Culinary Dreams or Kitchen Nightmares – Can Brits cook from memory?

Almost half of the nation’s adults could cook more than a week’s worth of dinners from memory, a recent study shows.

Analysing data drawn from YouGov, online kitchen equipment retailer Maxima Kitchen Equipment identified that 43% of Brits – over 29 million adults – felt confident that they could cook ten or more meals from memory, without consulting a recipe.

It was also revealed that women are far more confident in their culinary skills, with half of the UK’s female population able to cook more than 10 recipes from memory, compared with just 35% of men able to stake a similar claim.

Age and experience play a large role in one’s ability to cook from memory. Young adults aged 18-24 show the weakest culinary prowess, with a majority of 27% saying that they would only be able to cook a total of 1-3 dishes without looking at a recipe.

Ages 25 and upward gain the most confidence in their cookery skills, with each age category thereon sharing a majority leaning towards being able to cook 10+ meals without written prompts.

The strongest group of cooks are those aged 50-65, of which 56% claim to be able to cook a variety of meals from memory.

Around 2.7 million UK residents – 4% of the population – say that would be unable to cook any meals from memory.