To think processed and pre cooked food is way too common in this country?

I'm the opposite. In summer I want to be outside but in bad weather, I love being holed up in the kitchen doing some baking or chopping a load of stuff for a soup or stew and listening to the radio.

You can buy fabulous fresh produce in the UK. If you think everything is tasteless, you need to shop elsewhere.

I think its good to reflect as a nation where we are going wrong. We are letting our children become obese, and leading many of them to a shortened life and/or a life with significant health issues leading to a much poorer quality of life.
If we can't take a bit of true criticism for their sakes that's really pathetic.

This is such an interesting thread @HotPotLove imo opinion I think that there are many reasons why this is the case in the UK.

I think it's important to acknowledge that a large part of it is to do with our government and the deals they do with large companies. It's not a coincidence that ready made meals are so cheap and available in our supermarkets.

Another thing is a lot of people in the UK don't know how to cook. My mum has always said that when the microwave was introduced to the UK that people opted for that as the new trend so I think that that has killed a lot of skills being passed down through the generations.

People are addicted to sugar and salt and prefer to eat ready made meals.

People are tired from working long hours, our society isnt set up to help people live healthy lives.

I completely agree with you re people don't need to cook a huge meal with a million vegetables or meat in them but most people in the UK wouldn't entertain that thought for 5 minutes. That being said when I was in Sicily a few years ago, most of the school children were obese and on their lunch breaks could be seen eating fast food such as burgers and chips. I think that it is becoming a problem in Europe too so maybe its a case of a change in the world rather than individual countries, is globalisation and large companies profiting not the main reason for this?

Pasta with a few tomatoes is just a bowl of carbs with a bit of veg. Not a balanced meal

Bullshit. It absolutely is. Don't forget the "carbs" also contain protein if you are using fresh egg pasta, which most Italians (and me) use. You also have tomatoes, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper, and wine, not forgetting the olive oil too. You can add chillies, or olives. That's several of your thirty different things for the week.

If you want to be more "balanced", I use the same base sauce and throw in some clams. Cheap as chips if you buy the frozen ones.

I admit this does influence me too, my kitchen is freezing and isolated from the rest of the house. In summer chatting over salad prep is much more a thing.
And I can't stand slow cooker food, before it is mentioned.

OP, half French here and I do agree. We eat way too much crap as a family so I’m certainly not on a high horse, but I think there is another factor - quality of produce. Your example of simple pasta with cherry tomatoes probably wouldn’t taste amazing because the tomatoes we get in the UK supermarkets are pretty bland. Produce aisles are stocked with tasteless, out of season foods that have probably been frozen in transit. And a limited variety too. It’s not exactly mouthwatering or inspiring. Go to a produce aisle in France and you’ll see juicy, fat tomatoes, things like endives, cauliflowers the size of your head, foods that are sourced mainly in the same country and are seasonal. If we expect blueberries in January we’re not going to get taste or quality. That’s a cultural thing, nobody outside of chefs really get seasonal stuff, other than knowing that July is the best season for strawberries (because we grow them).

My take would be that the many and varied forces (e.g. unfettered capitalism and globalisation) that have caused this food culture shift in the US, and to a lesser extent the UK, and then a lesser extent than that the rest of Europe (to varying degrees), have been more limited to date but are growing.

France have very strong educational policies towards food, and lots more regulation (e.g. to be called a bakery you have to make your bread on site from scratch, and to use the word baguette has rules and a fixed maximum price). Plus, they have been more rural than the UK and industrialisation (and associated removal from traditional food culture) came much later. Even things like labour laws that ensure proper lunch breaks have helped them hang on to a culture of eating proper food rather than fast food (I'm aware France has so many McDonald's but I'm talking about all types of fast food). Finally, I think a lot of the UPF products have been driven by US companies, and language and culture barriers to moving into the UK are lower so it's natural that things emanate from there to the UK before other countries.

