The bar chart depicts the expense per week of rich, middle-class and low income British on three fast food items: hamburgers, fish & chips and pizza in 1990. While the line graph demonstrates the consumption in grammes of these three fast foods between 1970 and 1990. Taking a general overview of the graphs, it is evident that expenditures on fast foods varied depending on people’s income class. Furthermore, despite of “fish & chips” being the most consumed items in the 70’s, but in later decades, popularity of hamburgers increased remarkably – exceeding the consumption of the other two items.
The bar chart clearly shows that income level significantly influences spending on fast food in the year of 1990. People in the high-income group spend the most overall, particularly on hamburgers, which account for 45 pence per person per week. This is almost double the amount spent by average-income group (nearly 32 pence per capita per week) and more than triple that of the low-income group (approximately 14 pence per capita per week). While the middle class also prefers hamburgers, low-income individuals allocate the largest portion of their spending to fish and chips (almost 20 pence per person per week).
Meanwhile, the line graph further delineates that between 1970 and 1990, hamburger consumption rose sharply, surpassing 500 grammes per person per week by 1990. Otherwise, fish and chips, which had the highest consumption rate in 1970 (around 300 grammes per capita), saw a marked decline over the period, dropping to under 250 grammes per capita. In the meantime, pizza consumption increased steadily, particularly after 1980, though it remained lower than other two.
In summary, the data reveals clear socio-economic patterns in fast food expenditure, with higher earners preferring hamburgers, and a long-term shift in national preferences from traditional options like fish & chips to more Western style fast foods such as hamburgers and pizza.