Something Is Changing in the Way People Eat at Home

Something Is Changing in the Way People Eat at Home

Out with the kitchen(ˈkiCHən) table, and in with the couch(kouCH).

By Joe(jō) Pinsker

According to a recent survey(sərˈvā) of more than 1,000 American adults, the table is becoming a less and less popular surface to eat on. Nearly three-quarters(ˈkwôrdər) of those surveyed said they grew up typically(ˈtipik(ə)lē) eating dinner at a kitchen table, but a little less than half said they do so now when eating at home.

Where are they dining(dīn) instead? The couch and the bedroom are both far more popular now than in the respondents’(rəˈspändənt) youth(yo͞oTH). Thirty percent of the survey takers cited(sīt) the couch as their primary(ˈprīm(ə)rē,ˈprīˌmerē) at-home eating location(lōˈkāSHən), and 17 percent(pərˈsent) took meals(mēl) in the bedroom. To put it another way, the number of respondents who most often eat at a kitchen table nowadays(ˈnouəˌdāz) is roughly(ˈrəflē) the same as the number who eat either on the couch or in their bedroom.

Those figures(ˈfigyər) come from June(jo͞on), a company that sells internet-connected ovens(ˈəvən). As such, they should be treated with a bit of caution(ˈkôSHən), since they were likely published as marketing fodder(ˈfädər) rather than purely(ˈpyo͝orlē) in the interest of public knowledge. (The pool(po͞ol) of respondents was equally(ˈēkwəlē) split(split) between men and women, but probably wasn’t nationally(ˈnaSH(ə)nəlē) representative(ˌreprəˈzen(t)ədiv) in terms of other demographic(ˌdeməˈgrafik) factors.) Nonetheless(ˌnənT͟Həˈles), when I brought these findings to the attention(əˈtenCHən) of several food scholars(ˈskälər), all of them said that these patterns ring true—and, more broadly, that something seems to be changing in the way people eat at home.

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https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/05/meals-couches-bedrooms-kitchen-table/590026/