We all remember the classic children’s tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears – Goldilocks gets lost, ends up at the cottage of the three bears, and proceeds to eat their hot, cold, and just-right porridge, etc. Well, if the tale’s author, British poet Robert Southey, were alive today, he may need to rethink his choice of breakfast foods.
Recent reports show that the British consume the most cereal out of any European country. In fact, 87% of Brits actually eat cold cereal every day – with at least 6% of those reporting they don’t just each cereal for breakfast!
Move Over, Porridge
Although porridge is still popular in all of the United Kingdom, new research reveals that the popularity of this warm breakfast staple is dwindling. Overall, people in the UK spend £134 million in hot cereals, like porridge and oatmeal, yet they spend £1.2 billion in ready-to-eat (RTE) cereals, and most of those are of the sugar-filled “kid” variety.
Researchers suggest that sales of RTE cereal sales will continue to rise due to several factors including the ease of preparation – cold cereals take less time to prepare than hot cereals – as well as increased marketing surrounding cold cereals (particularly to children) combined with little to no marketing for hot cereals.
Favorite British Breakfast Cereals
So, if you want to eat a modern British breakfast, skip the porridge, kippers, and scones, and try one of these popular British cereals:
Be warned, many British breakfast cereals contain more sugar than a jelly doughnut – although, you won’t hear Goldilocks complain about that.
