Britain isn't really internationally famous for its wonderously varied cuisine, but we get by. Apparently on an amazingly unextravagent menu of about 4 items. Research (by Loyd Grossman sauces) claims that in the average British household the inhabitants generally cook and eat just 4.1 different dishes for their whole lives.
Whilst that is at least 2 more than the Poorhouse tends to be adept at producing, it is not quite sure that the results are credible - there being at least 3 different variants of beans on toast regularly enjoyed here.
Perhaps however there was some definition of meal that excluded the average Poorhouse-feast so let's act like we believe it for a bit. The results, polled from 2000 adults, showed that the number of dishes was both age and gender dependent. Those between the ages of 45 and 54 have the least variation, cooking 3.2 dishes, compared to the highest amount of creativity achieved by 25-34 year olds with an astounding 4.9 different meals. Men score 3.5 on average, whereas women come up trumps with 4.5.
More importantly, what are the dishes?
Well the Poorhouse can't find any raw survey data quickly, but according to most reports the seven most cooked dishes are as follows.
- Spaghetti Bolognese - cooked by 6.1 million people in the UK each week, 670 million portions served up per year. On average a person in the UK eats this 2960 times in their life. Mmm.
- Stew - rather a general description admittedly, eaten 2612 times in a lifetime.
- Sausages and mash - 2264
- Fish and chips - 2089
- Chilli can carne - 1567
- Steak and chips - 1741
- Chicken Tikka Masala - 871
Everlasting celeb-chef Grossman's opinion as to why the dish-count was so low? "A combination of time pressure and fear of failure".
Strangely however, the Times reported the same story on the same day but appeared to claim that Roast Meat and Veg was the most popular, followed by Pasta and Sauce and then and only then Spaghetti Bolognese was the most popular.
The reasons for this discrepancy are unknown by the Poorhouse and not really important enough to be bothered to find out after a quick google didn't explain it. The Times food guy uncharitably wrote "If you can cook only four things, it’s fair to say they are probably all rubbish." Perhaps their article was too.
Either way, much as it got the Grossman name into the media (a bit) the commentary accompanying the average article claimed such things as:
If you're making a stew for instance, you could try throwing in some more veg, and even a kidney or two. Spag bol should be made with plenty of chunky vegetables and the best quality meat you can afford.
and
There is a world of difference between a processed ready meal packed with salt and additives, and bangers and mash prepared with quality organic meat and fresh potatoes.
...which is something of a countenance against purchasing off-the-shelf jars of pre-processed creamy muck-muck goodness such as exactly those that Loyd Grossman Sauces most famously make. The very first product promoted on their website sauce page is, predictably, Bolognese. Never mind eh?
Comments
Sadly it's all true - kind of
As The Poorhouse will no doubt remember from his epic voyage to New Zealand, menu variety in the way of home cooking is sadly lacking on the other side of the world too...if we're only talking about dinners. My own meagre repertoire encompasses Chicken (cooked in purchased sauces), sausages 'n veg, spaghetti, nachos, and the occasional lash-out on the makings for pork chops and roasts. But then there's lunch (cheese on toast - often with chunky vegetables and salami - packet soup, macaroni cheese, oh the choices) and breakfast (porridge, pancakes, bacon and eggs...mmmm delish).
That spaghetti result is a bit scary - if the numbers are correct, the average person eats it the equivalent of every day for nearly ten years. And if we extrapolate further, as the most-cooked of 4 dishes, the average person's life expectancy is therefore less than 40 years. What are they putting in their sauce??? Forget fear of failure, I'm experiencing fear of death by spaghetti sauce. Note to self: buy a recipe book...don't become another spaghetti statistic!
Hey, don't denigrate your
Hey, don't denigrate your efforts. I remember sampling many a wild and wonderful edible treat whilst you were forced to host me (but mainly ham sandwiches and biscuits in between). In your list you already mentioned 9 items which is way way above the supposed average, plus if they are counting spaghetti bolognese as a whole option to itself then putting different sauces on chicken must surely be classified as a different option per individual sauce. What a culinary genius - I am impressed! And there's meat loaf I distinctly remember you can make.
But yep, your exemplary mathematics are a bit of a worry. Either as you say 40 years is the best we can hope for or perhaps people on average only eat one meal every 2 days of which I have never seen evidence of...very very worrying.
I forgot about meatloaf -
I forgot about meatloaf - Yumm! I haven't made it here yet - too messy for a shared kitchen. As an aside, I found peas as good as New Zealand ones the other day - 'petit pois' - they're nice and juicy, just like home ones, none of this dry/mushy nonsense. Life is good again (a bit of decent pea-ness is always good for what ails you).
I am happy the UK has
I am happy the UK has eventually managed to provide you with the high standard of pea-ness satisfaction provided by your homeland. Our job here is done.
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