By Anita Langary
September 15 2020, 11.00
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Three quarters of Londoners would rather eat their takeaway from the container than on a plate, according new research from Just Eat.
The online food order and delivery service highlighted the city’s slothful behaviour as they found 75% of people eat their takeaways straight from the packaging to avoid having to wash up their plates.
The research was conducted as a response to an intense Facebook debate that took place on delivery service’s Facebook page and had a sample size of 2000 participants.
Just Eat UK Managing Director Andrew Kenny said: “It’s clear our customers have passionate views about whether to plate or not to plate.
“Research showed that 60% of the nation believes eating food straight from the packaging adds to the experience, so whether you plate up an order or not, it’s clear Brits’ passion for food delivered on demand is stronger than ever.”
Users debated which takeaways are socially acceptable to eat outside of their packaging.
McDonalds was found to be overwhelmingly the least tolerable with 8 out of 10 people believing that it should never be eaten from a plate.
However, Natasha from Fulham said: “Why would anyone want to take McDonalds out of its packaging and put it on a cold plate? Even in the movies, you’d never see someone do that.
“It’s just not normal.”
Just Eat also found that 47% of Londoners believe take-outs taste nicer when they’re ‘un-plated’.
Conversely, the research found people think it’s unacceptable to eat Thai food straight from the container.
60% of Londoners said that they are too lazy to plate up their takeaways, which may be due to the fast paced nature of life in the capital city.
The research also found that 75% of people found it acceptable to eat KFC or burger and chips from the container.
KFC lover Giulia said: “I guess it’s all psychological but eating it on a plate loses the essence of it being a takeaway. I like opening the box and seeing the food I love in there neatly packaged. It also retains its heat.”
Just Eat offer takeaway options from small independent restaurants in local areas, as well as big name brands such as KFC, Pret, McDonalds and Greggs.
