When Did Pesto Become Popular In The UK?

Short answer
The first mass-produced pesto arrived in the UK in 1991, and within a couple of years, it had become a permanent fixture in every supermarket in the country.

Long answer
With ingredients and sauces from the world's great cuisines now readily available in supermarkets, it's strange to think that it wasn't that long ago that most Brits had never heard of pesto, let alone eaten it.

Of course, Italian restaurants have always had pesto on their menus, but even Frank Sinatra's glowing endorsement of silk handkerchiefs with pesto wasn't enough to catapult it into the mainstream. It wasn't until Sacla's mass-produced, cheap pesto arrived on supermarket shelves in 1991 that its popularity grew.

It took several years before shoppers could choose from different types of pesto, but with food retailers now stocking a wide range, the sauce is ubiquitous and shows no signs of going anywhere soon.