Men, in particular, are not very adventurous when it comes to varying lunchtimes. Nearly half (45%) would rather not take the trouble to try something new on a sandwich, compared to 30% for women. When it comes to our favorite spreads, the Netherlands has a fairly traditional attitude:the trusted cheese bam is the big winner (71%), closely followed by a sandwich with cold meats (68%). Sweet spreads, such as jam, chocolate sprinkles and chocolate spread, take a good third place with 31%. Women appear to opt for healthy sandwich fillings more often than men, while men, on the other hand, opt for meat on their sandwiches the most. This is shown by research by meat products manufacturer Stegeman.
Almost three quarters of the Dutch (71%) are open to trying something new during lunch. However, practice often shows otherwise:we regularly let the choice of our sandwich fillings depend on what we already know. More than six in ten respondents say they do not really think about what they invest in their sandwich and therefore choose based on habit. But there is hope:we are open to broadening our horizons. A third would like to make the choices in their sandwich fillings a little less boring and an almost equally large group indicated that they would like more variety during the lunch break. More than half (53%) indicate that they would rather have a few minutes extra preparation time if that results in an adventurous lunch sandwich.
Although we are increasingly aware of food, the Dutch generally remain sober. Four out of five Dutch people prefer the sandwiches they bring from home to the food that is served in the canteen at work or at school. Men in particular are then real carnivores:no less than 73% eat meat products on bread most often, compared to 64% of women.
