Saturday, December 6, 2025 |
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This week's big theme, whether you shop at Waitrose or not, is simple: carbs are back and everyone's pretending they never said anything rude about potatoes. We dig into the Waitrose Food & Drink Report and what it reveals about the middle-class psyche. After a decade of cauliflower rice and courgetti, the supermarket has declared an official carb amnesty. Sales of big baking potatoes are up by more than a third, "jacket potato" searches have jumped 178 per cent and the frozen aisle – once the graveyard of sad peas – is now a "gourmet destination" of wagyu roasties, four-cheese gratins and cinnamon swirls. This is Iceland for people with a Le Creuset collection. The difference is in the branding: it's all fibre, gut health and "smart staples". Bread is no longer sinful if it's dark rye, topped with designer chickpeas and sluiced with £12 olive oil.
Elsewhere, Emma Henderson has been looking at the way food theft has quietly become big business. The past year reads like a very niche heist franchise: €90,000 worth of escargots lifted from a Michelin-bound snail farm in France; 3,000 bottles of Ukrainian sparkling wine stolen off a lorry before Christmas; 22 tonnes of Neal's Yard Cheddar that never turned up; a Chelsea kitchen missing hundreds of pounds' worth of langoustines. Add in hijacked olive oil, jamon raids and maple syrup gangs and you get a picture of food as one of the world's favourite things to steal – with producers, small importers and supermarket shoppers all paying the price.
If you've managed to get your ingredients home and keep them there, the next question is what to do with the inevitable Christmas leftovers. For that, we've asked some of the country's best-known cooks what they're eating on Boxing Day – and it's reassuringly low-effort. Rick Stein goes for a long walk over Bodmin Moor, then cold turkey and ham with baked potatoes and an alarming number of condiments. James Martin is campaigning for the comeback of the toastie machine, cramming his with roast beef, stuffing and cheese. Donal Skehan leans into Vietnamese-style turkey banh mi and leftover-cheeseboard mac and cheese; Clodagh McKenna is team stacked sandwich by day, turkey curry by night. Jon Watts makes the case for the obvious: thick turkey sandwiches, easy pies and a very good "best-bit-of-Christmas" curry.
If the leftovers don't stretch, there's comfort elsewhere. From The Barbary in Notting Hill, Ian Coogan shares three dishes that sit perfectly in this strange bit of December where it's dark by 4pm but you're not ready for full stew mode: wild sea bass with vivid chermoula, scallops in zhug butter and a rice pudding brûlée that does the "cosy but still a bit glam" thing beautifully.
And because December is basically pasta season, Phil Howard has given us four recipes from NOTTO ahead of its new Broadgate opening: tagliatelle in reduced chicken stock and tarragon butter, silky crab linguine, a bitter-green-and-anchovy number and a root veg ragù that tastes like bolognese with better PR. Proof, if you needed it, that the best bit of Christmas might actually be the days after, when you're in pyjamas, guarding your leftovers and eating very good carbs in peace.
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Carbs and frozen food are back: How Waitrose turned into middle-class 'Iceland' |
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After years of cauli rice and frozen food being frowned upon, Britain's poshest shoppers are loving real carbs again and have turned the freezer into the new pantry. Hannah Twiggs dives into Waitrose's latest food and drink report and looks at why the frozen and bread aisles have become a gourmet destination
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For the past decade, the British middle classes have tried – often unsuccessfully – to pretend they don't like carbohydrates. Bread was rationed like contraband. Pasta required an apology. Potatoes were whispered about with the kind of guilt normally reserved for extramarital affairs and long-haul flights.
But this era of carb shame appears to be over. Quietly, steadily and with the unmistakable confidence of a supermarket that knows its customers better than they know themselves, Waitrose has declared carbs officially back. And not just back: booming.
In its Food & Drink Report 2025-26, Waitrose reports sales of canned and jarred beans are up 45 per cent. Organic oat flour is up 79 per cent, wholemeal up 42 per cent, dark rye up 25 per cent. The supermarket has even launched Ottolenghi x Bold Bean Co Queen Black Chickpeas, because in 2025, even chickpeas need a designer collaboration.
The carb comeback's undisputed monarch? The jacket potato. Sales of large potatoes are up by more than a third, while jacket potato searches on the supermarket's website have rocketed 178 per cent. After years of cauliflower posing as rice and courgette pretending to be pasta, Britain now wants the real thing – and wants it with toppings.
"Fibre is the new buzzword in terms of nutrition," says Dr Joanne Lunn, health and nutrition lead at Waitrose. "As people become more aware of the link between fibre, good gut health and satiety, they are also recognising its benefits as an economical and environmentally friendly option."
Read the full article here
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| We blind taste-tested supermarket mince pies – and one stole the show |
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"At The Independent, we've always believed journalism should do more than describe the world – it should try to improve it.
This Christmas, we're asking for your help again as we launch our new campaign with the charity Missing People – the SafeCall appeal.
Every year, more than 70,000 children in the UK are reported missing. The misery that follows – for the child, for the family, for the community – is often hidden. Too many of these young people have nowhere to turn when they need help most. SafeCall will change that. Our goal is to raise £165,000 to help Missing People launch this new, free service – designed with the input of young people themselves – offering round-the-clock support, advice and a route to safety."
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| A festive, comforting guide to holiday cooking: The Christmas Companion delivers nostalgic, cosy recipes – from sticky panettone grilled cheese to rich winter treats – perfect for slow mornings, family feasts, or leftover lunches. It's Christmas nostalgia and kitchen creativity rolled into one merry cookbook, ideal for warm candles, soft blankets and a touch of indulgence.
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