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Food trends
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Food trends
United in flavour
We look at how far our culinar y tastes have come since the Queen’s accession in 1952, influenced by the world around us
Can you imagine a storecupboard in 2022 that doesn’t contain olive oil or pasta? Whether or not you consider yourself a foodie, there’s no doubt that the food we love changes over time.
THE FIF TIES
In the 1950s, food in Britain was still under rationing; limits weren’t completely removed until 1954. These restrictions helped pave the way for British cookery writer Elizabeth David’s influential A Book of Mediterranean Food (1950), as its simple but exotic recipes were awash with colour compared to austerity – despite many of the ingredients being unavailable for several decades. One ingredient that did suddenly become widely available at this time was chicken, with the introduction of cheap new farming techniques from America. This, combined with the famous Coronation chicken dish invented for Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation, kick-started Britain’s chicken obsession. Nowadays it’s our most popular meat, with the equivalent of 2.2 million chickens eaten every day in the UK.
The 1950s also saw the beginning of a wave of immigration from Hong Kong, and Chinese restaurants soon began to appear. British-Chinese food quickly grew in popularity and today it’s our favourite takeaway, with over 4,000 Chinese restaurants across Britain* .
THE SIXTIES
Italian dishes such as pasta and pizza began to grow in popularity as curious British palates were piqued by holidays abroad, and in 1965 the first Pizza Express opened in London. Dinner parties were all the rage too and spaghetti Bolognese became the exciting chic new meal, as determined hosts navigated cooking (and eating!) the unfamiliar long strands of pasta that are now a family staple.
THE SEVENTIES
Another wave of immigration saw the number of Indian restaurants soar, serving anglicised versions of Indian dishes. Chicken tikka masala, Britain’s favourite Indian
1,200
Indian restaurants were in the UK in 1969. By 2016, this had gone up to 12,000**
takeaway dish today, was invented in Scotland in 1971!
THE EIGHTIES
It wasn’t until the 1980s that garlic became a common ingredient, and another kitchen staple, olive oil, began to appear in grocers. Previously only available from chemists (as a hair conditioner and a remedy for earwax), its use as an ingredient was attributed to Elizabeth David. Even today, its popularity is ever-rising, with sales overtaking vegetable oil for the first time in 2004.
THE NINETIES
With olive oil and garlic now easy to buy, in 1991 Sacla introduced jarred basil pesto. Nowadays, Tesco sells more than 20 different varieties of pesto. Another new favourite of the ’90s was sushi. The first British conveyor-belt sushi restaurant, Moshi Moshi, opened in 1994, followed by YO! Sushi in 1997. This decade also saw a coffee-shop boom as Brits became thirsty for the cosmopolitan lifestyles of American TV shows such as Friends. The number of UK coffee shops increased by a whopping 847% between 1993 and 1997.
THE NOUGHTIES
Now officially a chilli-loving nation, sales increased by 42% between 2007-2009†, prompting Tesco to double its range. We also fell in love with houmous. First sold in Tesco in 1988, this Middle Eastern dip was initially viewed as the choice of vegetarians and hippies but was popularised by food writers, helped by its low cost, practical convenience and perceived healthiness. Tesco’s houmous sales increased by 228% between 2003 and 2010, going on to break the 30 million mark in 2015.
THE TWENT Y-TENS
After the ’90s popularity of Japanese food, more specialist ingredients followed - enter miso. First available in health food shops in the ’60s, the 2010s saw us embrace its fermented, salty umami flavour - whether added to ramen, Bolognese or caramel. Sales have increased and show no sign of slowing. Another explosive ‘new’ ingredient was jackfruit. Common in South and Southeast Asian food, jackfruit was embraced as part of the wider vegan and vegetarian movement due to its convincingly meaty texture. Tesco first stocked it in 2019 and now sells 5,500 tins a week. The last 70 years have seen a dramatic shift of what’s on our dinner tables, and who’s to say what the next 70 will bring. One thing’s for sure: if the last seven decades are anything to go by, we’re bound to end up with something delicious.
