The practice of eating: counting time and money

Alan Warde, University of Manchester

Economic and Social Data Service, ESRC Social Science Week 2007, ‘All Consuming: consumption research findings

from government surveys, British Academy, 1 November 2007

Counting time and money

Introduction

Food and consumption

Changing behaviour

The analysis of practice: saying and doing

Trust in Food: national differences

The organization of eating

Meals and the family

Eating out

Conclusion

2. Changing behaviourFour strategies for changing behaviour are commonly pursued.  Strategies for change?

lever for change 

collective regulation personal education homo economicus financial incentives information(rational action) homo sociologicus prohibition conversion(normative action) mode of individual action All have a part to play but not resoundingly successful because based on weak understanding of consumption and its dynamics.

A “practice” (Praktik) is a routinised type of behaviour which consists of several elements, interconnected to one another: forms of bodily activities, forms of mental activities, “things”

and their use, a background knowledge in the form of understanding, know-how, states of

emotion and motivational knowledge.

Reckwitz A (2002) Toward a theory of social practices: a development in culturalist theorizing, European Journal of Social

Theory, 5(2), 249

It is very safe to eat …. (per cent)

0

50

100

150

200

250

E.Germ W.Germ Italy Portugal Norway Denmark GB

Burgers

Beef

Can.tom

Tomato

Index 12 foods

20,7 18,8 19,4 31,5 31,2 35,8 50,8

Do you think that the conditions for (prices, quality, farming methods, health, safety) have improved, are more or less the same or have rather deteriorated over the last

twenty years? (>1 – net improvement, <1 – net deterioration)

1.5

1.3

1.3

1.2

1.1

1.5

1.3

1.1

1

1.1

1.2

1.1

1.2

1.1

1.2

1.2

1.3

1.1

1

0.3

1.2

1.1

1.1

0.9

0.5

1.1

1

1

0.50.2

1.1

0.8

0.8

0.6

0.4

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

G.Britain Denmark Norway E.Germany W.Germany Portugal Italy

Safety Nutrition Farming methods Quality Price

Imagine a scandal with salmonella in chicken, would the following actors … tell the whole

truth? (per cent)

53

30

4

53

29

4

45

31

10

49

26

6

44

36

17

56

41

16

65

47

10

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

E.Germany W.Germany Italy Portugal G.Britain Denmark Norway

Cons org Experts Media Authorities Farmers Superm Industry Politicians

Super-markets

Authorities

Experts

Diffusion of the culture of consumption

• Time use and expenditure patterns in five countries between 1971 and 2000.

• France, USA, UK, Norway, Netherlands• Three practices: eating, reading, travelling• Eating inc. visiting, entertaining, eating at home and

eating out

With Southerton, Olsen and Cheng. Financed by Economic and Social Research Council, UK, Programme on ‘Cultures of Consumption’: http:www/consume.bbk.ac.uk

Time Spent Eating at home Eating at home. Minutes per day and rate of participation, respondents age 20 - 59

MEAN MINUTES PARTICIPATION: % of SAMPLE

c. 2000 c. 1975 c. 2000 c. 1975 UK 54 79 97 99 USA 42 52 n/a 90 Norway 50 80 93 98 Netherlands 66 76 99 99 France 96 95 98 99

Cooking and washing up. Minutes per day and rate of participation, respondents age 20 - 59

MEAN MINUTES PARTICIPATION: % of SAMPLE

c. 2000 c. 1975 c. 2000 c. 1975 UK 51 57 88 72 USA 39 48 56 62 Norway 47 79 83 67 Netherlands 51 61 94 87 France 50 72 67 77

Comparing time and money - eating at home

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

Year

Min

ute

s

0

5

10

15

20

25

%

UK time

Norway time

USA time

France time

NL time

UK %EH

USA %EH

France %EH

NL %EH

3 Eating at home, eating out and food preparation: national profiles

Almost everyone spent some time eating at home.Everywhere except France, the amount of time spent has, on average, reduced. Time allocated to domestic food consumption is minimal in USA.

Time devoted to cooking reduced in all five countries. Decline most marked in Norway and France (32 and 22 minutes). Common sources?: supermarketization, provision of part prepared convenience foods, new kitchen technologies, etc.. Time spent in Europe at the end of the 1990s was about the same as in USA in 1975.

