thesis statement of family eating together

• Second Opinion

Why the Family Meal Is Important

For many parents, it would be much easier and simpler to forget about family dinners. Jobs, children, after-school activities all contribute to families being constantly on the go, thus feeling the need to eat on the run.

But more and more parents are realizing the importance of shared family time at the dinner table. Often, this is the only time when all family members are all together in one place. 

Although family dinners are viewed by some people as another burdensome chore at the end of a tiring day, more American families realize that the benefits of sharing time at day's end cannot be measured by calories alone.

Numerous studies show that eating together not only is an important aspect of family life, but helps make weight control easier.

When a family sits down together, it helps them handle the stresses of daily life and the hassles of day-to-day existence. Eating together tends to promote more sensible eating habits, which in turn helps family members manage their weight more easily. 

Here are tips from the experts on family dining:

Expectations

The purpose of a family dinner may differ from family to family. In one family, good table manners might be the most important thing parents want to teach; in another, it might be communicating with one another, learning how to listen, and learning to respect each other.

Children need to learn a little bit at a time, experts say. If dinnertime is an interesting time of day for your child, he is going to learn how to sit, and say, "How was your day?" and "What was the best thing that happened to you today?"

Communication

Dinnertime is a time of respite from the hustle-bustle of everyday life. Your family can review the day that's passed and plan for the day that's coming.

Teach by example

Divide tasks, so Mom alone is not responsible for preparing food, serving, and washing dishes. The chores and joys of feeding, nurturing and cleaning up should be shared.

Don't discuss things that would embarrass or humiliate family members. Certain subjects children may want to discuss might require more compassion, or more individualized listening. Otherwise, there are no taboo topics.

Build self-esteem

Dinner is a perfect opportunity to build self-esteem in children. By listening to what children have to say, you are saying, "I value what you do; I respect who you are and what you're doing; what you do is important to me."

Mealtime can be looked at as an opportunity or as a chore. If it's viewed as an opportunity, then all sorts of possibilities are created; if it's viewed as a chore, then the possibilities don't exist. And it doesn't matter if the food is filet mignon, or pizza and salad.

Parents should let children choose their own seats. If they fight over a favorite seat, help settle the dispute peacefully.

Family dynamics

One parent may feed the kids early, with the intention of protecting the other parent from a raucous meal. But this actually can isolate the absent parent from family dynamics and create distance. Certain scheduling conflicts cannot be avoided, but carving out family meal time on a regular basis can enhance family dynamics. 

Related Links

• General Pediatrics
• Adolescent Medicine
• Medical Services

Family Meals: More Than Good Nutrition

• Victoria Ward , MD

Related Topics

All Family Time Is Quality Time

Making the Most of Family Moments

Connect with us:

Download our App:

• Leadership Team
• Vision, Mission & Values
• The Stanford Advantage
• Government and Community Relations
• Get Involved
• Volunteer Services
• Auxiliaries & Affiliates

© 123 Stanford Medicine Children’s Health

The power of a family meal

{***Pause/Music***} {***Noah***}

Coming up on Harvard Chan: This Week in Health…The power of a family meal.

{***Kathryn Walton Soundbite***} (It’s really a time for family members to kind of slow down. I think in our busy lives it’s hard to find that time. So, if we’re able to just take some time out of our day, sit down with others, and connect, I think that can be really, really valuable.)

A growing body of evidence shows that when families sit down for meals together, children and adolescents eat healthier.

In this week’s podcast, we’ll explore new research on the impact of these meals—and ways to make it easier for families to dine together.

Hello and welcome to Harvard Chan: This Week in Health, I’m Noah Leavitt.

For busy families, gathering together for a meal—whether it’s breakfast or dinner—can be difficult. But a growing body of research shows that these meals together can have an important influence on the quality of food that children and teens eat.

There’s been less research on effective ways to encourage families to eat together more often.

In this week’s episode we’re speaking with the author of a new study that could help public health professionals target interventions at busy families.

Kathryn Walton, is a research fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and a PhD student at the University of Guelph in Toronto. One of the co-authors of this study is Bryn Austin, who is a professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences here at the Harvard Chan School.

The researchers found that when families sit down together for dinner, adolescents and young adults eat more fruits and veggies and consume fewer fast-food and takeout items.

What’s unique about this study is that Walton and her colleagues looked at the families participating in the meal—assessing how they communicated, managed schedules, and even bonded with children—something called family functioning.

And they found that the benefits of family meals were seen regardless of how well—or poorly—a family functioned. I spoke to Walton about the findings of her study—and how they could inform future initiatives to encourage families to eat together.

I began our conversation by asking her to explain what existing research has shown about the benefits of family meals.

{***Kathryn Walton Interview***}

KATHRYN WALTON: We know that family meals have many, many benefits for both children and adolescents. When we think about dietary intake we see higher intakes of fruits and vegetables, lower intakes of sugar sweetened beverages like sodas, less takeout, less fast food. But we also see higher well-being. We see lower rates of depression, substance abuse, and disordered eating.

So the benefits of family meals are very broad, but what my team was interested in was that perhaps these benefits only exist for certain families. And so it may not be the best message to be promoting family meals broadly for everybody when perhaps the benefits may look different for different families. So that’s kind of what brought us to this research, because nobody had really looked at the general family that actually participates in the family meal. So what do those interactions look like for different families when they sit down together?

So that’s really what inspired this research, is to understand, do high and low functioning families benefit the same way?

NOAH LEAVITT: And so you mentioned there that you were looking at something called family functioning. So can you explain a little bit about what that is, and then how you go about measuring that?

