Food for thought
Britain might like to think of itself as the nation that invented good manners when it comes to eating etiquette but according to a new study by POLO we’ve shed our traditional stiff upper lip and become a ‘sensual’ food nation.
A third of Brits (33%) admit forgoing cutlery and eating food with their fingers and 15 per cent of us (one in six) even lick the plate.
The national study, which provides a fascinating insight into our daily eating habits, marks the launch of the nationwide POLO campaign asking “are you a sucker or cruncher when you’re eating a POLO mint?” POLO are inviting mint-lovers across the nation to join in the debate on Facebook and declare whether they are a sucker or cruncher.
While you might expect Britain to be conservative when it comes to table manners, the Sucker or Cruncher study reveals that we’re a nation of pleasure-seekers and have a sensual relationship with our food
Food habits like sucking sweets (52%), eating one crisp at a time (65%), licking our ice creams in a circular motion (56%) and saving the best food until last on our plate (35%) all indicate the use of delayed-gratification techniques, intended to prolong and intensify our eating pleasures – rather than seeking an instant hit (only 11% of the UK admit to crunching their sweets).
This sensual side is reflected in our other habits: our preferred date would be a candlelit meal (37%) and our ideal way of relaxing is a weekend away with our loved one (41%).
However not everything we do is so refined with 15% of the population confessing to sharing dinner with their dog!
Body language expert Judi James who helped commission the research said; “The way we eat and how we treat food can often give away more about us than a ten minute conversation. Our subconscious food habits reveal our attitudes to everything from relationships to work and define us as a nation”.
To join the debate and declare whether you are a sucker or a cruncher visit Facebook and search POLO crunchers or POLO suckers.
Stats and Facts compiled by Judi James:
• Suckers are strategic, thoughtful and sophisticated and can apply self-control. They also tend to be calm.
• Crunchers are impulsive, competitive and impatient. They are likely to be high achievers but have higher stress/anxiety levels.
• The rise of fast food and the 24/7 lifestyle e.g. snacking/eating at desks means traditional etiquette rules have taken a battering and we are now more likely to eat in less formal ways.
• Women appear to have worse eating habits than men. Two fifths (39%) admit eating with their fingers compared to less than a third (31%) of men.
• A third of us suck and play with a sweet in our mouths before swallowing it (33%) and a quarter of us gobble more than one sweet at a time.
• And our favourite place to eat them is in front of the TV (34%).
• Two fifths of us like to dunk our biscuits (39%).
