Sushi surges as sandwiches suffer

07-Sep-2011 - Last updated on 08-Sep-2011 at 14:53 GMT

Sharp practice: Jamie has helped sushi outsell some traditional British sandwiches

Japanese delicacy sushi threatens to topple some sandwiches from their place as the nation’s favourite lunchtime snack thanks to the promotion of celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver.

Demand for sushi now outstrips tuna and cucumber sandwiches and ploughman’s, according to retail giant Tesco. Its spokesman told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “Over the past year sales have increased a lot thanks to celebrity chefs and people’s desire to try something different.”

UK sales have increased by more than 21%, across all retailers, according to figures from market analyst AC Nielsen. Top sellers are nigiri, fish on a bed of rice, prawn rolls; smoked salmon, cucumber and red pepper rolls.

Popular sandwiches

Kathryn Bettles, sushi range developer, said: “Sushi used to be considered the preserve of foodies but it is has now become a mainstream popular snack for many people around the UK, rivaling some of our most popular sandwiches.

“Over the last five years it has been steadily growing in popularity and overtaking longtime sandwich favourites such as the ploughman’s plus tuna and cucumber sarnies underlines just how popular it is now.”

Tesco sells 30m packs of sushi each year. But the store's most popular sandwich lines continue to vastly outsell sushi, said the spokesman.