KATHRYN WALTON: Yeah, for sure. So family functioning is a measure of how well families problem solve, communicate, and connect emotionally. And so if we think about family meals, these are really important aspects of the meal. You’re sitting down with other people, there is going to be communication that goes on, but even in the planning of the meal itself. And so we sort of thought that perhaps for some families that experience lower levels of functioning, that they might have more difficulties planning the meal, making it happen, or perhaps the modeling that parents do during meal time, so modeling the foods they eat, modeling healthful food behaviors.

If parents and children don’t have a strong bond, perhaps that modeling isn’t as beneficial or as effective as families who have a stronger emotional bond. So that’s a little bit about that. So for example, one of the questions is when we make plans, we’re able to make things happen. And then another question is members in our family are accepted for who they are. So it’s fairly broad in terms of thinking about functioning.

NOAH LEAVITT: So as I was reading about that and hearing you talk about that, I would be interested to know, are there are any correlations between family functioning and other socioeconomic factors? Like are high functioning families likely to be higher income? Or low functioning families are likely be lower income? Do we know anything there about the factors that maybe drive higher levels of family functioning?

KATHRYN WALTON: For sure. So from our data, we don’t see that, because all of the participants were children of nurses from the Nurses’ Health Study. So in our study, everybody came from families with fairly similar income levels. So we do see at the same income level families from high end low functioning. Certainly there are correlates that can influence functioning, but across the board we do see families at all ends of the spectrum of socioeconomic status with both high and low functioning. So I wouldn’t say that income is a proxy for family functioning or anything like that.

NOAH LEAVITT: Mhm. Mhm. And then so in terms of would you actually found with the study, and as you kind of indicated you’re looking to see whether the benefits of these family meals hold up regardless of family functioning. So what did you find in terms of high functioning families, versus low functioning families, and the impact of these family meals on the nutrition of youth and adolescents?

KATHRYN WALTON: So we found that as you mentioned, above and beyond family functioning, that family meals do matter. So we first looked at does the association look different between high and low functioning families? So we looked at effect modification. And we found that the effect of family meals on youth dietary intake really looked very, very similar. There were no significant differences between those from high and low functioning families.

So then we thought, OK, let’s adjust for family functioning in our models. And again, we didn’t see any change in our associations when we adjusted for family functioning. So really it didn’t change our story. And so we see that for adolescents and young adults in both high and low functioning families, when we think about dietary intake, sitting down together really does make an impact.

NOAH LEAVITT: And so I know you looked at a few things, for example, vegetable consumption, sugar sweetened beverage consumption. Where did you see the family meals having the most impact? Was it increased vegetable consumption, decreased sugar sweetened beverages consumption, where was the most impact seen?

KATHRYN WALTON: Yeah, that’s a great question. And I think the fruit and vegetable intake was a big one. And that’s mostly because we typically see the amounts of fruits and vegetables eaten among this population really decline. And I think the other interesting thing is that we did look at fruit without juice servings. So we’re looking at whole fruits and vegetables, which is an important point. Because a lot of studies combine juice in that when we think about sugar intakes and that type of thing.

So it was the fruits and vegetables that we did see the most impact on, which is great. Amongst the youth in our study, we actually didn’t see a lot of sugar sweetened beverage select soda consumption, fast food or take out. So our effect sizes were fairly small there, but we did see some decline.

NOAH LEAVITT: And one of the other things I noticed is that there were some differences in terms of male and female participants in terms of kind of their dietary intake. So what were some of those differences, and do you have a sense of what might have driven those differences?

KATHRYN WALTON: Yeah. So I guess the biggest difference was that for male participants, frequent family dinners were significantly associated with fewer sugar sweetened beverages– so again, those sodas– but not for females. But again, the association actually looks fairly similar. It could be that they’re just consuming– we do see that males tend to drink more of those beverages than females. So that could be driving that association.

And we do see slightly higher rates of family meal participation among the females. So that could also be driving that a little bit as well.

NOAH LEAVITT: I thought it was interesting. There was a quote from one of your colleagues, Jess Haynes, who was talking about family meals don’t need to be complicated. It can be pulling something out of the freezer, putting a bag salad in a bowl, keeping it simple. So I think given that, what do you think it is about family meals that make them so influential in terms of improving dietary intake for kids in a family?

KATHRYN WALTON: It’s really a time for family members to kind of slow down. I think in our busy lives it’s hard to find that time. So if we’re able to just take some time out of our day, sit down with others, and connect, I think that can be really, really valuable. Putting down the screens, turning off the TV, and just sitting down face to face with others can be really beneficial.

And I think that we do need to remember that it doesn’t have to be a big full blown– I know American Thanksgiving just happened– it doesn’t have to be a Thanksgiving style meal every night. That’s just too much. And I think when we sort of let go of those expectations, and know that just sitting down together in itself makes a difference, I think that can help families.

Make what’s easy. Pull stuff out of the freezer as Jess said. Throw a bag salad on. Whether it comes from a bag or you chop it up yourself, you’re getting the same nutritional benefits.

NOAH LEAVITT: So I think one of the interesting points you make in the paper is that even though there is this kind of growing evidence of the benefits of family meals, there haven’t been many interventions designed to promote more family meals. So I guess given this growing body of evidence, what might an intervention look like aimed at getting families to sit down together and eat more often?

KATHRYN WALTON: Yeah, that’s a great question. And I think it is an interesting point that we have all this great research showing the benefits, but we really haven’t done a good job of helping families out. We just keep saying it’s great, it’s great, it’s great. But how do we actually sit down and make that time? So I think the big thing for interventions is that time piece, that families are very, very busy, and to sit down for even 20-30 minutes can be a challenge.

And so one of the things I like to think about is how do we make it easier to happen, and that I think includes getting the youth in the family involved, so that it’s not just one person night after night preparing everything while others sit and watch TV or whatever. So many hands do make light work. So if we can get the adolescents helping prepare the meal, not only does it get on the table faster, but it also helps teach really important food skills that will serve those adolescents into their adult years.

