If you thought Brexit was divisive, a poll of Britain’s favourite classic foods has just declared: “Hold my beer.”
Social media was set alight after YouGov released a ranking of the best classic British dishes – with the list being described as “distressingly beige”.
On the ‘god tier’ of “Britain’s finest home-grown food” lives the humble Yorkshire pudding, with 85% of people who had tried them saying they liked them.
The Northern staple was accompanied by the Sunday roast, enjoyed by 84% of people who had eaten it, fish and chips (84%), crumpets (no comment – 81%), the full English breakfast (81%), along with a bacon sarnie.
At the bottom of the pile were jellied eels, liked by only 6% of those who had eaten them, lagging way behind the next least popular, laverbread (20%).
Unhappy with Scottish delicacies being lumped onto the bottom tier, one social media user simply said: “This is why Scotland wants independence”.
Others felt one of their favourites had been harshly treated – or left off the list completely.
Honourable mention for this glaring oversight:
YouGov pointed out some gender differences with men more likely to enjoy black pudding than women (56% to 38%) and women more partial to cauliflower cheese (76% to 62%).
Meanwhile older generations were more positive about the foods on the list in general, most noticeably with liver and onions, enjoyed by 58% of those over 55 and just 15% of people aged between 18 and 24.
Oh, but if you thought it stopped there, well, there was a sweet food poll to finish things off.
Among them, scones reigned supreme, enjoyed by 85%, ranking as one of only two dishes alongside the Victoria sponge (81%) to register an approval rate of over 80%.
Christmas pudding proved far more popular with the over 55s (70%) than with 18-to-24-year-olds (34%).
In bottom place was the deep-fried Mars bar (22%) – the only sweet food to clock in at under 50% (again, sorry, Scotland).