Story summary: A research group says that Britons are spending four times as much for 'food on the move' as the Spanish and nearly twice as much as the Italians. The reason - it takes longer to get to work.
Food on the move
UK residents spend an average £229 a year on food consumed in transit, the highest in Europe, the research group Datamonitor says. In contrast, Spanish people spend only £56 a year, while Italians spend £128 a year on average.
The report's author says the difference is due to the greater amount of time Britons spend at work and commuting. In the UK people spend on average 48 minutes a day travelling to and from work. The Spanish and Italians spend the least in Europe on on-the-move-food and also the least amount of time commuting: 34 and 24 minutes respectively.
Attitudes towards food are also important, the study claims.
'There are a lot of people in the UK who view most of their meals as refuelling,' says Lawrence Gould, the report's author.
But it is not all bad, he adds.
'One thing emerging is a greater demand for higher quality food,' even if it is food-on-the-go says Mr Gould.
Traditional fast foods such as burgers and chips are now competing with low-fat alternatives. While the food may have been eaten in transit, people are increasingly being offered healthy fare: from sushi to organic salads
research group: here, a firm which researches the attitude of people food on the move: food you eat while you're travelling consumed in transit: eaten while you're on the move from one place to another on average: the total time taken by all the people who were asked divided by the number of people commuting: travelling from where you live to the place you work. In cities like London this can take a long time. Attitudes: your attitude to something is the way you think or feel about it refuelling: you refuel a plane so it can keep flying: here the word is used about people One thing emerging: their research is starting to show these facts... low-fat alternatives: instead of eating food with a lot of calories and fat you eat other, healthier food healthy fare: food which will not harm you by increasing your cholesterol: 'fare' is an old fashioned word which is sometimes found in adverts for restaurants.