And we do with the family meal research, interestingly, see intergenerational associations. So youth that sit down for frequent family meals during their adolescence do so with their own children when they become parents. So it does have intergenerational implications.

NOAH LEAVITT: Is this something, I guess, where you could see potentially schools getting involved, I don’t know, doctors, hospitals, to kind of– because as you said, if making it start more with teenagers, if there are opportunities there to kind of provide more nutrition, kind of cooking training to teenagers, so when they go home they’re able to kind of jump in the kitchen and help out their families?

KATHRYN WALTON: Oh, for sure. I think that in the schools we could see more home economics type courses, nutrition courses to teach those really valuable food skills. We overall in North America have seen a decline in food skills. And so when we think about preparing healthful meals, that’s an important piece.

But thinking even more broadly, as a society we don’t make it easy, either. Like if we think about we want our kids to be physically active, which is great, and of course has many, many benefits for long term health. But extracurriculars are always during dinnertime. So it’s sort of which one do you do you pick? Do you sit down together, or do you put your child in the activity, and then you’re running through the drive-through? Right?

So it’s hard to make it all happen. And so I think as a society, thinking through the timing of when– it’s a bigger issue. But it’s something that our environment really doesn’t support.

NOAH LEAVITT: And I imagine that that time crunch is probably even harder for– if you’re a family where both the mother and father work, or maybe one of the parents is working two jobs. Is that, I guess, kind of a next step here? Like how do you find time for those family meals when people are maybe working multiple jobs just to make ends meet?

KATHRYN WALTON: Oh for sure. And I think that’s a really important piece, and something that’s a reality for many, many families. And I think a big point to that is to really highlight the research that shows that it doesn’t have to be dinner time. So in our study, we did measure family dinners, so the evening meal. But the research looking at other meals during the day show that the benefits from sitting down together any time of day still hold. So breakfast counts. If both parents are working in the evenings, and you can get even 15 minutes to sit down and check in before the start of the day with your children at breakfast time, that’s great.

And I think the other thing is that we need to be not so hard on ourselves. It’s very difficult, I think, for families to sit down together seven nights a week. A lot of the research does look at five meals a week for showing many benefits, but we do see that every meal counts. So even if you can sit down together one night a week, and as it gets easier, and as family members’ schedules change and make it, perhaps, easier to sit down more often, add more meals in.

But start where families are. I think we see it as an all or nothing thing, and the research doesn’t support that. Each meal you sit down together, the more benefits you get.

NOAH LEAVITT: You mentioned a few minutes ago this idea that the meals don’t have to be complicated. It can be a bag salad, it can be something frozen, it can be something simple. Kind of going back to that question about maybe like lower income families, or people working two jobs, what’s the role of– in the US we have Snap as a safety net nutritional program. Is there a role there for these kind of nutritional safety net programs to take any steps there that they can provide foods that are more conducive to a family quickly getting together for 30 minutes on a weeknight, or even a quick breakfast before school during the week?

KATHRYN WALTON: Yeah, for sure. I think it’s really a sort of broader public health question of how do we support families in making it easier? I do think that having for sure access to healthful foods does make the foods that you’re serving during the meals more beneficial. But when we think about family meals, just sitting down together is great. So whether you’re serving a pizza, or you’re serving some sort of gourmet salad, your children will reap many benefits from sitting down together.

So I think getting families to sit down together first, and then second, if we can start to add a salad in, make the side yourselves, slowly add some more homemade food in there as it allows, I think that that’s good. But just sitting down together is great too.

NOAH LEAVITT: Right. The idea of carve out the time first to get everyone to the table. And then from there you can think more critically about where you’re serving.

KATHRYN WALTON: I argue that the research really does support that that bonding time is really beneficial. And we do see research showing that for families with lower levels of functioning, so families that find it challenging to communicate, and may not have a strong emotional bond with each other, sitting down together or preparing a meal together can really help with that functioning and that communication. Because at very most, when you’re sitting down together you do have to ask for the ketchup to be passed. But preparing a meal together gives everyone a role in the family, as well, and can help with that bonding. So we do see that the more you sit down together, the higher your functioning can be.

NOAH LEAVITT: That was actually going to be something I was going to ask, was can these family dinners in some sense improve the functioning of these lower functioning families? Because it seems to be getting a lot of the things that they may struggle with, such as communication, or managing schedules, or those kinds of things.

KATHRYN WALTON: And I do think that it is important to note in the findings of our study that we see both high and low functioning families sitting down together frequently. So when we think about interventions, it’s not just low functioning families that we need to target there. We have lots of adolescents and young adults in our study that reported high levels of family functioning, but that they weren’t sitting down together. So I think we need to sort of look at why families sit down together in the first place, and target the interventions to the individual families.

NOAH LEAVITT: And so that leads well into my last question. I always like to ask people, what would the next steps be? So from your perspective, is it really making maybe digging more in, doing a larger, longer study to get at those factors that are driving why people might sit down for meals together, or why they just aren’t finding the time to do that?

KATHRYN WALTON: Yeah, for sure. I think that we have a really good body of research looking at the barriers for family meals. So we know that. We know why it’s hard to sit down for family meals– time, feeding picky eaters, that type of thing. But we really need to know despite these barriers, why are the families that are sitting down together doing that, and why are the families that aren’t, beyond other barriers, why aren’t they sitting down together? I think that’s an important piece to creating some interventions.

But then we really just need to dive in and start trying to support families, so testing interventions. What works, what doesn’t? And really partnering with families that we’re trying to support to make those interventions tailored, because I think every family experiences their own barriers. So whether we have a toolbox of items, whether we have healthful recipes, and we have items to help with conversation for families that are a bit nervous sitting down together for the first time, or whether we have tips on how to get the meal on the table faster, and then families can choose what benefits them most. Those are just some ideas, but really I think those are the next steps. We need to really understand why families do and don’t, beyond just time, and feeding picky eaters, and that type of thing.

