Over 60% of Chinese eat takeout at least twice a week

More than 60 percent of the people in China have takeout food at least two times a week, and they hope the quality of the food could be guaranteed, China Youth Daily reported Thursday.

According to a survey of 2,005 interviewees by China Youth Daily and wenjuan.com, 64.9 percent of them eat takeout food at least twice a week, while 52.4 percent consider the food to be harmful.

A total of 55.6 percent admit it's hard to stop consuming takeout food, and 63.8 percent hope the quality could be improved, especially guaranteeing hygiene for the cooking oil and ingredients used.

Wang Wei, a graduate of Renmin University of China, eats takeout food every noon as well as weekend evenings. "It's convenient to order takeout. There are many types of foods available and the price is not high." he said.

When interviewees were asked about the frequency of eating takeout food, 4.7 percent said two or three times a day, 14.4 percent said once a day, 45.8 said two or three times a week, and 13.9 percent said once a week. Only 18.6 percent of the interviewees eat takeout food occasionally, and 2.7 percent seldom eat it at all.

Liu Yang, a freelancer working in Shanghai since graduating, said there is little time for her to cook during the day since she usually sleeps and wakes up late. "Besides, the kitchen is too small to cook, because I rent an apartment with other people." said Liu.

The survey shows that people have different reasons for choosing takeout food. A total of 55.9 percent of them have tight schedules, 36.7 percent consider takeout food cheaper than eating in a restaurant, and 30.9 think the restaurants outside are too far.

Meanwhile, 28.9 percent don't know how to cook, 22.2 percent like eating and watching TV shows together, and 9 percent choose takeout food because it was recommended by friends.

However, many interviewees said they have concerns about the quality of takeout food.

Some 52.4 percent of the respondents think it is bad for your health if you eat takeout food too often, while 34.9 percent don't have any particular feelings about it, and 12.6 percent don't think it is harmful.

In the survey, 55.6 percent of interviewees admitted that it's difficult to quit eating takeout food, so people increasingly expect more from the quality of what they order.

Among the interviewees, 23.5 percent are single, 18.2 percent are in relationships, and 57.7 percent have gotten married. The gender ratio for the survey respondents was nearly equal.