The two charts compare the expenditure on fast foods per week across three different income cohorts in Britain in 1990 and the consumption of those from 1970 to 1990.
Overall, expenditure on hamburgers recorded the highest level among the high and average income groups, whereas the low-income group spent the most on fish and chips. In contrast, pizza accounted for the lowest expenditure among the average- and low-income groups, while fish and chips recorded the lowest figure in the high-income group. Additionally, the consumption of hamburgers and fish and chips increased over the period, whereas that of pizza generally declined.
Looking first at fast foods’ spending across different income groups, expenditure on hamburger was the highest among high-income consumers at approximately 43 pence per person, before declining to around 33 and then 14 in the average- and low-income groups, respectively. A similar pattern was observed for pizza, with the figure falling steadily from 18 pence per person in the high-income to 12 pence per person in average income and finally to 7 pence per person in the low-income bracket. Unlike the other two foods, expenditure on fish and chips peaked at 25 pence per person among average-income consumers, while remaining unchanged at 17 pence in both the high- and low-income groups.
Turning to the consumption of fast foods, pizza started at approximately 300 grams, which is significantly higher than fish & chips and hamburger, at around 80 and 30 grams, respectively. The expenditure on pizza declined slightly and reached a low of 200 grams in 1985, before recovering to nearly 202 grams in 1990. In contrast, fish and chips surged and surpassed pizza in 1982, then reaching an unprecedented point of 500 grams by the end of the period. Similarly, the consumption of hamburger rose slightly to roughly 110 grams in 1985, before climbing sharply to approximately 290 grams by/in 1990.