Thaindian News

London, Mar 11 (ANI): Popeye’s favourite food, spinach, is becoming a favorite among health freaks in Britain.

Supermarket giant Tesco claims it has become one of the country’s fastest growing canned vegetables, after half a century of ordinary sales.

The international grocery chain’s statistics show sales of canned spinach across all retailers has increased 24 per cent year on year.

“Spinach got its poor image from baby boomer generation schoolchildren who generally loathed it as they were always being told to ‘eat their greens’ for health reasons,” the Telegraph quoted Kate Evans, canned foods buyer at Tesco, as saying.

She added: “When food was rationed during and after the Second World War spinach became part of the nation’s staple meat and two veg diet at school and at home.

“Spinach got saddled with the unfair tag of being, with cabbage, the most unloved of all vegetables, despite the fact that it is one of the most nutritionally beneficial foods you can eat.”

Spinach sales were at their highest during the 1950s, but fast food culture soon changed people’s choice.

The majority of canned spinach available in Britain is grown in Holland.

Evans added: “More and more people are starting to realize how important it is to eat healthy foods and that has led to a huge growing demand for foods such as spinach, blueberries, blackberries, oily fish, broccoli and tomatoes.

“Spinach is an incredibly versatile food and the popularity of spinach and ricotta dishes in Italian cuisine and sag aloo in Indian food is testament to that.” (ANI)