{***Pause/Music***}

That was my conversation with Kathryn Walton about her research on family meals. If you want to read the full paper, we’ll have a link on our website, hsph.me/thisweekinhealth.

That’s all for this week’s episode. A reminder that you can always find us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Stitcher.

December 7, 2018 — For busy families, gathering together for a meal—whether it’s breakfast or dinner—can be difficult. But a growing body of research shows that these meals together can have an important influence on the quality of food that children and teens eat. However, there’s been less research on effective ways to encourage families to eat together more often. In this week’s episode we’re speaking with  Kathryn Walton , research fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and a PhD student at the University of Guelph in Toronto, about a new study that could help public health professionals target interventions at busy families.

Walton and a team of researchers, including Bryn Austin , professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences , found that when families sit down together for dinner, adolescents and young adults eat more fruits and vegetables and consume fewer fast-food and takeout items. What’s unique about this study is that Walton and her colleagues looked at the families participating in the meal—assessing how they communicated, managed schedules, and even bonded with children, something called family functioning. And they found that the benefits of family meals were seen regardless of how well—or poorly—a family functioned. We spoke with Walton about the findings of her study and how they could inform future initiatives to encourage families to eat together.

You can subscribe to Harvard Chan: This Week in Health by visiting  iTunes  or  Google Play  and you can listen to it by following us on  Soundcloud , and stream it on the  Stitcher  app or on  Spotify .

Family Dinners Improve Teens’ Eating Habits No Matter How Well Family Functions, New U of G Study Finds

TopSCHOLAR®

• < Previous

Home > honors > Honors Theses > 351

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Passing the salt: how eating together creates community.

Diversity and Community Studies

Rebecca Katz , Western Kentucky University Follow

Document Type

Sharing a meal is a simple, yet sacred occasion. It is a universal act that is important to building relationships within people groups. Intentionally eating together creates time and space to engage in the spiritual and intellectual levels that are unique to human beings. Sharing food cultivates community because the implications of the meal extend beyond the time of eating together. While there are other places people meet, gathering around a meal is the most accessible because if nothing else, everyone must eat. Through participant observation and personal interviews, this CE/T project explores four meals to determine how eating together creates common space and develops community. This research will be used to facilitate other groups to who wish create their own meal tradition as a means to build or perpetuate relationships.

Advisor(s) or Committee Chair

Dr. Paul Markham

• Disciplines

Critical and Cultural Studies | International and Intercultural Communication | Interpersonal and Small Group Communication | Social and Cultural Anthropology

Recommended Citation

Katz, Rebecca, "Passing the Salt: How Eating Together Creates Community" (2012). Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects. Paper 351. https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses/351

Since May 23, 2012

Included in

Critical and Cultural Studies Commons , International and Intercultural Communication Commons , Interpersonal and Small Group Communication Commons , Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons

Advanced Search

• Notify me via email or RSS
• Colleges, Departments, Units
• Faculty/Staff SelectedWorks
• WKU Journals/Peer-Reviewed Series
• Conferences and Events

Author Corner

• Author Submissions
• TopSCHOLAR copyright form
• Log into SelectedWorks
• WKU Libraries
• WKU Homepage
• WKU Libraries OA Hall of Fame
• Kentucky Research Commons
• Digital Commons Repositories
• honors Website

Home | About | FAQ | My Account | Accessibility Statement

Privacy Copyright

The Importance of Eating Together

Family dinners build relationships, and help kids do better in school.

After my mother passed away and my brother went to study in New Zealand, the first thing that really felt different was the dinner table. My father and I began eating separately. We went out to dinners with our friends, ate sandwiches in front of our computers, delivery pizzas while watching movies. Some days we rarely saw each other at all. Then, a few weeks before I was set to leave for university, my father walked downstairs. “You know, I think we should start eating together even if it’s just you and me,” he said. “Your mother would have wanted that.” It wasn’t ideal, of course—the meals we made weren’t particularly amazing and we missed the presence of Mom and my brother—but there was something special about setting aside time to be with my father. It was therapeutic: an excuse to talk, to reflect on the day, and on recent events. Our chats about the banal—of baseball and television—often led to discussions of the serious—of politics and death, of memories and loss. Eating together was a small act, and it required very little of us—45 minutes away from our usual, quotidian distractions—and yet it was invariably one of the happiest parts of my day.

Sadly, Americans rarely eat together anymore. In fact, the average American eats one in every five meals in her car, one in four Americans eats at least one fast food meal every single day, and the majority of American families report eating a single meal together less than five days a week. It’s a pity that so many Americans are missing out on what could be meaningful time with their loved ones, but it’s even more than that. Not eating together also has quantifiably negative effects both physically and psychologically.

Using data from nearly three-quarters of the world’s countries, a new analysis from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found that students who do not regularly eat with their parents are significantly more likely to be truant at school. The average truancy rate in the two weeks before the International Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), a test administered to 15-year-olds by the OECD and used in the analysis as a measure for absenteeism, was about 15 percent throughout the world on average, but it was nearly 30 percent when pupils reported they didn’t often share meals with their families.

Children who do not eat dinner with their parents at least twice a week also were 40 percent more likely to be overweight compared to those who do, as outlined in a research presentation given at the European Congress on Obesity in Bulgaria this May. On the contrary, children who do eat dinner with their parents five or more days a week have less trouble with drugs and alcohol, eat healthier, show better academic performance, and report being closer with their parents than children who eat dinner with their parents less often, according to a study conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

There are two big reasons for these negative effects associated with not eating meals together: the first is simply that when we eat out—especially at the inexpensive fast food and take-out places that most children go to when not eating with their family—we tend not to eat very healthy things. As Michael Pollan wrote in his most recent book, Cooked , meals eaten outside of the home are almost uniformly less healthy than homemade foods, generally having higher fat, salt, and caloric content.

