Brits Swap Sprouts And Peas For Ready Meals

Vegetable consumption has reached a 50-year low in Britain as people shift towards ready meals, crisps, and chocolate, a report warns.

The average person consumes 1kg of fresh and processed vegetables, excluding potatoes, each week, according to an annual family food survey.

This represents a drop of nearly 12 per cent since 1974, when the survey began, and the weekly intake was 1.2kg.

Back then, Brits consumed lots of cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower and peas. But now, we are eating more courgettes, cucumbers and mushrooms than at any other point.

The data, published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has triggered alarm among campaigners, chefs and nutritionists.

British chef Jamie Oliver warned Britain is ‘not eating enough of the good stuff’.

‘I’ve always said the further away we are from the mud and soil, the sicker we are,’ he told the Sunday Times.

‘We need to make sure our next generation of kids are in the soil, growing, learning about where their food comes from and packing their plates full of delicious, nutritious veg-fuelled food.’

He argued that the longstanding five-a-day target is outdated, adding that seven to 10 portions of fruit and vegetables is needed to see a ‘real improvement’ in diet-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers.

A recent study, published in The Lancet, warned that ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are a leading cause of the ‘chronic disease pandemic’ linked to diet.

A total of 43 scientists and researchers joined forces to argue that UPFs are ‘displacing’ fresh foods and meals, worsening diet quality, and are linked to multiple chronic diseases.

Examples of UPFs include ice cream, processed meats, crisps, mass-produced bread, some breakfast cereals, biscuits, many ready meals and fizzy drinks.

UPFs frequently contain high levels of saturated fat, salt, sugar and additives, which experts say leaves less room in people’s diets for more nutritious foods.

The family food survey data shows that compared to 1974, the average Brit now consumes 200 per cent more crisps, 430 per cent more ice cream and 177 per cent more pizza.

‘The dramatic fall in traditional British vegetables like peas, beans, sprouts and swede suggests a shift away from the basics of home cooking,’ Nichola Ludlam-Raine said.

‘Ready meals, crisps, chocolate bars and ice-cream have become far more accessible, aggressively marketed and … engineered to be highly palatable.’

It appears that the younger generation doesn’t seem to like vegetables at all, which is a shame because they make up a lovely part of a hot meal. However, some of the older generation still like growing their own food, but over the years, flats have been thrown up, so there are no gardens to grow vegetables.

Unfortunately, they have made fast food more palatable, but still, home-cooked meals are much better. The problem is, this Gen Z generation, most of them don’t know how to cook. A roast dinner with all the trimmings and then later sliced up and used for sandwiches, there is nothing better.

Most things we eat these days are processed, and we don’t think twice about consuming them, although you might do so if you knew what went into them.

It’s said that nobody is really eating vegetables, so why are all these supermarkets crammed to the rafters with fresh vegetables, but evidently nobody is eating them? Somebody must be eating them.

The trouble is, life has been made too easy, and there is no such thing as going shopping anymore; it’s just ordered online, so these youngsters just purchase junk food and get it delivered to the door.