`Let them eat their cake," said Marie Antoinette, or more probably something like Qu'ils mangent de la brioche. The queen's insensitive remark reflected her naive assumption that the poor of Paris had as wide a choice of food as she had, which was not the case. Where choice does exist in these matters, it is often dictated by the weather.
The sales of bread are directly related to temperature: they fall as the temperature rises, and climb as we revert to cooler weather.
Other buying habits are influenced by the elements, and respond to sunshine, temperature and rainfall. Some commodities are subject to seasonal demand. Rainwear and umbrellas are needed only when the weather is wet, while ice-cream and salads, and mayonnaise and vinegar, largely sell during a hot spell.
Photographic films and picnic goods, are summer things, while fuel oil, canned soups and spaghetti are winter items. When the sun shines, no one wants to eat a chocolate, but sales of take-home beers/lagers flourish, at the expense of stronger stouts and heavy ales. During rainy periods we drink more coffee but in sunny weather, more tea.
But there are subtleties involved. It is interesting that the sales of summer items like salads, mayonnaise and dressings, comes on suddenly; there is an almost instant switch to summer eating habits after the first sunny weekend of the year; with the entire nation seeming to migrate to the garden to eat barbecues and salads. The change back to winter foods is usually more gradual.
UK Motorway caterers have discovered that the consumption of hot meals at their outlets drops by about 70 per cent as temperatures touch 20 degrees. Ice-cream sales, too, are found to be directly related to temperature more than to the presence or absence of sunshine. With soft drinks the relationship is different: the sales of minerals soar when the temperature reaches about 15 degrees, but above that, increases in sales are related to recorded hours of sunshine.