Intermediate 
Tea, baked beans on toast and fish and chips have long been part of the British food tradition. But, there has been a change in tastes over the generations. This has been clearly shown in data published recently in the National Food Survey, which was set up in 1940 by the government because of concerns about health and access to food.
Everyone knows the British love tea but consumption has more than halved since the 1970s, falling from 68g of tea per person per week to only 25g. Britons are now drinking on average only eight cups of tea a week, down from 23 cups in 1974. And, while tea remains the most popular hot drink in the UK, people now spend more money on coffee.
The data is from 150,000 households who took part in the survey between 1974 and 2000, combined with information from 2000 to 2014. It shows a move towards healthier diets in recent decades, with shifts to low-calorie soft drinks, from whole to skimmed milk and increasing consumption of fresh fruit. But, weekly consumption of chips, pizza, crisps and ready meals has soared.
There has also been a dramatic shift from white to brown bread but the figures suggest the amount of bread people are eating has fallen from 25 to 15 slices a week over the past four decades. The consumption of baked beans has dropped by a fifth despite a rise in other types of convenience food, particularly Italian dishes. Adults in the UK now eat an average of 75g of pizza every week compared with none in 1974, while the consumption of pasta has almost tripled over the same period.
Fresh potatoes are also becoming less essential with a 67% decrease from 1974, when adults ate the equivalent of 188g every day. Sales of other vegetables such as cucumbers, courgettes, aubergines and mushrooms have increased. Consumption of takeaway food has almost doubled since 1974, from 80g per person per week to 150g. Around 33g of this amount is chips and 56g is meat, with kebabs (10g), chicken (7g), burgers (5g) and meat-based meals (32g) particularly popular.
Some trends suggest that British people are becoming more careful about what they put on their plates, with the average consumption of fruit increasing by 50% since 1974. In 2014, UK adults ate an average of 157g of fruit per day. Bananas have been the most popular fruit in the UK since 1996, reaching 221g per adult per week in 2014, well above apples (131g) and oranges (48g). Lowcalorie soft drinks represented half of all soft drinks consumed in 2014 for the first time. Britons are also spending a smaller proportion of their salaries on food today  11%, compared with 24% in 1974.
The UK Environment Secretary, Elizabeth Truss, said: Food is the heart of our society and this data not only shows what we were eating 40 years ago but how a change in culture has led to a food revolution. Shoppers care more about where their food comes from than ever before, the internet has brought quality food to our doors at the click of a button, fashionable restaurants are showcasing the latest trends and exciting global cuisines are now as common as fish and chips.
By studying this data, we can look beyond what, where or how previous generations were eating and pinpoint the moments that changed our habits forever. Weve only scratched the surface of what the National Food Survey can tell us. From local food maps and school projects to predicting new food trends, I look forward to seeing how this data can be used to learn more about our past and grow our world-leading food and farming industry in the future.