Chinese food ousts Indian as Britain’s favourite

Sales of Indian food have been surpassed by Chinese fare in the UK, signifying that Hoisin sauce and not curry sauce is the nation’s favourite du jour.

New research found that chicken tikka massala, widely seen as the unofficial British dish, was beaten to the top spot by the Chinese handy snack, spring rolls.

Indian food is by no means suddenly unpopular in the UK, with 71 per cent of those surveyed saying they enjoy tucking into curries like tikka massala, korma and vindaloo.

But oriental choices were more attractive overall, with over 80 per cent of Brits preferring special fried rice, crispy duck and spring rolls.

“Our sales figures certainly support the fact that oriental food is currently the nation’s favourite, with 53 per cent of customers buying the cuisine compared to 43 per cent who opt for Indian food,” said Simon Williams, an acquisition director at Tesco.

“Also, our customer base for oriental food is growing faster than that of Indian,” he said.

But, while Britons are enjoying Chinese dishes our manner of consuming them may not be exactly authentic. The survey found that just 38 per cent of us know how to use chopsticks and only 40 per cent of us actually own a pair.

Video: Ken Homm gives chopstick lessons