The other reason is that eating alone can be alienating. The dinner table can act as a unifier, a place of community. Sharing a meal is an excuse to catch up and talk, one of the few times where people are happy to put aside their work and take time out of their day. After all, it is rare that we Americans grant ourselves pleasure over productivity (just look at the fact that the average American works nearly 220 hours more per year than the average Frenchman).

In many countries, mealtime is treated as sacred. In France, for instance, while it is acceptable to eat by oneself, one should never rush a meal. A frenzied salad muncher on the métro invites dirty glares, and employees are given at least an hour for lunch. In many Mexican cities, townspeople will eat together with friends and family in central areas like parks or town squares. In Cambodia, villagers spread out colorful mats and bring food to share with loved ones like a potluck .

In her book Eating Together , Alice Julier argues that dining together can radically shift people’s perspectives: It reduces people’s perceptions of inequality, and diners tend to view those of different races, genders, and socioeconomic backgrounds as more equal than they would in other social scenarios.

It hasn’t always been the case that Americans don’t prioritize eating together and eating slowly. In 1950, Elizabeth David, who was recognized as the sort of soul-stirring American culinary evangelist du moment, as perhaps Alice Waters or David Lebovitz is today, published A Book of Mediterranean Food . She wrote that great food is simple. She proposed that meals didn’t have to come from fancy or trendy restaurants, and that enjoying basic meals with loved ones makes for the best eating. In one particularly salient passage, she writes:

“In the shade of the lemon grove I break off a hunch of bread, sprinkle it with the delicious fruity olive oil, empty my glass of sour white Capri wine; and remember that Norman Douglas once wrote that whoever has helped us to a larger understanding is entitled to our gratitude for all time.”

Her equation for physical and psychological well-being is easy: Eat simply and eat together.

For the average American family, who now spends nearly as much money on fast food as they do on groceries, this simplicity is not so easily achieved. Perhaps the root of this problem is cultural misperception.

In America, it seems snobbish to take time to eat good food with one’s family. The Norman Rockwell portrait of the family around the dinner table now seems less middle-class and more haute bourgeois, as many families can’t afford to have one parent stay home from work, spending his or her day cleaning and cooking a roast and side of potatoes for the spouse and kids. Most parents don’t have time to cook, many don’t even know how, and the idea that one should spend extra money and time picking up produce at the supermarket rather than grabbing a bucket of Chinese take-out can seem unfeasible, unnecessary, and slightly pretentious. It’s understandable to want to save time and money. It’s the same reason that small shops go out of business once Walmart moves into town; but in this case it is not the shop owner who suffers, it is the consumer of unhealthy and rushed meals.

Recommended Reading

How Air-Conditioning Invented the Modern World

The Isolating Life of Parenting a Potential Psychopath

How to Want Less

How then do we eat better, not just from a nutritional perspective, but from a psychological one as well?

“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art,” said the 17th-century writer François de La Rochefoucauld. What “intelligence” means in the context of eating is debatable. There are those who obsess over their food—where it is sourced, if it is organic, the nebulous desire for culinary “originality”—who are known in the U.S. as “foodies” and in France as generation Le Fooding , both of which are the hipsters of cuisine, moneyed and sometimes picky. But this doesn’t seem quite like “intelligence” as de La Rochefoucauld meant it.

Perhaps to “eat intelligently,” one needs only to eat together. Although it would be nice to eat healthily as well, even take-out makes for a decent enough meal, psychologically speaking, so long as your family, roommates, or friends are present.

It’s incredible what we’re willing to make time for if we’re motivated. (Although we often end up just a bit too squeezed to make it to the gym in the morning, we can still find time to go to the movies after work.) Perhaps seeing eating together not as another appointment on a busy schedule, but rather as an opportunity to de-stress, a chance to catch up with those whom we love then, could help our children do better in school, get in better shape, and be less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol. Eating together also led children to report better relationships with their parents and surely relationships between adults can similarly benefit.

On our last night before I left home to return to school, my father and I went out to our favorite hometown restaurant, a Sichuan place where we always order the same thing: Yu Xiang Qiezi for me, Black Date Chicken for him. But even after 60 years of life on this planet and countless dinners here, he still could not properly hold a pair of chopsticks. “Let me help,” I said, and after a little resistance, he obliged me. “See you have to hold this one perfectly still,” I said, motioning to the chopstick in my left hand, “while you move this one to pick up your food.” The waiter came with another bowl of rice on which he would try. He nodded. “I think I’ve got it,” he said, delicately holding the chopsticks between his fingers. “The chopsticks each have an individual role, but in order not to drop your food, they have to work together. Right?” I smiled. “Exactly.”

The Family Meal Model: Influences on Family Mealtime Participation

Affiliations.

• 1 University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA.
• 2 Regions Hospital, St. Paul, MN, USA.
• 3 The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, USA.
• PMID: 31631755
• DOI: 10.1177/1539449219876878

The family meal affords benefits such as positive nutritional habits, trust building, connecting, parent modeling, and teaching. During the school-aged years, families can support children's development of health behaviors and family routines. This interdisciplinary study examined families' experiences of mealtimes and the factors that support or hinder mealtime participation. Grounded theory methods guided data collection and analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 families with at least one school-aged child ( n = 68). Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. Researchers coded and categorized data, identified themes, and generated a model. Families defined family mealtime as all family members being together at the kitchen or dining room table eating a meal. Families enjoyed being together, conversing, and connecting through family mealtime participation. The Family Meal Model proposes relationships between factors that support or hinder a family's mealtime participation. Discussion includes support for a broadened role of occupational therapy in promoting family occupation through family meals.

