Would you eat a ham butty a day for 20 years?

MANY high streets may be awash with sushi, tacos and other exotic choices for lunch – but it seems that we can’t give up canteen classics such as ham butties.

In a poll of workers’ lunchtime favourites, one traditionalist even admitted to having had a ham sandwich every day for 20 years.

One in six said they had stuck with the same lunch for at least two years, citing cost and a lack of inspiration as the main reasons. More than three quarters had not varied their midday meal for nine months, while 58 per cent said had confined themselves to one dish for as long as they could remember.

But the study of 2,000 people by the New Covent Garden Soup Company also revealed that 81 per cent were bored by their lunch choices. The most popular selection was a ham sandwich, followed by cheese and chicken sandwiches, baguettes and a salad.

Egg sandwiches, pasta and jacket potatoes were also staple options.

Food psychologist Dr Becky Spelman said: ‘Eating the same thing every day means we risk not getting a wide array of nutrients – as well as simply being very monotonous.

‘Most of us wouldn’t want to always go on holiday to the same place, so why keep eating the same meal, day after day?

‘Making small changes can open our minds to new experiences in other areas of life.’