Over half of British children have never tried a Cornish pasty, and even less have eaten a cream tea, according to new research. Does regional fare risk extinction?
Pizza, chicken tikka and stir fry are what British children expect to eat if they're holidaying in the UK, according to new research by Travelodge. In fact, over half of the 1,000 British children surveyed had never eaten a Cornish pasty, while three quarters had never tried a cream tea, nine out of ten hadn’t touched haggis, and two thirds hadn’t sucked a stick of rock.
The Flavours of Britain survey was conducted by the hotel chain as part of its new 'get up & go explore Great Britain' campaign. It also found that nearly a third of young Britons don’t know the main components of a Cornish pasty, and seven out of 10 children have never tried the 500-year-old culinary tradition that is the Cumberland sausage.
What's a cream tea?
Nearly half (43%) per cent of respondents didn’t know what a cream tea was (nearly a quarter thought it was a cup of tea topped with whipped cream!), and 98% of British children have never tried one of David Beckham’s favourite snacks, jellied eels. Although perhaps that’s not so surprising.
Amazingly, one in eight have never experienced eating fish and chips at the seaside, and one in ten have never had a 99 ice cream at the beach.
And when asked what foods they would expect on a UK holiday, pizza, chicken tikka masala and Chinese stir fry were included in the top 10 answers. More encouragingly, fish and chips got the top spot, despite some children having never had the pleasure.
"A great pity"
Commenting on the research, cook and food historian Monica Askay says: "It is a great pity that so many young Britons are not aware of, or have not had the opportunity to enjoy, our rich and varied regional culinary heritage.
“Some modern Britons appear reluctant to try the great range of regional dishes this country has to offer, yet they are very open to international cuisine. In my experience, once people have tried these regional dishes they are pleasantly surprised at how tasty they are.
“I would strongly encourage parents and their children to seek out and try these dishes for themselves in order to help preserve our food heritage for future generations. If not, we could lose both a great source of enjoyment and a very valuable part of our culinary history.”
Have your children tried traditional regional foods such as Cornish pasties and sticks of rock? Or do they prefer food from further afield? Share your stories in the Comments box below.
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