Keywords: activities of daily living; family-centered practice; health promotion.

Publication types

• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
• Feeding Behavior*
• Health Behavior*
• Occupational Therapy
• Parent-Child Relations*
• Qualitative Research
• Quality of Life

Shop our Cedar Garden Kit Sale!

Recently Added

Why eating family meals together is still important today, eating together as a family is more important than ever, because there are more competing distractions, more activity choices outside the home, and a constant bombardment of information from technology..

This article has been updated from its original text.

During the day most of us are out in the community mixing with all kinds of people. Our children are learning about the world from many sources, often without parental filters or input. Even when everyone is home, individuals do their own thing. Perhaps the only opportunity of the day to talk with each other is at the dinner table.

Children in today’s busy world need a shared, safe space to discuss ideas within the understanding company of family, and parents need a routine time to connect with kids.

The way it was

I would like to share what family dinners mean to me. When I was growing up in rural northern California, I could always count on meeting my parents and two sisters at the maple dinner table around 6:30. We all helped getting dinner ready and would sit down together. For at least half an hour we would discuss how our day had gone, talked about matters which concerned us, and made future family plans. After a busy day our evening meal was a chance to gather our little tribe around the table and reconnect with each other. This pleasant time seemed like a reward for the day’s hard work.

Dining was about “us”, rather than the “I” so many families have evolved to cater to. There wasn’t a separate menu for each person. Even the babies had whatever we adults ate, just pureed or minced. If someone didn’t like something they were given a dab, just in case this was the day it suddenly tasted good, which often happened. As kids, we were most enthusiastic about the dishes we had a part in producing.

Conversation was spontaneous and unpredictable, although negative topics were discouraged since they might impair our appetites. Discussion between bites was fun, and often interspersed with fits of giggling with my sisters, to my father’s constant chagrin.

This nightly gathering was a common scene in America in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. People didn’t make plans around dinnertime and you were expected to be at your seat or sitting with your friend’s family at their table. Folks didn’t call during the dinner hour.

Why we don’t eat together as much today

In recent generations, Americans moved from cooking at home to eating out because they think they don’t have time to cook, says Sheryl Garrett, founder of the Garrett Planning Network. But that’s not a sound decision, she says.

“If you think about it, if you count packing the family into the car, driving to the Applebee’s, standing in line for 20 minutes, getting to your table, waiting for your food, checking out, paying the bill of 40 or 50 dollars, and then driving back home, have you saved any time at all? No, definitely not. And you’ve probably spent four times the money you would have at home.”

The variety and convenience of ‘fast food’ has certainly taken a bite out of family mealtimes. And with good reason. Food franchises have learned how to cater to our fast-paced lifestyles by delivering a wide range of food items ‘on the go’ at low cost. Today, with 19% of meals in the US being eaten in cars, we’ve come to depend on ready access to food. But while convenience foods have their place, especially for quick breakfasts and lunches for working people, they are no substitute for family dinners eaten together.

The benefits of eating family meals together

While our smart phones and devices have brought us closer to the rest of humanity, it is the family meal that brings us closer to our own clan. The fabric of family is woven by shared experiences and time spent together. Here are some things we gain when we share meals as a family:

Eating together is more efficient, less expensive and healthier

My mother planned well-balanced meals using few convenience foods because cooking from scratch was always more economical, healthful, and tasty. My dad had a garden and a few fruit trees which provided fresh produce. To supplement, in summer we would go to big farms to do the last picking of strawberries, peaches, plums, and corn. Then we would spend hours freezing or canning summer’s bounty to enjoy all winter.

In the fall my father would go deer hunting and we would have organic venison. Also there were local pasture-fed animals to source from farmers. We knew where our food came from, and it was almost always locally sourced.

When I became responsible for the care of my own children, I grew more interested in nutrition. Being a single adventurous woman in San Francisco I had explored spices, seasonings and ethnic foods, but returned to the idea that freshness was the key to flavor and nutrition. In Laurel’s Kitchen and Diet for a Small Planet , I learned why whole natural foods, minimally processed, improve our health.

Eating together teaches children food sustainability.

When our children were young, one of the common threads of table conversation was acknowledging where our food came from. Each item usually had a story, such as where bananas grew and what kind of trip they had coming to our home. By growing and raising much of our food, the children learned the basics of gardening and took more interest in meals. They might have picked the broccoli, helped make applesauce from apples they picked by climbing trees, or collected the eggs for the omelet.

Children need to learn how the cost of convenience foods goes beyond the purchase price. The environmental costs of individual portion packaging, for manufacturing and disposal, are significant. A major perpetrator of deforestation in the South is the fast food industry. With nearly 100 paper packaging mills in the US South and thousands of restaurants worldwide, major fast food retailers such as McDonald’s, Wendy’s, KFC and Taco Bell are leaders in paper consumption and subsequent waste.

Eating together builds closer relationships within the family

It goes without saying that communication is the key to understanding. Although we live as a family, each member is on a different track through life. Spending time together over meals lets us keep in touch with each other on a regular basis. To quote Joseph Califano, Jr, of Columbia University, “One of the simplest and most effective ways for parents to be engaged in their teens’ lives is by having frequent family dinners.”

Nights at the round table

When my husband Greg was a child, his family ate at a round table. The table was inherited from grandparents, and placing it in the dining room suited the shape of the room. But there was another benefit to the round table which was less apparent: because there was no “head” to the table, everyone in the family had an equal place. The ambience was very democratic – the children shared ideas with their parents as equals, and this encouraged the spontaneous and relaxed sharing of ideas.

