45 per cent of respondents said that they cook with fresh ingredients almost every day. The number of fresh cooks was slightly higher during the coronavirus pandemic and slightly lower before the pandemic. As many as 36 per cent said they cooked two to three times a week. Only around 8 per cent of survey participants don't usually cook at all.

And when people do cook, how often do meat or plant-based alternatives end up on their plates? The BMEL report also analyses this: overall, the popularity of vegetarian and vegan food is on the rise, while meat consumption continues to fall - as in previous years.

In figures, it looks like this: Around half of all respondents stated that they consciously avoid meat or limit their consumption of animal products (46 per cent), while at the same time the proportion of plant-based alternative buyers is rising to 53 per cent. In line with this, the proportion of respondents who have never bought plant-based alternative products fell from 57 to 47 per cent. Among the remaining sceptics, it is mainly the over-60s who do not put products made from soya, lupins or pulses in their shopping basket. Around 8 per cent of those surveyed said they were vegetarian and around 2 per cent vegan.