Food News, with Christine Rutter

LANCASTRIANS are the biggest takeaway junkies in the country.

A survey has revealed that nearly half of Northerners have takeaways or fast food delivered at least once a week - four times more often than our southern counterparts.

Half the people who eat fast food do so simply because it will be delivered to their door, an option they find more appealing than dining in a restaurant.

Lancashire consumers have developed a growing taste for takeaway meals over the last five years.

The fast-paced '90s have spawned a rapid rise in the amount of fast food consumed by Britons, according to The Eating into the Millennium report.

The UK is the largest European market for fast food. Last year we ate more than one billion burgers, 718 million pizzas and 470 million portions of deep-fried chicken.

Sales of fast food have increased by 26 per cent in the last five years and the market is expected to grow by a third by the year 2001.

Research by the manufacturers of Rennies, the indigestion tablets, found that fast food fanatics were more likely to be higher income earners, the under 30s and young people still living with their parents. The BSE scare has done little to dent the success of the hamburger, which is still king in this country. Burger King and McDonald's dominate this market and are creating more drive-through outlets to meet the demand for meals on the move. Chicken chains have benefited from the beef scares and people are switching to more healthy grilled and oven-baked products. Pizza outlets grossed £718 million last year, not including the pasta market.

And while eat-in pizza is still a popular option, there has been a meteoric rise in popularity of home-delivered food.

Vanessa Hollings, community nutritionist for Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Health Trust, said: 'We see this more and more.

"The custom of having a sit-down meal at home is on the decline.

"People now prefer cheaper, convenience foods . Unfortunately, these are higher in fat, which can contribute to heart disease and obesity.

"Takeaways are made from cheaper products because businesses are trying to make a profit so they are not always low-fat products."

She added: "A lot more people are eating out.

"They have busier lifestyles and many are just eating on the run.

"It is not that they are going out and eating a nice meal.

"They are going for bags of chips, burgers and pizzas.

"If people are eating takeaways once a week and eat a balanced diet the rest of the time, then that's all right."

She added: "There is no such thing as a healthy takeaway but you can make choices when having one to cut the fat."

Previous news story

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.