I HAVE just returned from discovering Edinburgh is in the grip of a glowingly healthy blonde and beautiful (on paper anyway) middle-market Scandiwave – with restaurants such as Peter’s Yard, Soderberg, and Akva.
And knowing that Glasgow’s own spectacular charge towards veganism, as far as restaurants and bars are concerned anyway, continues apace you have to wonder what’s going on with our eating-out habits?
Could it be that finally we are reacting against our historical full-fat approach?
Hmm, a glance at the international statistics on kilos of meat consumed per person indicates we are still nowhere near the most meat-free nations on earth.
The No1 slot on that table is firmly occupied by the Bangladeshis who manage to get by, apparently, with just four kilos of meat per head per year. They have an increasing life expectancy of around 72 years old just in case you thought that statistic was down to poverty.
Americans, on the other hand, consume 120kg of meat a year which sounds a lot and probably is quite a lot, when you consider the average cow weighs about 700kg – including the bones. And hooves. And horns. But Americans still they have a fairly high average life expectancy of 78 years.
In the UK we’re not far behind their taste for all things meat, consuming 84kg per head of the stuff every year but is the explosion of non-meat eating-out a sign that is going to change? That because there is always a lag in statistics, it may even already have changed?
Glasgow, which has been claimed to have the highest number of vegan restaurants in the UK, per capita, has paradoxically been said to have the lowest life expectancy in Europe. For males anyway, it’s about 72.6 years. Or thereabouts, depending on whose statistics you read and how fresh they are. That's slightly above that of Bangladesh but miles behind the 78-year average in nearby East Dumbarton. Which could mean that folks in East Dumbartonshire are, like their American counterparts, wrestling steers to the ground for their tea every night. Or could mean nothing of the sort.
Having lots of vegan restaurants does not mean that everyone’s shunning meat. Nor does having many Swedish restaurants, cafes and bars mean that through in Edinburgh the folks are switching to a diet of fresh fish and lingonberries. Though the already high life expectancy rate amongst Edinburgh’s affluent could mean the opposite and that eating out in a Swedish bar may be their equivalent of living life on the edge.
In fact, at the Scandi bar I was in the other day the fish seemed to be entirely of the smoked variety, the berries non-existent and the whole vibe far more about style than any substance whatsover, even though the Swedes are apparently the longest-living in Europe.
The truth is, of course, what you eat out is completely swamped by what you eat at home. And where you eat out has a lot more to do with fads and fashions than real health benefits. Which is possibly how it should be.
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