Comfort foods enjoyed by Kiwis differ by gender, says survey
A survey run by The Coffee Club to celebrate New Zealand’s second National Comfort Food Day found that the comfort foods enjoyed by Kiwi men and women are quite different.
Sweet treats were overwhelmingly popular among female respondents, with chocolate scoring 75 percent of the vote. Sugar was prominent throughout the rest of the answers with cake (11 percent) and hot chocolate (9 percent) also getting the comfort food tick. When it came to the men, savoury came out on top, with 60 percent naming a beef burger as their comfort food of choice. Hot chips (18 percent) and potato chips (12 percent) came in second and third.
The results become more similar when the respondents were asked how they feel when reaching for comfort food, 45 percent said it was usually when they were tired, followed by 16 percent who indulge when they’re sad and 14 percent when they’re anxious or stressed. Most believe that comfort food works, with only 15 percent claiming it doesn’t have any real effect on the mood.
“A lot of New Zealand’s most popular dishes fall under the comfort food category,” The Coffee Club Marketing Manager, Andy Lucas said.
“We launched National Comfort Food Day as we wanted to know more about those foods that New Zealanders turn to when they want a mood boost. The survey that we run each year has been fascinating. Some of the results are to be expected but others were more unexpected! We didn’t think there would be such a divide between the comfort food preferences of Kiwi men and women, for example.”
National Comfort Food Day will take place on Friday 30 October. Launched by The Coffee Club in 2014, it is an annual celebration of New Zealand’s comfort food dishes.
