Where Aussies will chug most Christmas booze

Coles has conducted its biggest ever pre-Christmas survey to find out what Australians like to devour during festive season, uncovering some surprising findings.

The supermarket giant quizzed 7500 shoppers about what they most looked forward to, finding that per capita, the love of cherries is almost equal across each state and territory, but NSW edged ahead of South Australia, followed by Queensland and Victoria.

The second most popular fruit is mangoes, which Queenslanders go mad for, eating almost twice as many as Tasmanians and West Australians per capita, Coles says.

NSW enjoys cherries and mangoes atop their pavlova the most and scoff this Aussie classic desert more than any other jurisdiction.

The state also tends to consume the highest volumes of puddings and fruit mince pies overall, Coles says.

But on a per capita basis, South Australian and Tasmanian customers munch their way through twice as many serves of pav, pudding and pie as NSW customers do at Christmas.

As for the centrepiece of Christmas dining, Queenslanders tuck into more Coles hams than customers from any other state, almost triple that of Victorians and double NSW customers per capita.

The Sunshine State also tops the list for eating the most prawns and chugging the most beers.

NSW shoppers tend to have the most luxurious fare, the survey results suggest, snapping up the most WA rock lobsters – indulging in more than three times the volume than their home state.

That’s of course washed down with champagne and sparkling – with NSW topping the charts for sipping bubbles.

Australia-wide, 51 per cent of survey respondents said Christmas ham was their favourite festive product from the supermarket followed by chocolates and other confectionery (39 per cent) and prawns (37 per cent).

Nearly half said they would do more Christmas food shopping online this year, continuing a pandemic-long trend.

As supermarkets race to improve their sustainability credentials, Coles is unveiling its inaugural range of 100 per cent recyclable, plastic-free Christmas crackers and greeting cards and wooden hanging decorations, chief executive of commercial and express Greg Davis said.