One in five women would love to get stuck in to a barbecue this summer - but their partners won't let them anywhere near the grill, a study found. A survey of 2,000 adults found 75 per cent of British men are the only ones allowed to operate BBQs, with partners making do with putting together salads or side dishes. Just one in five women said they're likely to light the grill themselves when hosting a barbie, although millions would like to give it a try.
The study was conducted by PGI Welsh Lamb following Llamb's Day, the festival to celebrate the Welsh Lamb season, as the nation is invited to take part in a Big 'Baa-BQ.' Rhys Llywelyn of PGI Welsh Lamb said: "Barbecues are one of the great British traditions, as important to summertime as drizzle and wasps at a picnic. With now being the perfect time to tuck into Welsh Lamb, the Big 'Baa-BQ' is all about encouraging people to be more creative with their barbecuing, going beyond the usual frozen burgers and sausages and grilling quality Welsh Lamb.
"But we wanted to try and understand a bit more about the psychology of hosting a barbecue, and whether people are really getting the best out of their outdoor cooking. Grilling outdoors can be a fantastic way to cook, but it requires planning, care and attention to get good results."
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The survey by OnePoll found men are more than twice as confident as women when it comes to barbecuing, and they're three times more likely to run the grill than women. Fifty-one percent of women polled said men are quick to hog the barbecue because it makes them appear manly. And a fifth suggest that as men can’t really cook, this is the closest they get to being culinary masters – which the same amount of men agreed with - suggesting there is room for improvement in the great British barbecue. This tallies with the finding that 12 per cent of Brits have burnt meat on the barbecue as a result of alcohol consumption, while over a quarter of us agree that too many barbies only feature frozen burgers or sausages.
Lamb does feature frequently however, with 24% typically including kebabs on their grill, 18% cooking lamb burgers and 16% using other lamb cuts. The majority spend less than an hour preparing or marinating meat, while seven in ten take more than this amount of time operating the grill, suggesting that the British barbecue could be suffering from a lack of pre-planning.
Backseat barbecuing also appears to be an issue, with 15 per cent citing unwanted opinions on how to cook as the most likely reason to cause an argument around the grill. Sixteen per cent also admit they have a habit of standing by and overseeing when others are barbecuing. More than a quarter of us want to get better at barbecuing, but blokes are less likely to want to improve themselves than women, perhaps believing they've already mastered the art.
Llywelyn said: "Men are often more confident when it comes to cooking, especially when it comes to dealing with a barbecue. However, confidence doesn’t always actually tally with ability — as anyone who’s eaten an underdone sausage or a burnt kebab will tell you. To kick off our Big 'Baa-BQ' we'll be giving away top of the range barbecues on social media, at @WelshLamb_PGI and Facebook.com/WelshLamb."
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