The neighbors across the street were a fun, vibrant Italian family. But dinnertime was a strict affair, with the father sitting at the head of the large rectangular table and the mother at the opposite end. The father held court during meals, and the kids were expected to “eat up and shut up.” Although Greg spent much of his time in their house, he never stayed for dinner. He seemed to think that the table seating arrangement, which mirrored the traditional family hierarchy, stifled open communication.

It may be a stretch to think that the shape of the table and the seating order can influence communication, but we also dine at a round table in our home, and it has been the center of countless happy times spent with family and friends.

How to change the family dynamic

What if you decide your goal is to gather everyone to the table and have quality meal time together? How do you change the dynamic in your home?

Try setting a modest goal of two times a week and build from there

Eating meals together as a family does not necessarily mean the experience will be wonderful. Even within families, it takes practice to get along. Researchers at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University found essentially that family dinner gets better with practice; the less often a family eats together, the worse the experience is likely to be, the less healthy the food and the more meager the talk.

Simplify the food preparation

Probably the main reason we favor convenience food is the perception that home-cooked meals take more time to put together. This can certainly be the case. But there are shortcuts we can use to make food preparation fast and easy. Soups and stews can be made in quantities large enough to last two or three dinners. And when cooking rice or potatoes, make enough for a few meals. Recipes can be kept simple if you cook using fresh ingredients, and meals will still taste delicious.

Turn off cell phones and texting devices

The interruption of a phone call or text message is a sure way to break the conversation and remind everyone of events beyond the dinner table. It’s bad enough that tele-marketers call during the dinner hour. At our home we unplug the phone during mealtime; it makes our time together more relaxing and conducive to conversation.

Get the family involved in shopping and food preparation

Learning to shop wisely and to prepare food are useful life skills which are becoming more important with rising food prices and economic uncertainty. Young children can be helpful in the kitchen given a little guidance. We taught our kids how to roll out their own tortillas, which was messy, but they were proud to contribute to the meal. And they would eat just about anything if it were wrapped in one of their tortillas. When shopping, we practiced thrift. I remember preparing to order in a breakfast restaurant, and one of our kids asked the waitress for “bacon on sale”, thinking that was what you call “bacon”.

It is hard to fathom that 1/3 of America’s children eat fast food every day, according to Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Good quality food, simply prepared, should take less than 45 minutes to put on the table. With good organization and family participation, food can be prepared in advance on the weekend, with some frozen for future meals. Any recipe can be adapted to be more healthful, even just by reducing the oil or butter and substituting whole wheat for white flour.

“If it were just about food, we would squirt it into their mouths with a tube,” says Robin Fox, an anthropologist who teaches at Rutgers University in New Jersey, about the intangible benefits that family dinner bestows on us. “A meal is about civilizing children. It’s about teaching them to be a member of their culture.”

Being together daily at the table is an important chance to celebrate being a family: by staying in touch, learning about family culture, food, and practicing the social skills of dining and conversation. Family meals are for nourishment, comfort and support. And, food is better eaten with the people we love!

About the Author

Lindsay Seaman Lindsay Seaman is an avid reader and researcher who grew up in rural communities in northern California. In 2010 she retired from her school district career and is now following her passion for organic gardening while helping manage the Eartheasy homestead. She works with Greg in the “research” gardens and orchard, where she enjoys experimenting with new ideas in organic food production.

From Our Shop

Farmstead Raised Garden Bed

Natural Cedar Raised Garden Beds

Wildflower Farms Eco-Lawn Grass Seed - 5 lb

Premium Drinking Water Safe Garden Hose - Slim 7/16"

VegTrug Raised Garden Planter - Natural Wood

Natural Cedar L-Shaped Raised Garden Beds

Natural Cedar U-Shaped Raised Garden Beds

Jora JK270 Composter - 9.5 Cubic Feet

Corn Gluten Organic Fertilizer 8-0-0 - 40 lbs

Worm Factory 360 Composter

Stainless Steel Compost Keeper

Related Articles

5 gingerbread-flavored delights for the holidays, where to donate 10 high-impact environmental charities with integrity, 10 fresh & simple summer recipes to enjoy, creating green holiday traditions, 10 family activities to make the season festive, 5 sustainable reads to comfort and inspire.

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Adolesc Health Med Ther

Promoting family meals: a review of existing interventions and opportunities for future research

Laura dwyer.

1 Health Behaviors Research Branch, Behavioral Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA

2 Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch, Behavioral Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA

Heather Patrick

3 Live Healthier, Bethesda, MD, USA

Erin Hennessy

4 Clinical Research Directorate/Clinical Monitoring Research Program, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD, USA

Evidence suggests that regular family meals protect against unhealthy eating and obesity during childhood and adolescence. However, there is limited information on ways to promote family meals as part of health promotion and obesity prevention efforts. The primary aim of this review was to synthesize the literature on strategies to promote family meals among families with school-aged children and adolescents. First, we reviewed interventions that assess family meals as an outcome and summarized strategies that have been used in these interventions. Second, we reviewed correlates and barriers to family meals to identify focal populations and target constructs for consideration in new interventions. During May 26–27, 2014, PubMed and PsycInfo databases were searched to identify literature on family meals published between January 1, 2000 and May 27, 2014. Two reviewers coded 2,115 titles/abstracts, yielding a sample of 139 articles for full-text review. Six interventions and 43 other studies presenting data on correlates of or barriers to family meals were included in the review. Four interventions resulted in greater family meal frequency. Although there were a small number of interventions, intervention settings were diverse and included the home, community, medical settings, the workplace, and the Internet. Common strategies were goal setting and interactive group activities, and intervention targets included cooking and food preparation, cost, shopping, and adolescent influence. Although methodological nuances may contribute to mixed findings, key correlates of family meals were employment, socioeconomic and demographic factors, family structure, and psychosocial constructs. Barriers to consider in future interventions include time and scheduling challenges, cost, and food preferences. Increasing youth involvement in mealtime, tailoring interventions to family characteristics, and providing support for families experiencing time-related barriers are suggested strategies for future research.

