Fusion cooking
Lifestyle shows make up a large proportion of UK television programming, with food and cookery series becoming increasingly popular as celebrity chefs work to fuel the population's love of food. With the UK being recognised mainly for its Sunday roasts and cucumber sandwiches, you may be surprised to know that cuisines and ingredients from around the world are widely available in our restaurants and markets and have influenced what we eat and how we cook.

Chefs with a new-found celebrity status promote a fusion of classic ‘British’ cooking with an international flair. Using traditional ‘British’ ingredients, they can create something as imaginative as black pudding won tons, a recipe made famous by Lancashire-born Andrew Nutter, or mussel, cockle and clam masala, a recipe that gives a new twist to traditional British seafood, featured in Rick Stein’s Taste of the Sea.

TV dinners
With the increased popularity of cookery and more chefs on TV, there has been a rise in the number of students applying for courses at UK universities and colleges, such as those offered by the School of Culinary Art at South Trafford College.

The entertainment potential of a combination of cookery and education was recently encapsulated by the programme Jamie’s Kitchen. Here celebrity chef Jamie Oliver conducted a social experiment to train 15 unemployed 16 to24-year-olds to be chefs while setting up a new restaurant at the same time. Both the programme and the experiment were a great success - so much so that a catering company in Newcastle has chosen six unemployed youngsters who will be given 12 months' training and work experience in a busy café.

A renaissance
The reinvention of ‘British’ food means that recipes go beyond the traditional meat and two veg. However, our busy lifestyles and the availability of convenience foods mean that we may not necessarily recreate the recipes from scratch in our own homes. Recent trends suggest that more and more people buy takeaway meals from the local Chinese or Indian restaurant to eat at home in front of the television. There has been a recent explosion in the ready-meal market, especially chilled meals, with manufacturers offering everything from lasagne to pheasant breast in blackcurrant sauce. Ready-meals aren’t necessarily unhealthy all the major supermarkets and manufacturers recognise the demand for ‘healthy’ meals and produce reduced-fat alternatives. These meals satisfy the customer demand for the convenience of not cooking, without the high calorie and fat content usually associated with ready-meals.

The UK’s obsession with food is reflected through television scheduling. Factual shows about food as well as cookery shows are broadcast during prime time evening slots. The BBC has recently shown a series called The Nation’s Favourite Food, based on the results of a survey in the UK to find our favourite foods. Each week they looked at a different meal or type of food, such as food for eating outside, comfort food or breakfast, and listed the UK’s top ten favourites.