Changing Eating Habits in the UK and Elsewhere

[liuzhou]

Here is an interesting interactive website showing changes in eating habits in the UK between 1974 and 2014.

 

Click on "Typical Diet" then slide the button under the dates to show changes. Some are quite dramatic.

 

It is UK data based, but I'm sure of wider interest.

[Anna N]

Very interesting.   Not too many surprises but I'm intrigued that the consumption of butter, lard, suet and drippings and offal hit rock bottom about the same time obesity went off the charts. 

[Deryn]

On the surface, the fact that fruit and vegetables are now consumed in much higher quantities than at any time before (in the years this info applies) and allegedly that consumption of flours, fats, pastries, sugars, etc. has gone way down too seems like a Jamie Oliver dream - but it really does make me wonder what the average Brit is eating these days because Jamie is still screaming at the masses (and particularly at schoolchildren) I think - and as Anna says, obesity has increased dramatically as far as I know over there as well as here in NA.

 

Is this caused more by a change in demographics (increasing immigration perhaps - which then changes the kinds of foods that are eaten within a larger sector of the population but not necessarily - at least immediately - in the previously existing population) than by the average British person deciding to change traditional eating habits?

 

Perhaps rice or noodles have replaced potatoes? Perhaps Chinese or Indian takeaway meals which contain little meat have replaced pork pies?

 

It may be true that some traditions have gone by the wayside - perhaps that large Sunday roast dinner with Yorkshire pudding, etc. is a less frequent event in most households and maybe they have cut down a bit on the fish and chips - but, I really don't think most people (especially in busy cities) are now cooking (unprocessed foods) at home from scratch each day and consciously taking in far more fruits and vegetables and dumping the carbs and fats.

 

Something doesn't quite jive here - though of course it all looks good on paper. I'm more inclined to think that there is some 'replacement' going on here that is not indicated (i.e. categories of foods that are missing) rather than what the data pretends to indicate - a move toward healthier eating.

Edited May 25, 2016 by Deryn (log)