Chef Rustie Lee on our festive foods and saving energy

Christmas traditions in British kitchens are shifting fast, and some once beloved festive favourites are falling out of fashion. Nearly half of Brits (46%) have never tried eggnog, while four in ten (40%) say the same of advocaat. Even bread sauce, a long standing staple of the Christmas roast, has never passed the lips of almost a third of the nation (29%). And remarkably, nearly one in ten (9%) have managed to avoid eating a single Brussels sprout altogether.

Surprising omissions do not stop there. More than one in ten have never tasted gingerbread (12%) or yule log (12%), although nearly half (47%) still say they enjoy traditional Christmas food like mince pies and Christmas pudding to round off the big meal.

But taste is not the only factor behind the changing landscape of Christmas culinary traditions. New research by Smart Energy GB reveals half of home cooks (51%) worry about timing their dishes correctly, a quarter (24%) struggle with limited oven space, and rising energy costs weigh on the minds of many (15%) who fear the impact of running multiple appliances at once.

Ros spoke to chef Rustie Lee.

Photo by Alyson McPhee on Unsplash