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There has been a remarkable 'globalisation' of the UK population's palate, but the bacon sarnie and chip butty remain our guilty food pleasures, according to research from ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Good Food magazine.

A survey of 1,300 ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Magazines readers, to mark the magazine's 20th anniversary, found that home cooking habits have undergone a huge transformation over the past 20 years. A majority of us now happily cook Indian, Mexican and Thai dishes at home – something few of us would or could do 20 years ago. The survey found:

• Mexican food has been cooked by more than 50 per cent of us in the past year, compared to just one in ten who would have attempted it 20 years ago;
• Two thirds of us now cook Indian and Chinese food, up from just 30 per cent who would have attempted it 20 years ago;
• Only one per cent of readers cooked Thai food 20 years ago. This figure has rocketed to 36 per cent today, more than doubling in the last five years alone.
• The popularity of cooking Moroccan food has increased ten times.

Despite this, the bacon sarnie remains our favourite guilty pleasure, followed by another British staple – the chip butty. One in four respondents confessed to eating leftovers straight from the fridge.

Gillian Carter, editor of Good Food magazine said: "Today we're as handy with a wok and curry powder as we are with a frying pan and pastry. With many of us travelling more, we want to recreate dishes we've enjoyed abroad. For 20 years Good Food magazine has helped readers cook good meals at home – and despite more sophisticated palates it’s reassuring to know that favourites like the bacon sarnie still have a place in the nation's collective kitchen!"

The survey also found:

• Delia Smith's cookery books are our most food splattered, followed by Jamie Oliver's.
• Jamie Oliver is the chef we would most like to teach us to cook.
• Good Food readers biggest recipe gripe was 'hard to find ingredients', with 49 per cent stating this would put them off attempting the dish. The other chief gripes were 'requires equipment I don't have' (41 per cent) with recipes being too unhealthy/ fattening (29 per cent).
• Our favourite piece of music involving food is 'American Pie' by Don Mclean, followed by the Rolling Stones' 'Brown Sugar' and The Beatles 'Strawberry Fields Forever'.

Good Food magazine's 20th anniversary issue is on sale now priced at £3.20, featuring a record 120 recipes, including a booklet containing 80 best-loved dishes.

NOTES TO EDITORS
About Good Food magazine
Good Food is the UK's market leading-gardening magazine, selling 323,171 copies a month. Each issue is packed with over 100 recipes for everyday meals, easy entertaining and dishes from celebrity chefs. Every recipe is tested by the Good Food cookery team.
The survey of 1,300 members of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Good Food magazine's online reader panel responded to the survey, which took place in August 2009. The reader panel is made up of readers of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ magazines who were contacted by email.
The November issue of the magazine is the 20th anniversary issue, with a record number of recipes, including a booklet of the 80 best-ever recipes, voted for by readers

Toby Hicks