When it comes to food, it seems that mothers -- not wives -- know best.
According to a new survey by Food Network UK, more than half of British men surveyed prefer their mother's cooking over their partner's.
The reason? Mom's dishes are "more hearty and traditional," they said. Some of the men polled added that they liked that their mothers took extra time and effort to cook for them; they said that their girlfriends or wives were more inclined to serve frozen or pre-made dishes instead of home-cooked meals.
Nick Thorogood, a spokesman for Food Network UK, said in a news release: "As adults, men still seek the comfort and tradition of the cooking they have grown up with so turn to their mums for what they perceive as a 'proper meal.'"
And it seems that the pressure of living up to a mother-in-law's cooking does affect couples' relationships. In fact, 75 percent of the men surveyed admitted that competition between their partners and mothers has caused a conflict at some point in their marriage.
This isn't surprising, given that the relationship between a woman and her husband's mother is often far more tense than the one between a man and his wife's mother. In 2008, a study from Cambridge University found that 60 percent of women felt that friction with their husband's mother had caused them long-term stress, while only 15 percent of men complained about their own mothers-in-law.