Britain returns to the Good Life

We're always fascinated to know what's going on in kitchens throughout the country, so we commissioned research that asked 3,000 people across Britain just exactly what's cooking. The results offer a fantastic insight into how we live now and illustrate how we're embracing The Good Life..

AGA Rangemaster's Great British Kitchen Survey reveals half of us grow our own vegetables in a bid to be more like Tom and Barbara - or perhaps Jamie Oliver…

Almost half of us have planted or grown our own vegetables in the last 12 months as Britain's cooks embrace a return to The Good Life as portrayed in the evergreen BBC TV sitcom.

An independent survey of 3,000 people carried out on behalf of AGA Rangemaster by Next Big Thing/OnePoll is one of the most comprehensive surveys ever undertaken into British attitudes and lifestyles based around cooking and the kitchen.

The poll also reveals:

• Jamie Oliver is the celebrity chef we most aspire to cook like
• 'Waste not, want not' has become our kitchen mantra
• When it comes to food shopping, the supermarket giants are not having it all their own way.
• Range cookers are at the heart of The Good Life, as these households spend more time in the kitchen, argue less often and are more likely to have flirted or had sex in the kitchen.
• We also learn how one in 12 (8%) take this back to nature attitude even further by becoming real-life naked chefs and cooking without clothes!

How we are embracing The Good Life

Just like Tom and Barbara

The Great British Kitchen Survey has revealed the UK is embracing a return to The Good Life, embodied in the sitcom starring Richard Briers and Felicity Kendall. The trend so popular in the 1970s is back with a vengeance:

• Almost half (48%) of us have planted or grown vegetables or herbs in the last 12 months
• 50% of Britons cook from scratch more than they did a year ago
• 68% of British families today sit down to eat as a family three or more times per week.

 

When asked whom we most aspire to cook like, by far the most popular figure is Jamie Oliver

Our renewed interest in living The Good Life for real means more of us are growing more vegetables in our gardens, window boxes or ever more popular allotments, and favouring the cooking style of Jamie Oliver, whose vegetable garden featured highly in his recent series Jamie at Home. Since he first hit our screens more than a decade ago, while working as a sous chef at the River Café, Jamie has had a place in the hearts and kitchens of the nation.

• 24% of us want to cook like Jamie
• 12% want to cook like Delia Smith
• 10% go for Gordon Ramsey
• 9% opt for Nigella Lawson

 

Where do we buy our food?

Our desire to be more like Tom and Barbara means the giant supermarkets are not having it all their own way. While 70% of us still regularly shop at a supermarket, the survey reveals a rise in the popularity of more localised shopping.

• 30% do not shop regularly at a supermarkets
• 23% of respondents shop at local independent stores - from butcher's to farm shops - at least once a week

 

Waste not, want not

The Good Life trend has had an impact on food purchase too, with more of us following Tom and Barbara's lead by adopting a mantra of 'waste not, want not':

• A third of us (29%) are regularly using leftovers to create a separate meal
• 19% ate more food beyond its sell-by date or kept food which might previously have been thrown out

 

Range cookers are key to the Good Life

Tom and Barbara were well known for getting a little flirty in the kitchen and share many other traits with today's range cooker owner. The poll reveals how range cooker owners are generally happier than those without.

• 41% of range cooker owners consider the kitchen the heart of the home (24% for non-range cooker owners)
• They're more likely to entertain in the kitchen (31% vs 19%)
• Range cooker owners argue less often (20% vs 24%)
• They are more likely to eat in their kitchen (30% vs 22%)
• Rangemaster owners are more likely to cook from scratch (57% vs 47%)
• AGA owners are more likely to download food apps to their phone (13% vs 8%)
• Rangemaster owners are more likely to flirt in the kitchen (12% vs 7%) but AGA owners are more likely to have had sex in the kitchen (13% vs 7%)

Perhaps then, it's unsurprising that 30% of people stated that a range cooker would be their dream kitchen item.

The Great British Kitchen Survey was prepared by William Higham, Next Big Thing for AGA Rangemaster from an independent consumer sample of 3000.