Tesco Real Food Reveals UK Demand for Italian Food

CHESHUNT, England, February 7, 2011 - Tesco Real Food has revealed that Italian food is growing ever more
popular in the UK.

Antipasti and olives, once considered posh people's nibbles, have
surprisingly become one of Britain's fastest growing culinary trends on the
back of the ever-growing love for Italian food and Italian recipes
(www.tescorealfood.com/recipes/cuisines/italian-recipes.html).

In the last year demand for the starters has taken off with sales rising
by 42 per cent across all UK retailers in a market worth GBP38m.

At Tesco, antipasti and olives (
www.tescorealfood.com/glossary/Olives.html), in particular the dressed
variety, have become the fastest growing foods on its deli counters.

So great is the UK's appetite for olives that the supermarket now sells
16 different varieties having more than doubled its range in the last year.

This follows news that pizza (
www.tescorealfood.com/Recipes/Ham-and-mushroom-pizza.html) has become
the UK's favourite food with sales dwarfing those of former top seller curry
by well over 2 to 1.*

And to further underline the UK's love of the Italian dining experience,
the country's wine has grown in the UK by 15 per cent - strong growth for a
mature market - with it being outperformed only by Spanish and Chilean wines
in the last year.

Said Tesco deli counters buyer Nicola Jamieson: "Our love of Italian food
continues to grow but while pizza and pasta have long been British favourites
its elegant antipasti and olives and also nice Italian wine (
www.tesco.com/wine/product/browse/default.aspx?N=8129+4294967217)
which have suddenly become super trendy.

"Until only recently antipasti and dressed olives would have been
considered posh peoples' nibbles.

"But in the last year they have started to become mainstream - a trend
which has grown directly from our love of pizzas, pasta (
www.tescorealfood.com/recipes/ingredient-or-course/pasta-recipes.html)
and Italian desserts.

"Pizzas are already our favourite dish, while tiramisu and profiteroles
have long established themselves as dessert favourites so antipasti, olives
and say, a nice Pinot Grigio, complete the Italian dining experience."

Antipasti means 'before the meal' in Italian and is the traditional first
course of an Italian meal.

Typical antipasti foods include sundried tomatoes, char-grilled peppers,
artichoke hearts, semi-dried tomatoes, cherry peppers, stuffed vine leaves,
and flat white anchovies.

Added Tesco's Nicola Jamieson: "While olives have always been popular it
is the new stuffed and dressed varieties that are creating the current boom,
both as a healthy aperitif but also as general party food nibbles."

Included in Tesco's dressed olive range are varieties with sundried
tomatoes, lemon and garlic, roasted vegetables, jalapeno peppers, piri piri,
garlic, Spanish mix with garlic, chilli and thyme, feta cheese, chilli and
basil, and Manchego cheese.

Olives and olive oil are a good source of healthy mono-unsaturated fats
and vitamin E. They are also a good source of iron, dietary fibre and copper.

About Tesco Real Food:

The Tesco Real Food website is packed with thousands of inspiring,
delicious recipes to suit any occasion. Whether customers are looking for a
quick mid-week meal for the family or something for a special event, visitors
are sure to find exactly what they're looking for. In addition, a range of
step-by-step cooking tips and videos to help improve kitchen skills can be
found, as well as healthy eating and cooking with kids sections. To make
shopping even easier, every recipe has a ready-made shopping list that can be
used to add all the ingredients to the shopping basket in just a few clicks.

Note to Editors:

* In the last year Brits bought a total of 466 million pizzas from UK
stores compared with 191 million curries. (Kantar Worldpanel July 2010).

    PR contact:

    Heleana Greeves
    New Tesco House
    Delamare Road
    Cheshunt
    Herts
    EN8 9SL
    +44-(0)1992-644645

www.tesco.com/food

PR contact: Heleana Greeves, New Tesco House, Delamare Road, Cheshunt, Herts, EN8 9SL, +44-(0)1992-644645