Eating out in Hong Kong tonight? You’ll be lucky to find something healthy, study finds
Survey of hundreds of restaurants and residents shows nutritious meals are hard to come by in this city, despite our love of dining out
Despite many Hongkongers’ affinity for staying healthy and active, finding a nutritious meal at one of the city’s many restaurants may prove to be a difficult task.
A recent study from Polytechnic University, which surveyed 401 Hongkongers and 305 restaurants, concluded that 60 per cent of eateries did not offer enough substantial healthy food options.
The study found 65 per cent of respondents aged between 15 and 59 years old ate out four or more days a week, and a third ate out every day.
Despite the large number of people dining out so often, the study showed that customers would be hard-pressed to find three healthy main dishes that are either vegetarian or low in salt, oil and sugar.
While 60 per cent of the surveyed restaurants claimed to provide vegetarian or low salt, oil and sugar options, most of these came only in the form of side dishes, such as blanched vegetables and toast.
“This indirectly discourages customers from ordering healthy food, as dishes are not included in a set, which increases costs and time for the customer,” Warren Wong Kin-pong, a researcher at the university’s Department of Applied Social Sciences who oversaw the study, said.
This is in stark contrast to the individual respondents’ results, which found all age groups rated healthiness as important when eating out.
