Carrots top the menu

Carrots are famed for helping to see in the dark

Carrots are Britain's favourite vegetable and Brussels sprouts are least likely to make it onto the menu, a survey suggests.

The poll of 2,000 people reveals clear divisions amid those in the vegetable plot.

With carrots the runaway success in the poll, it was the battle for second place which proved most controversial.

Potatoes are a firm favourite among men

The study, conducted by MORI for the National Trust, found gender and age both impact on a person's preferences.

The issue of vegetable tastes appears to unleash both a battle of the sexes and a generation gap in tastes.

Runners up

For men, the potato, a staple addition to any meal - fried, mashed, boiled, roasted or sautéed - is the clear runner-up.

But almost a fifth of women plumped for broccoli - a vegetable which hardly registers with the men.

It was left to the over-55s to stick up for the much overlooked cabbage as their favourite vegetable.

The survey also reveals that nine out of ten people bought their vegetables from supermarkets, although people without cars found the big stores less convenient.