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Curious eating-out habits of the Egyptian-kind How often do Egyptians eat out? What do they like to eat? What are world-wide statistics on restaurant habits?
Interesting as both a simple social insight as well as for restaurateurs, Ahram Online compiles some curious habits and preferences about eating out, both internationally and locally. Did you know that Egyptian women's second-choice restaurant would be Italian? And Egyptian men's are barbeque and pizza? Did you know that very few countries prefer eating cuisine from other countries over their own? For instance, when 92 percent of Italians want to go out to eat they prefer … Italian food. Egypt is no exception. Sixty-five percent of Egyptians want to eat the local cuisine when they go out. Egyptians eat out. A lot. Not surprising, right? But listen to the statistics: Egyptians eat out an average of 12 times per week. Only 2 percent of Canadians eat out every day of the week. That beats out even the world's top restaurant go-ers, residents of Hong Kong, of whom 66 percent eat out at least once every day of the week. Contrast this with Europeans, who only 56 percent (even before the crisis really hit) say they frequent restaurants just once a month or less! One cannot ignore, then as well, that the WHO in 2010 notes that 70 percent of the adult population in Egypt is overweight or obese, making the country inherited by the pharaohs the fattest in all Africa and the 14th fattest in the world. Kuwait, in some years, beats Egypt on obesity, however. Of a list of 17 reasons as the most important in narrowing down where to eat, healthy food was listed as a respectable fourth around the world. The top three most important factors, internationally, was the type of cuisine. Across the world, actually, people rank as the most important factors in this order: 1. Type of cuisine 2. Reasonable pricing 3. Convenience of the location 4. Healthy food and hygienic conditions of the restaurant On a global level, almost three quarters of respondents eat a meal between 12noon – 1pm. Saturdays are the most popular world-wide day to eat out, but many of these countries have Sunday off. Maybe we in Egypt can use the same logic and stretch that out to confirm what we already see on Fridays: that our Saturday equivalent - Friday - is the most popular day to eat out. (For more Life & Style news and updates, follow us on Twitter: @AhramLifestyleor our Facebook page) Information was compiled from the following sources: Living Social marketing firm, Nielson marketing firm, Euromonitor, World Health Organisation http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/71269.aspx
