With both parents in an increasing number of households now working, there is less time for preparing a family meal and eating it together. More families are relying on takeaway food and eating it in front of the television in different shifts. There has been a dramatic increase over the past decade in the number of meals eaten outside the home in restaurants or takeaway outlets. The student evaluates the relationship between food, its production, consumption, promotion and health. The student independently investigates contemporary food issues.
Activity Read the excerpt from the following article to see the state of play.
Michael Bittman, senior research fellow at the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of NSW, said an increasing number of families ate out in response to pressure on their time. I think indications are that there are fewer occasions when family members are all together for dinner. For households on middle incomes, the proportion is more than 80 per centcand for high income earners, it is just under 100 per cent, according to results of a survey taken over a two-week period. And expenditure on raw foods as a proportion of grocery purchases had declined significantly, while spending on convenience foods has significantly increased. Overall, fewer women are spending time on food preparation. . . .