Britons appear to be preparing for Christmas earlier than ever before, with the second national lockdown for England sparking a rise in festive recipe searches.
Since November 5, there has been a 76% uplift in searches for festive content on the BBC Good Food website, with Christmas cake being the number one most-searched recipe, up 57% compared to this time last year.
Mince pies, gingerbread men and Christmas biscuits are also among the top 10 searched-for festive recipes on the website.
It suggests consumers are using lockdown to get into the festive spirit early with the website also seeing an uplift of 644% year-on-year for freezable Christmas baking recipes.
Traditionally, the day to start making Christmas pudding would this year fall on November 22, known as “Sir-up Sunday”.
Searches for Christmas crafts for children have also increased by 1,980% year-on-year and festive market recipes are up by 1,500%.
Natalie Hardwick, editor of the BBC Good Food website, said: “Our audience is really making the most of being at home by preparing key festive dishes weeks, or even months, in advance.
“We started to see interest in our ‘Make and Mature’ Christmas cake in August and it’s been a consistently well-visited recipe ever since.
“As well as Stir-up Sunday, classics like mince pies and Christmas pudding, we’ve seen our website audience looking at Christmas dinner mains and sides.
“We think this demonstrates that the nation is being extra prepared while potentially reconfiguring their approach to the big day for 2020.”
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