Christmas dinner is a lot of hard work
It takes women till the age of 47 to perfect their Christmas dinner.
It may be the most eagerly anticipated meal of the year but new research commissioned by Food Network UK has revealed that it takes the average British woman until they are 47 years old to perfect their Christmas dinner.
The pressure of cooking the festive feast means that up until our late 40s we continue to make common cooking mistakes, with one in ten women making watery gravy, 9 per cent forgetting to defrost the turkey and one in five miscalculating the turkey cooking time, resulting in most falling short of the ‘perfect’ Christmas dinner.
The poll also revealed that on average British women do not brave their first attempt of Christmas lunch until the age of 32, with most feeling the pressure for it to be perfect from their mothers, closely followed by their partner or husband. Unsurprisingly two thirds of British women do not feel that their Christmas dinner lives up to their mum’s.
Food Network UK chef, Lotte Duncan said: ‘’It’s hard to cook Christmas dinner without any mistakes at all no matter how long you have been doing it. Most people forget something or experience minor mishaps.
‘’The main thing women should not try to do is worry too much and set themselves unachievable goals. Plus, at Christmas we should all be prepared to accept other peoples help when it’s offered as it helps to share the load.”
It seems the stress of cooking Christmas lunch may be the root of the problem, as the research reveals, one in ten women say they are dreading preparing Christmas dinner this year and 8 per cent are planning not to repeat last year’s events of drinking too much whilst cooking.
Research also found that a third of women surveyed have never managed to perfect Christmas dinner as something has always gone wrong. Ten per cent have experienced power cuts, 7 per cent have failed to have enough plates and crockery for the task and worryingly 3 per cent have given their family food poisoning!
Nick Thorogood, Managing Director of Food Network EMEA said: “Making Christmas dinner for the first time is an important rite of passage. There is a lot of pressure to pull off the ‘perfect’ dinner and in many families you have to live up to the high standards set by your mother or mother-in-law, who have been mastering their festive feast for years.
“Over Christmas, we are airing a range of programmes featuring some of the most trusted female chefs such as Ina Garten, Nigella Lawson and Delia Smith to help Brits avoid making common mistakes.”
Despite a shaky start, nearly half of females polled said they felt a real sense of achievement when finally dishing up the Christmas dinner and 28 per cent of British men admit that their partner’s dinner is better than their mothers, but that it did take a while to perfect.
Tagged in Christmas Food