Which Countries are Top of the Cooking Charts?

PR59918

NUREMBERG, Germany, Mar. 30, 2015 / PRN=KYODO JBN/ --

   - Over half of people internationally say they cook purely for fun once a

     week or more.

   - Italy and South Africa lead on passion for food and cooking.

   - India and Ukraine top the chart for hours per week people spend cooking.

   - France, Germany and Brazil trail in bottom five.

   - GfK asked more than 27,000 people aged 15 or older across 22 countries

     about how many hours per week they spend cooking - and how knowledgeable,

     experienced and passionate they are about food and cooking.

   Hours spent cooking per week

   Internationally, people who cook say that they spend, on average, just under

six and a half hours a week doing this (not counting those who don't cook at

all). And the classic stereotype holds true, with women saying just over seven

and a half hours per week cooking, compared to men's five hours a week.

   This overall figure is heavily led by the top five most active countries. In

India and Ukraine, people spend just over 13 hours a week cooking, falling to

nine and a half hours for South Africa. Indonesia comes next with more than

eight hours, followed by Italy, just topping seven hours. The countries where

people say they spend the least amount of time cooking each week are Brazil

(slightly more than five hours), Turkey (slightly less than five hours) and

South Korea, which is trailing well behind at less than four hours, possibly

due to the popularity of its inexpensive street food carts.

   Of almost more interest for businesses selling into the cooking market is

the frequency with which people cook purely for fun, rather than necessity.

Overall, just under a third of people (30 percent of both men and women) say

they cook for fun at least once a week - and a further quarter claim to do this

every day or most days (33 percent of women and 21 percent of men).

   Udo Jansen, GfK's Global Director for tracking sales of small domestic

appliances, comments: "This study delivers valuable insight for businesses

offering food and cooking products or services, especially when combined with

our sales trends for electric kitchen appliances worldwide. For example, we are

seeing growing demand for electric food preparation appliances in India,

Indonesia and Italy. Our combination of attitudinal insight and actual sales

trends is unbeatable in revealing which markets and consumer segments present

the greatest commercial opportunities for our clients."

   Knowledge and experience of cooking

   Overall, 29 percent of people claim to have great knowledge and experience

about food and cooking - but this is again led by women who stand at a third

(34 percent), compared to just a quarter (25 percent) of men.

   Breaking this down into individual countries, South Africa and India top the

list, with around half of people (50 and 48 percent respectively) agreeing, or

agreeing strongly, that this applies to them. Also in the top five are Turkey

and Ukraine at 40 percent each and Indonesia at 38 percent.

   At the bottom end of the scale, we see Spain, France, Russia and Australia -

with just one in five (20 percent) believing they have great knowledge and

experience with food and cooking. These are followed by Belgium at 19 percent

and South Korea trailing well behind at only 13 percent.

   Passion for cooking  

   Looking at genders, an average 37 percent of women and 27 percent of men

across all 22 countries agree that they are really passionate about food and

cooking.

   Interestingly, when we look at individual countries, the findings show that

knowledge and experience of food and cooking does not always relate to passion

for these things. Turkey, which was 3rd for claiming knowledge and experience,

falls to 7th place (equal with USA) when asked about passion for cooking, and

Ukraine (4th for knowledge) slips to 11th place. Instead, we see Italy and

Mexico (7th and 8th respectively for knowledge) appear in the top five

countries claiming cooking passion. In fact, Italy leads all other countries in

this area, with 43 percent agreeing or agreeing strongly that they are really

passionate about food and cooking. They are very closely followed by South

Africa (42 percent), Indonesia and Mexico (40 percent) and India (39 percent).

   By comparison, the lowest ranking countries - Poland, Sweden, Belgium and

Russia - all have only about one in five feeling passionate about cooking,

while the bottom place of all is again claimed by South Korea, at just 13

percent.  

   Infographics:

   1. Men versus Women: attitudes and time spent cooking:

http://www.gfk.com/PublishingImages/Press/GfK-Infographic-Cooking-Total.jpg

   2. Country ranking by time spent cooking:

http://www.gfk.com/PublishingImages/Press/GfK-Infographic-Cooking-Countries.jpg

   For more information, please go to:

http://www.gfk.com/news-and-events/press-room/press-releases

   About the study

   GfK interviewed over 27,000 people aged 15 plus, either online or

face-to-face, in summer 2014. The countries included were: Argentina,

Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia,

Italy, Mexico, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden,

Turkey, UK, Ukraine and USA.

   GfK's point of sales (POS) tracking and retail panel monitor sales data for

electric kitchen appliances, washing machines, tumble driers, dishwashers,

refrigerators, freezers, cookers and ovens, hobs and ranges, extractor hoods

and microwaves in more than 90 countries worldwide.

   Press contact:

   Amanda Martin

   Global PR

   +44-7919-624-688

   press@gfk.com;

   Stefan Gerhardt

   +49-911-395-4440

   press@gfk.com

   SOURCE: GfK