some 54% of consumers say they proactively avoid ultra-processed foods, while 67% consciously include foods that are good for their gut health in their diets. – AFP Relaxnews
*This study was carried out among a panel of 3,239 British consumers interviewed in October for the Waitrose Food and drink report 2024.
