Food And Drink
Author: Carolyn Clayton

Food and drink have become a major part of most people's lives,
in particular their social lives.  In fact the phrase `food and
drink' produces over 89 million hits on the Google website.
Excessiveness in either is of course unhealthy, but perhaps this
is one of the reasons why people see good food or good wine as
something special, something to treat themselves with.

Guides to good food, wine and restaurants have become big
business.  Egon Ronay's `Guide to the Best Restaurants and
Gastropubs in the UK' which provides detailed reviews of over
500 restaurants and gastropubs has sold over 2 million copies.
Its simple to compare style of awarding up to three stars to
each restaurant is clearly a hit with readers.

`The Good Food Guide' edited by Elizabeth Carter sells itself
as Britain's leading restaurant guide and is currently in it
56th edition, detailing over 1,500 eateries from gastropubs to
high end dining.

Fine wine guides are also a big seller, with books such as
Clarke's 'Fine Wine Guide: A Connoisseur's Bible' and
Johnson-Bell's 'Good Food, Fine Wine: A Practical Guide to
Finding the Perfect Match' both readily available on the
internet it is clear that there is a high demand for such
guides.

This is not surprising as the United Kingdom is the second
largest importer of wine in the world.  Wine sales in the UK
increased 25% between 2001 and 2005.  In 2004 the estimated wine
consumption was 1.2 billion litres.  In particular there has
been an increase in the consumption of so-called New World
wines, for example those from Australia or the USA instead of
traditional producers such as France.  California now produces 2
billion litres of wine every year, making it the fourth biggest
producer behind Italy, France and Spain.  In 2004, New World
wines accounted for over 55% of total consumption in the UK.

Exports of Australian wines have more than quadrupled in the
last decade to reach nearly 800 million litres in 2006, 22% of
which went onto the UK market, approximately 176 million litres.


Exports of New Zealand wines to the UK alone have increased
from 8.1 million litres in 1997 to 21.9 million litres in 2006.

One factor in the explanation of this is an increase in the
availability of fine wine in many supermarkets.  Some figures
place two-thirds of UK wines sales in supermarkets. Increased
demand and competition between large chain supermarkets have
increased the variety of wines and producers and made them more
accessible to the general public.

A recent report by Vinexpo has predicted that the UK will
become Europe's biggest market for wine by 2010.  The report
which examined the worlds wine producers and consumers also
predicted that by 2010 the UK wine sales would be worth £5.5
billion, despite the fact that the UK paid the highest average
price per bottle (£3.11), which is equivalent to 28.5 litres per
capita compared to an average of 27 litres between 2001 and
2005.

The report also showed that between 2001 and 2005 Australia had
overtaken France as the UK's biggest supplier with imports
rising 51%.  Imports from countries such as the USA and South
Africa have also risen during this period which highlights the
trend toward New World wines.


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