Heat is on for traditional food

Published on Friday 7 March 2008 12:29

NEW research has disclosed the nation's most "endangered" dishes, as Britain turns to foreign food for traditional home cooking.

Tesco.com announced a number of classic British dishes are set to become extinct by 2021 if their decline continues.

The supermarket chain found the top ten "culinary dodos" after interviewing 1000 UK adults about dishes they cooked from scratch at home.

Any recipe which was prepared by less than 25 per cent of the population falls into the list of dishes threatened with extinction. Some of the vulnerable dishes include steak and kidney pie, spotted dick and sherry trifle.

Research showed that Britons prefer to prepare overseas dishes such as curries and pasta, the most popular home-cooked meal being spaghetti bolognese.

Tesco.com's Mandy Minichiello said: "Changes in diet, the increasing influence of ethnic trends, the popularity of eating out and a time-pressured generation are all reasons why we are losing the ability to cook dishes we love for ourselves.

"These recipes are all delicious and simple to prepare."

Other "at risk" dishes include beef Wellington, jam roly-poly, coronation chicken, bread and butter pudding, toad in the hole, fish pie and Lancashire hot pot.