Thirty years has been reflected in many spheres of our life, including food. Compared to before, today many are attracted by the relatively wide offer in stores. And so at home they try and create magic in their kitchens from what they couldn’t make for a long time. They discover many unknown tastes. And are you interested in how the change was reflected in such a traditional affair as the Christmas Eve dinner? Tesco investigated this for you in its online survey, which it conducted on a sample of 1,052 respondents aged 35 and over across the Czech Republic.
Potato salad is a true symbol of Christmas
“Czechs have always been and are a nation of potato salad. The only correct one is, of course, the ‘original’ one, which everyone prepares according to the family recipe.” comments on the survey results Patrik Dojčinovič, executive director of Tesco CR. And today almost 9 out of 10 Czechs cannot imagine Christmas Eve dinner without it (87.2%), whereas before 1989 it was only slightly less (86.5%).
However, traditional carp in any way (but mainly fried in a three-pack) cannot be missing from the table, which is even more popular now than 30 years ago. Today, more than 70 Czechs cannot imagine Christmas without it, which was indescribably less before – only 58%. Fish soup has unfortunately lost its imaginary bronze rank as the most common dish in recent years, which is currently being replaced on the tables of many homes by other soups – pea soup, broth with dumplings, or cabbage soup.
“Potato salad is still almost unthreatened, even though the popularity of sweet potatoes and sweet potatoes has been increasing recently. Tesco customers bought 1,576 tonnes of potatoes and 637 tonnes of onions during the Christmas period last year,” explains Patrik Dojčinovič, executive director of Tesco CR. Unlike potato salad, such carp has to fight for its place on the plate every year, with increasingly numerous freshwater and marine competition – perch, cod, zander, striper or tuna.
Among other things, festive dishes made from poultry and beef also appear on Christmas Eve boards. The historic First Republic tradition of Christmas snails, which is now being discovered by the younger generation of Czechs, also has a special position.
“Although Christmas is a lot about traditions, thanks to a much larger selection, people are not afraid to experiment, which we can observe especially when buying foreign products and products from specialized and more expensive stores. For example, dried hams, exotic fruits, quality cheeses and alcohol are popular, when people are not afraid to buy more expensive wine for the Christmas dinner table. comments on the development of Christmas shopping habits Kateřina Michlová, Client Service Director research companies NMS Market Research.
Exotic fruits then and now
According to a Tesco survey, the most popular Christmas symbol and annual dose of exotic flavors were oranges before the Velvet Revolution, followed by tangerines, which even today 9 out of 10 Czechs consider an essential part of the festive atmosphere. Formerly under-the-counter bananas are ranked second in the imaginary ranking, and bronze belongs to pineapples, which share it with apples.
“The post-revolutionary era means more options and a freer choice of what to offer our family and loved ones during the Christmas holidays. The biggest increase in popularity over the past 30 years is the exotic pomelo, which almost half of Czechs buy for their table, or the pineapple, which two-thirds of shoppers enjoy during the holidays. Last Christmas, our customers bought 384,600 pieces of pomelo and 160,100 pieces of pineapple. It’s great that, regardless of the traditions and unique ideas of our customers, we can satisfy everyone with the pre-Christmas offer so that they can enjoy the holidays with joy and according to their tastes.”
says Patrik Dojčinovič from Tesco.
Compared to 1989, Czechs also buy more dried fruit and nuts, as well as other types of exotic fruit, such as persimmons, mangoes, maracuja, lychees and lingonberries.
Honest home production
For which dishes do Czechs consider it almost a matter of honor that everything be purely homemade? The pre-revolutionary five most common items are the same as today’s, only their order has changed. While today most often women put a lot of emphasis on homemade sweets and spreads for a small treat, before the revolution sweets were only in fifth place. The front row also belonged to sweets, but in the form of various cakes and desserts.
The iconic brand associated with baking is Hera, whose history began as early as 1928. It is the long-standing tradition, the reliability of a proven product and sensitive innovations that make Hera a product that few of us can imagine Christmas baking without.
“In Christmas 2018, we sold 10,663,000 Hera units. That is more than the population of the Czech Republic,” comments on the popularity of the Hera brand Vlastimil Mokrý, Key Account Manager at Upfield.
About the survey
The survey for the thirtieth anniversary of a single Christmas was held in November 2019 and participated in it 1,052 respondents over 35 years old from the Czech Republic. Shopper Thoughts is a joint project of Tesco and dunnhumby. It is an on-line (internet) panel that also operates in Great Britain (100,000 panelists) and Ireland (9,000 panelists).
In the Czech Republic, the panel has more than 12,000 members. Customer Opinion offers its registered members the opportunity to participate in public opinion polls and share their opinions and experiences with important companies whose services and products they use every day.
Photo source: graph Tesco, photo Pixabay.com
Source: www.luxurymag.cz
