We’re a nation of takeaway lovers. Curries, pad thais, fried chicken – we order them in by the bucketload, via a tap of our phones.
But the most popular takeaway is actually none of the above. According to a new survey from Currys, it’s actually pizza. Or at least, in London: in the rest of the UK, the love for Chinese food remains firmly entrenched.
A new study from the tech retailer found that pizza topped the list of the capital’s favourite takeaway food, with 46 per cent of Londoners putting it in their top three – making it only one of two regions not to have Chinese takeaway as their top option.
Surprisingly, Chinese came in third, with 36 per cent opting for that – while second place went to burger and chips, with 38 per cent. The good old fashioned fish and chips, meanwhile, squeaked into fifth place (behind Iranian cuisine), with 27 per cent of people choosing to order it in.
Takeaway has always been popular in the UK, but its popularity exploded during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Deliveroo, Just Eat and other platforms experienced a boom in orders – to the extent that the Institute for Fiscal Studies calculated that British calorie consumption from takeaway foods had shot up 50 per cent during the pandemic.
It hasn’t really gone down since. Despite that, the survey claimed that we order in less than we think. Most Londoners, the survey found, only spend £11-31 on takeaway each month – which is suspiciously low, given that 25 per cent of people said that they were having takeaway 2-3 times a week on average.
The UK's favourite takeaways
% in the top three
51% Chinese
44% Pizza
37% Fish and chips
36% Indian
31% Burgers/American style takeaway
15% Fried chicken
7% Turkish/Middle Eastern
6% Italian
Of course, getting takeaway comes with its own set of issues. The biggest problem? According to Londoners, the answer was “late delivery” – but 6 in 10 Londoners also said that they wanted healthier takeaway options near them, and 63 per cent said they were worried about the healthiness of their takeaway options.
Despite all that, we’re still more in love with takeaways that ever. The majority of Londoners (49 per cent) said their takeaway consumption had stayed the same over the last year, and for 18 per cent, it had gone up.
Looks like our love affair with fast food isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
