Interestingly, during interviews with traders, one big question remained, ‘what constitutes a smaller meal?’ During the trial, it was left to traders to define and package accordingly. Lite-BITE box developed by Henry Colbeck Ltd We found both owners and their customers were broadly accepting of the prominent promotion of the lighter meals, with a reported increase in the proportion of smaller meals sales, however our sample size was too small to derive statistical inference. Henry Colbeck were key to creating a meaningful dialog with and between traders and getting them on-board with the trial. This meant an emphasis on the potential financial rewards of provision of smaller meals to traders’ businesses, through articulating the power of customers’ awareness and demand for healthier options. We were operating in an intervention landscape reliant on traders’ voluntary participation. We co-designed the intervention, but crucially, they led on delivery and we retained our independence as a research team for analysis and interpretation of the evaluation data. Therefore, we asked Henry Colbeck Limited, an independent specialist fish & chip shops wholesaler, to give the project that foot-in-the-door via a trusted voice. Despite their volume, they’re presented as a one-person meal, with smaller sizes mainly limited to children, pensioners or as lunchtime specials.Įngaging with traders is a huge challenge. Their taste is as beholden to us, as espresso is to the Italians, therefore reformulation has limited potential. The competition here is unbelievable.”In our NIHR School of Public Health Research funded study based at Fuse in collaboration with The Centre for Diet and Activity Research at the University of Cambridge, we wanted to challenge the notion that quantity rules above all, to see if traders and their customers were accepting of promotion of smaller meals.įish & chips offered the ideal starting template. “They just want chips… they'll have a look and then go along have a look at their deals and then come back and they'll order… they like the value for money. It was not our assertion that any particular cuisine type is to blame, but to find potential solutions to what has likely been an arms race by traders in response to their most vocal customers to provide the most calorific-kick per quid, as highlighted in this quote from a Scottish fast-food trader. But the evidence is clear “ people consistently consume more food and drink when offered larger-sized portions, packages or tableware than when offered smaller-sized versions”.
Of course, just because a portion contains this amount of food, it doesn’t mean that one will consume it all. This is a hefty dollop of energy, given that an adult women is advised to consume 2,000 calories per day.
Pizzas are the chart toppers when it comes to portion size, delivering a medium value over 1,800 calories, though fish & chips are not far behind on an excess of 1,600 calories. It is the sheer volume of food provided that is the intimidating/wondrous factor. However, such considerations are rendered obsolete when considering the nutritional profile of independent takeaway food, where meals were found to be “ excessive for portion size, energy, macronutrients and salt”. The term is open to interpretation and keenly fought over, see the fat Vs carbs debate. When it comes to food, there is no universally accepted metric for ‘health’. As such, we need to scope what aspects can change to help provide customers and communities with healthier options. Takeaways are not the prime suspect in unlocking the door to good health, but it’s clear that they do play a role. There is no single determinant and competition for a slice of the obesity research funding pie, is as cutthroat as the local high street takeaway shop cluster. The interrelating factors that derive our weight are as unique as our fingerprint and untangling and finding solutions is a global challenge. At their peak during the inter-war years, there was an estimated 35,000 shops around the country, while in today’s diverse and competitive fast-food market, there remains around 10,500 chippies. This most harmonious pairing of Jewish-style fried fish with chipped potatoes, first engaged in the 1860s and have been besotted with each other ever since. Fish & chips is arguably our most iconic contribution to the culinary arts.
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