Survey: Bulgarians love fast-food the most

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, June 4 (UPI) -- Almost 70 percent of Bulgarians say they cannot give up fast-food because they like the way it tastes, a survey indicates.

The survey, by research firm Synovate, says overall, 55 percent of the respondents agreed that they eat what they want, when they want, but 71 percent watch their food carefully and strive to be healthy.

The online, telephone and face-to-face survey was conducted in February involving 10,300 respondents in 12 markets: Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, India, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Stoyan Mihaylov, managing director of Synovate in Bulgaria, says Bulgaria, which was not part of last year's survey, is in the grips of fast-food passion.

"Compared to mature fast-food markets like the United States and Britain, Bulgarians still find fast-food chains a novelty and, to some degree, quite trendy," Mihaylov said in a statement. "There are also limited convenient lunchtime choices in the cities so this is a normal lunch for grab-and-go office workers."

Forty-four percent in Britain and the United States say they like the taste of fast-food too much to give it up, while less than 20 percent of Swedes and Malaysians don't want to give up fast-food.