Bowl eating replacing eating from dinner plate in the UK!

The new trend in the UK is of bowl eating. The traditional British plate seems to be dying a slow death as more and more people adopt bowls for eating. What is the reason for this trend?

Traditional British plates and their decrease in use

Traditionally, British people used to eat from plates. This was an etiquette and table manners. But this tradition is undergoing a change. People are using less of the dinner plates. Instead they prefer to eat from bowls directly without placing foods onto the plate prior to eating. There is a danger that the plates for dinner would die out.

A new survey from Sainsbury showed that almost a quarter of the people now no more use plates for eating. They eat directly from bowls. And 10% of the people said that they are never using the plate these days. The supermarket chain survey added that in the cold winter months 57% of Brits would move to using the heart warming bowls in place of plates.

Reasons for this change to bowl eating

As the stresses of life and weather takes its toll on lives of Brits, more and more people would cease to use dinner plates and instead have their meals in bowls. Around 40% of the surveyed people said that they prefer bowls because they are easier to hold while having their dinner sitting on the sofa and watching TV at the same time.

Life has become so busy that people have started doing two things simultaneously to save some time. This might be bad for digestion but there is no time to wait a while and think on it.

20% of the people, in fact, said that for them food tastes better in a bowl! And 26% of Brits that they use their bowl as a stress-reliever. They find solace eating from a bowl when they are sad and depressed or had a bad day at work or home.

Even traditional foods are off plate

The foods that the people in Britain eat in bowls are not only modern time foods such as noodles and the like. But the Brits are also eating their traditional foods in a bowl. They even eat Sunday roast from a bowl. And also fish and chips. And 5% of the surveyed people also admitted to have enjoyed eating unique foods such as kebabs, pizzas, and burgers in a bowl.

Also, read How to make Rainbow Chard Bowls? (Packed with Flavors)

Greg Tucker, Taste Psychologist opines on this:

“There are a number of emotional and physical reactions that help us to understand why eating from a bowl has become so popular. As children, bowls are our earliest introduction to food , so their familiarity is a comfort that transports us back to simpler times.”

“Dining this way evokes further emotions of comfort; the heat in our hands gives a feeling of reassurance, while the weight of the bowl makes our brains believe the meal is more substantial and satisfying. With a bowl we tend to use just one utensil, making it easier to curl up and relax. Meals in bowls also tend to be hearty, flavoursome and comforting which our brain subconsciously connects to whenever picking up a bowl to eat from. This sparks our taste buds before we even begin eating the meal, making the food taste even better than if it was served on a plate.”