Brits ditching American fast food for old-fashioned pies

London, January 23 (ANI): Britons are seemingly ditching American fast food in favour of their old-fashioned pie, experts have observed.

Popular supermarket chain Tesco recorded a 30-year high in its pie sales while retailers across the country also witnesses a boom, shifting an extra 17 million pies in the last one year alone.

Research group AC Nielsen accorded the renewed interest in the classic British dish to the improved quality of pies served in gastropubs and restaurants.

"People are starting to trust them again as a quality food. The piemakers have got their act together to protect types like the Melton Mowbray, so the quality is always the same and always high," the Daily Express quoted Matthew O'Callaghan, chairman of the British Pie Awards, as saying.

Tesco pie buyer Andrew Mossop added: "Pies really have won their way back into the hearts of British diners. They have gained a totally new respectability because of better -ingredients, wider choices and -healthier options.

"The tough, fatty beef or chicken in unappetising, gloopy gravy has gone and been replaced by far better quality tender meat, finer vegetables and sauces and more -delicate pastry.

"While they were once thought of as merely a snack, they are now being eaten as part of a balanced core meal alongside vegetables such as carrots, broccoli or potatoes." (ANI)