Waitrose sees sales spike in comfort food classics despite UK heatwaves

• Supermarket Waitrose has reported an unexpected increase in sales of winter comfort foods during the recent UK heatwaves.
• Sales of cottage pies rose by 110 per cent, with chicken and ham gratin and South African red wine both up 68 per cent over the last month.
• Online recipe searches for dishes like spaghetti bolognese, toad in the hole, and mac ‘n’ cheese also saw significant increases.
• Waitrose attributes this trend to “reverse comfort eating,” where customers crave rich, grounding meals after being drained by the heat, leading to “feta fatigue” with traditional summer salads.
• The sales data coincides with the UK experiencing its fourth heatwave of the year, with temperatures forecast to reach up to 35C in parts of southeastern England.

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Waitrose sees surprise spike in these dishes as heatwaves bring ‘feta fatigue’