I do think there's an element of what is considered "good food" as well. I know I struggle to persuade myself to spend more money on oil for example because it's "just for cooking in and you don't notice" - which isn't true but it's a mindset that's hard to shake as sometimes you DONT notice the quality and feel annoyed as it's so expensive. Also, in the past it's been harder to grow those really fresh healthy foods like a great tomato or whatever.

I can think of so many other factors....but I don't doubt that processed food is coming for all cultures unless something changes.

It isn’t denial to want to know why it’s happening in other countries too who traditionally have a much more food focused and positive culture than is. It’d be genuinely interesting and helpful to know.

Another thing that perhaps influences peoples' food choices - how bloody early it gets cold, dark, wet and miserable over here!

Personally I find I'm far more susceptible to saying 'soddit, let's have a curry, or an M&S stew or tagine' when it's cold and dark at 3pm, wanting nothing more than to snuggy on down in my pj's with a book, then eating something carby and fatty - even better if it's followed up with a hot pudding and cream.

When the weather is better, and the days are longer, I'm more likely to eat a lighter meal, and enjoy the ritual of prepping it.

What you actually said in your opening post was ' ready meals etc are very much normalised here and part of most people every day life'. I understand you're speaking from your personal experience but that's simply not the case. Your perception reflects your budget and where you shop.

Around 40% of Italians are overweight…that doesn’t sound great.

I’ve been to supermarkets (when camping, so cooking a lot) throughout France and Germany and there are huge amounts of snacks and fizzy drinks on offer there. No less than supermarkets here. And in Italy and Germany, large amounts of cured meats which are known carcinogens. I’m not sure the rest of Europe is doing that much better than we are. Not in 2025 anyway.

For what it’s worth I don’t think the OP is British bashing. We have a big ( huge) problem in this country and need to face up to it. There’s a wall of denial and excuses that sets in whenever someone talks about fast foods and the obesity epidemic in this country.

Read what i wrote. It isn't good quality tomato sauce.

It's pasta with fresh tomatoes and i eat it a lot.

Tomato sauce us a whole other thing.

I know Asia was mentioned upthread as being somewhere that values home cookery. But whilst Asia obviously covers a massive area, my experience of Korea and Japan was that they take convenience food to whole new level! I'd say it was driven by the work culture though.

You are clearly guilty of the same as I had to ask 3 times before I received a (non) answer.

I agree. There are far too many people buying processed stuff and ready meals etc. I know people say they haven't got time to cook, but I bet they've got time for watching TV, scrolling on their phones, having their hair done etc. I'm not condemning those things - just pointing out that everybody has choices and different priorities. After some health scares, good food is more important to me and I cook nearly everything from scratch.

There’s much more of a profit to be made from processed food than from healthy food alas. In the jargon it’s called “ added value “.

In other words you just want to continue to evade the question and bash British people as was pretty evident from the outset. It’s a pity because it would have been genuinely interesting to explore why countries with excellent ingredients, strong food culture, longer meal times and many other positive factors are still increasingly turning to UPFs. I think that it’s worth exploring and tackling collectively as so many countries are being affected by this but evidently you don’t and just want to shit all over British people.

Continent of the 7/11 though 😂

But that's only a minority. Yet, the obesity epidemic is real. You can't honestly think that every obese person is only obese because they genuinely don't ever have time to cook or genuinely can't ever afford better quality food or genuinely disabled enough that they can't cook themselves better quality food. The numbers simply don't add up.

You’re not wrong. What’s also of concern is the explosion of home deliveries with the likes of Deliveroo, JustEat etc. For the 1st time in the history of mankind we can sit on our arses, burn virtually 0 calories and gave 3000 calories brought to us. Where I live in south London I can’t cross the street without being nearly mowed down by a fast food delivery electric bike.

I never buy ready meals and have a takeaway a handful of times per year. I cook from scratch but do buy bread, ham and seasoned meats. Don’t make my own pasta or grow herbs. Don’t buy sauces in a jar. Eat plenty of fruit and veg. I’m sure there are plenty of other families like mine across the UK. This sweeping statement about UK eating habits is bonkers.