Researchers for the What’s for Dinner Club in Britain recently discovered after conducting a survey of 1,440 people that most British families eat the same six meals every week.

Now, we all know how we get into food ruts. Even if you don’t cook at home, you may tend to visit the same restaurants or grocery take-out counters week in and week out. It’s easy to do — you multi-task 17 things a day in your job or life and so choosing what to eat for dinner can push you over the edge, so you settle on a few things you like and eat them over and over again.

Six things a week, however seems a little extreme, so I did a survey of my own family for the month. I did this before I knew I’d write this piece, so I didn’t skew the results. We basically ate 20 different items — yea for us. Although, I admit, for lunch, I ate basically the same five things — doh!

What Brits eat

According to the research, 30 percent of homes eat roast chicken every week. The next popular is spaghetti bolognese (27 percent) followed by stir fry (12 percent), sausage and mash (12 percent), curries (10 percent) and pork chops (seven percent). All in all, 98 percent of the homes admitted they ate the same six dishes, whatever they were, every week.

Most said they did not try new recipes “because they were worried the family would not like them.” Some 32 percent said that they could not remember how to cook any other meals, and 31 percent said that they couldn’t be bothered to plough through cook books to find new ideas.

The overwhelming majority, the study reported, 78 percent, buy the same selection of ingredients on every supermarket trip then follow their usual selection of recipes.
Interestingly, many of the recipes we Yankees may equate with British dinners like beef Wellington, spotted dick (stop laughing), steak and kidney pie, jam roly-poly, and toad in the hole are becoming extinct. In fact, British supermarket giant Tesco claims their surveys show the above signature dishes will likely be gone from most homes by 2021, mostly due to the invasion of ethnic fare.

Tesco reported that five percent of Britons between 18 and 40 cooked spotted dick (stop laughing) compared to 15 percent of those between the ages of 41 and 55. Beef Wellington in the lower age group garnered only six percent, compared to 15 percent again for those between 41 and 55. Spaghetti and curry, however, in the 18 to 40 crowd garnered 71 percent and 62 percent respectively.

Now it’s your turn

In the South Sound we have Doyle’s and Paddy Coyne's to keep us connected to the Old Country; however, if you want to eat like a modern Brit, the following are my recommendations:

Roast Chicken
Finding a place that actually serves a basic roast chicken proves challenging — therefore, I tend to go with the standby — Costco (did I really just write that?). Costco’s birds are plump, juicy, cheap and easy — sue me.

Spaghetti bolognese
Gino’s Restaurant (4624 S.W. 320th St, Federal Way) sits at the end of 320th near Northeast Tacoma in a strip mall that shares space with a gas station. And yet, they produce a killer bolognese — creamy, well seasoned with fresh flavors and savory meat.

Stir fry
Galanga Thai Cuisine (1129 Broadway, Tacoma) serves a rockin’ cashew chicken stir fry with robust and savory flavor, lots of well roasted cashews and plenty of premium chunks of chicken.

Sausage and mash
Doyle’s Public House (208 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma) gives us the only old world food that has remained on British plates. Doyles serves us sausage and mashed potatoes smothered in gravy — great with a meaty dark beer and soccer on the tube.

Curry
I adore the Long Beach Café (10114 Bridgeport Way S.W., Lakewood), and not just because they have a cool orange wall. The curries here taste smooth and silky, hearty and spicy — pure heaven.

Pork chop
Hands down, Asado’s (2810 Sixth Ave., Tacoma) Argentine-inspired recipes and sleek environs keep the dining room packed — albeit for the stuffed pork chop on the main menu — a mellow and moist chop stuffed with chorizo, Swiss chard, golden raisins, almonds and a Madeira reduction.