Everywhere eating and drinking away from home increased. French and Americans now spend most time on eating out, Britons not far behind.

Eating and food preparation takes up considerably less time in the USA than in Europe. In France eating and drinking, uniquely, take up more time at the end of the century than it had in 1974.

Eating and drinking out. Minutes per day and rate of participation, respondents age 20 - 59

MEAN MINUTES PARTICIPATION: % of SAMPLE

c. 2000 c. 1975 c. 2000 c. 1975 UK 25 11 43 32 USA 30 28 n/a 32 Norway 14 8 17 12 Netherlands 5 4 39 18 France 30 15 27 23

Comparing time and money - eating out

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

Year

Min

ute

s

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

%

UK time

Norway time

USA time

France time

NL time

UK %EO

USA %EO

France %EO

NL %EO

Satisfaction expressed with last meal on commercial premises (percentages by row). How did you enjoy ..?

liked a lot liked a little neither dislike a little dislike a lot

company 89 6 3 - 0

conversation 80 14 4 - -

food 80 13 3 2 1

atmosphere 72 18 6 2 1

value 67 17 6 5 2

service 65 22 6 4 2

décor 56 24 15 2 1

overall occasion

81 14 3 2 -

Duration of episodes of eating and drinking at home and away from home, weekdays and weekends (in brackets), 1975 & 2000. UK population, aged 16-65. Percentage of discrete events lasting half hour, an hour or longer than an hour.

1975 2000 10-30 30-60 60+ 10-30 30-60 60+

Eating and drinking at home 87 (84) 12 (15) 1 (1) 83 (79) 15 (18) 2 (3)

Eating and drinking out 22(14) 24 (23) 54 (63) 55 (52) 27 (26) 18 (22)

Temporal re-organisation of eating in UK, 1975-2000

• duration of domestic meals has not radically altered.• more intense dependence on commodified provision. • more shorter episodes of eating away from home but many of longer duration (short episodes are additional, not substitutes). • weakening distinction between weekday and weekend, indicate greater temporal (and spatial) flexibility. • people allocate a substantial amount of time to eating and drinking in public spaces, but without sign of diminished significance for eating at home.

A Social Map of Consumer Tastes:

Factor analysis of the budget share of 81 spending categories1961

-1

0

1

-1 0 1

factor1

factor2

domestic service charity

spiritswomen's outerwear

cash giftswomen's underwear

plants flowers

wine

sports goods

new car

air water travel

coffee

pipecoal coke

drug medicine

lambnespaper

fish teamilkbuttersugar

cheese

bacon

beef

vegetable

jam

fruits

toilet paper eggs

bread

biscuits

oils

sausage

magarine

potato

offalpork

cocoa

cereal

ice cream

soft drink

betting

sweetscigarettes

short saving

football match

beer

men's underwear

DIY

TU

kid's money

toys games

cameradancing

jewellery

restaurants

cinema

women's shoes

2nd-hand car

men's shoesmen's clothes

hairdressing

petrol

AA RAC

rail tubebooks

glass china

leather travel goodsholiday

sports clubpoultry

animal pets

taxi

cigarprivate medical

theatre

household textilecutlerytv audio

older

food -respectable

food - basic

working class

old glamour

traveller

going out

2004

-1

0

1

-1 0 1factor1

factor2

charity

cocoa, coffee

plants

fish

beef

fruits

hairdressing

cash giftsmedicine

domestic service

AA/RAC

sugar

bread

creals, whole milk

tobacco

cigarettes, soft drinksbeer

taxi

women's shoes

women's underwear

dancing

men's shoes

cinemaDIY

books

women's clothes

TU prof org

savingsoverseas holiday

wine

restaurant

sports club

new car

private medical

theatre

railway tubecosmetics glass, china

air & water travel

household textilemen's underwear

poultryanimal pets

jams, betting

cigar

jewellery

2nd-hand car

camera

football match

leather travel goods

men's clothessports goods petrol kid's money

toys gamescutlery

coal coketv audio

toilet paper

magarinetea, bacon

biscuitspotato

newspaperbutter

vegetable

lamb

offal

spirits

sweetsice cream

sausage egg

oils

porkcheese