Cottage pie and glass of red, anyone? Britons shun salad despite heat in ‘reverse comfort eating’

The Guardian World Tuesday 28 July 2026, 05:00 UTC By Caroline Davies 1 min read

Key Points

Nostalgic foods like toad-in-the-hole also in demand at Waitrose as people pivot towards familiarity amid climatic and political upheavalForget a crisp salad and glass of chilled rosé. Enervated Britons are seemingly more likely to crave a rich cottage pie and a robust red in heatwaves. In a trend termed “reverse comfort eating”, Waitrose’s cottage pie sales have soared 110% in the last month and South African red wine is up 68% compared with the same period last year.

Nostalgic foods like toad-in-the-hole also in demand at Waitrose as people pivot towards familiarity amid climatic and political upheaval

Forget a crisp salad and glass of chilled rosé. Enervated Britons are seemingly more likely to crave a rich cottage pie and a robust red in heatwaves.

In a trend termed “reverse comfort eating”, Waitrose’s cottage pie sales have soared 110% in the last month and South African red wine is up 68% compared with the same period last year. The surprise spike in demand for winter comfort foods also includes retro chicken, bacon and leek pie (up 41%), chicken korma (up 67%) and chicken and ham gratin (68%).

Britons (ORG) Waitrose (ORG) Enervated Britons (PERSON) South African (ORG)

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Cottage pie and glass of red, anyone? Britons shun salad despite heat in ‘reverse comfort eating’

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