What does your fridge say about you? A lot, according to fridge maker Sharp.

Whether, like the Spanish, your fridge is fastidiously organised, or, like the British, you just pack things in as and where they fit, Sharp says fridge feng shui can be highly telling.

According to a survey of over 4,000 people across the UK, France, Germany and Spain, there is a marked difference in the way Europeans refrigerate different food types. The findings suggest Brits often store condiments, eggs and fruit out of the fridge, whereas the vast majority of Europeans like to keep them refrigerated.

So what do we stock in the fridge? Behind the cooked ham, cheddar and coleslaw, which the survey suggested are the top three meat, cheese and deli items found in British fridges, are items such as raw beef (in 53% of UK fridges) and salami (26%).

But we’re also partial to keeping some rather unusual items next to our groceries. According to the survey, 6% of Europeans store glue in the fridge, 3% keep nail varnish in there and 1% paint and batteries. Some of us even use the shelf space to cool tobacco and sun lotion (guilty as charged).

The survey also suggests that tastes are ever changing, with 41% of Brits storing hummus in the fridge – making Britain the hummus capital of Europe. Olives, mozzarella, pastrami and brie are also notably popular items in the UK.

“Our fridges say a lot about us,” says Sharp product marketing manager Laurent Giraud. “At Sharp, we invent products that help make everyday life easier and more convenient and we wanted to see how we really use our fridges, what we actually keep in them and whether we have set places for everything. It’s unlikely that we’ll include a glue drawer in our next model, but you never know.”

I’m off to clean the fridge.

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