We’ve all watched Come Dine with Me and thought we could do better than some of the clumsy cooks! But although we love experimenting in the kitchen, our tightened purse strings mean we’re ditching the dinner party, finding the stress and expense all too much, according to the Very Lazy Cooking Census.
The report from cooking ingredients specialists Very Lazy, conducted by YouGov who surveyed 2,070 Brits nationwide, revealed that the majority of us (47%) use a shortcut or two when cooking, à la Come Dine with Me, and 42% of us love to cook new dishes. However despite this, a staggering 18.5 million of us (38%) don’t host dinner parties very often as they involve too much time and money. 27% of people said that they avoid them completely because they are too stressful.
The Very Lazy Cooking Census surveyed people about their cooking habits and kitchen know-how. It found that whilst we’re a nation of confident cooks with more than three quarters (78%) of us saying we’re very or fairly confident in our cooking ability, a lot of us aren’t too clued up on our cuisine. Just 7% of the UK could identify three ingredients from a well-loved dinner – a traditional Bologna ‘spag bol’ Bolognese sauce. And less than half of us (40%) can make a basic roux sauce.
When it came to foodie know-how, although the TV is awash with male celebrity chefs, men proved to be the most clueless cooks. Whilst half of women said they could make a basic roux sauce, 44% of men admitted to not knowing what one is! Almost a quarter of men (24%) don’t have a clue what root ginger looks like, with a total of 3% mistaking it for either an artichoke, truffle or even garlic! Despite men’s love of food, only a fifth are very confident in their cooking ability – perhaps because 15% of them admit to eating at home but never cooking.
As for cooking habits across the UK, Wales is home to the hardest working cooks with 43% cooking daily, compared to the lazier cooks in the North East where only 18% cook every day. The entertaining capital of the UK is London where 19% love to host dinner parties and Scots proved to be the most adventurous in the kitchen with 48% saying they love to make new dishes. People in the South West are the most organised at 37% when it comes to food planning and Yorkshire and the Humber is home to the most clueless cooks where 24% of people don’t know what root ginger looks like!
Commenting on the results, Very Lazy’s Head Development Chef Rob Cottam says: ““It’s great to see that the UK is so confident in the kitchen, even if some of us do need a bit more encouragement! Our food knowledge may need some work but don’t worry! We all have recipe books, friends and family to teach us and there are so many great shortcuts that we can use rather than struggling to remember lots of complicated recipes. So come on Britain, let’s get cooking!”
For the full report go to www.verylazy.com