Introduction

Many aspects of the family and home environment are important influences on children’s healthy eating 1 – 3 and remain influential in adolescence, despite growing independence and influence of peers. 4 – 6 One aspect of the home environment that shows promise in promoting healthy eating behaviors is engagement in family meals. In a meta-analysis, Hammons and Fiese 7 concluded that family meal frequency contributes to a reduced likelihood of unhealthy eating, and a greater likelihood of healthy eating, among children and adolescents. Positive associations between family meals and healthy eating behaviors have also been found in systematic reviews. 8 , 9 In one review, Woodruff and Hanning found that family meals generally have positive influences on adolescents’ dietary intake, including fruit/vegetable consumption, dairy consumption, and less consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and unhealthy foods. 8 A second review, conducted by Fulkerson et al, found that positive effects of family meals on diet are evident among both youth and adults, demonstrating the importance of family meals during multiple developmental periods. 9

Frequent family meals may also prevent obesity. Although inconsistencies across studies necessitate further research to clarify the association between family meal frequency and weight outcomes, 9 , 10 a recent meta-analysis found that children and adolescents who had regular family meals were less likely to be overweight. 7 Furthermore, a recent longitudinal analysis of data from Project EAT-III (Eating and Activity with Teens) found that eating family meals during adolescence was associated with a lower likelihood of being overweight or obese 10 years later, particularly for African American respondents. 11 Beyond eating behaviors and obesity, family meals can contribute to reductions in substance use, violence, sexual activity, mental health issues, and self-harm among children and adolescents. 12 , 13 Family meals also promote positive family interactions (including family communication, child socialization, and the transmission of values and culture). 14

These prior literature reviews have focused on family meals’ influence on behavior and well-being. Despite many published studies that have found family meals to have a positive influence on health and behavior, to our knowledge, there has been no synthesis of this work through literature reviews on intervention strategies to promote family meals or correlates and predictors of family meal engagement. Given existing evidence that family meals can have several health, social, and psychological benefits, an important next step is understanding opportunities to encourage family meals as part of efforts to encourage these positive outcomes. This knowledge is crucial in light of evidence that family meals show promise as part of larger efforts to promote healthy diet and prevent obesity.

The goal of the current paper was to review the existing family meals literature that is relevant to strategies to encourage more frequent family meals. In pursuit of this goal, the primary aim was to review existing interventions that assess family meal frequency as an outcome. In reviewing these interventions, we aimed to summarize the state of the literature on strategies that have successfully promoted engagement in family meals. We further aimed to investigate the scope of strategies and settings that have been used, and populations targeted, to identify promising approaches and research gaps in current family meals intervention research. The secondary aim was to review key correlates of and barriers to family meals from both quantitative and qualitative literature to identify constructs to acknowledge in family meal interventions. Unlike prior literature reviews, we focused on reviewing the factors that contribute to whether or not a family frequently shares meals together, rather than on reviewing the associations between family meals and behavioral outcomes.

Search strategy

We searched PubMed and PsycInfo to identify a broad selection of literature on family meals, since there are variations in how family meals are operationalized across studies. 10 Database searches were conducted during May 26–27, 2014 and included keywords at three levels: 1) youth/adolescence (adolescent OR adolescence OR teen OR teenager OR youth OR boys OR girls OR “middle school” OR “high school” OR child OR children), 2) mealtimes (meal* OR dinner* OR lunch* OR breakfast*), and 3) family (family OR “parent–child relations” OR “family relations” OR parent* OR mother* OR father*). Keywords were informed from prior reviews related to family meals. 7 , 10 , 12 , 13 The aim of the mealtime search terms was to capture relevant studies across a variety of definitions of family meals. Studies differ as to whether they assess family meals in general (versus focusing specifically on family dinners, breakfasts, or lunches), as well as whether family meals are youth- or parent reported, the location of the family meal, and the number of family members that defines a “family meal”. 10 We reviewed studies regardless of these methodological differences. However, we focused specifically on shared meals between parents/caregivers and children, rather than shared meals among families without children.

In PubMed, search terms that were also Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) were searched as both individual terms and MeSH keywords (“adolescent”, “meals”, “dinner”, “lunch”, “breakfast”, “family”, “parent–child relations”, “family relations”, “parents”, “mothers”, “fathers”). The full texts of articles needed to include at least one word from each level of the search. We limited searches in both databases to results that were peer reviewed, conducted with human populations, written in English, and published between January 1, 2000 and May 27, 2014. The PsycInfo search was limited to peer-reviewed journal articles, and we checked results from PubMed for peer-reviewed sources.

Review procedure

Figure 1 describes each step of the review process. After identifying all unique search results, two reviewers (EH and LD) completed the review of titles/abstracts and full-text pdfs.

Literature review methodology and results.

Abbreviation: MeSH, Medical Subject Headings.

Review of titles and abstracts

Each reviewer independently coded each of 2,115 titles/abstracts and met to reach agreement on any discrepancies. During the abstract review stage, we coded for inclusion most abstracts that specifically mentioned family meals or strongly suggested a social component surrounding mealtimes. All abstracts that described interventions which targeted or assessed family meals or similar constructs (eg, meal-related parenting practices/family behaviors, or youth involvement in meals) were coded for inclusion in the full-text round of the review. We also included articles that mentioned family meals or social components of mealtimes outside of an intervention context (including both quantitative and qualitative studies), so as to broadly capture articles that could include data on correlates of family meals. There were four exceptions that caused otherwise relevant abstracts to be excluded at this stage of the review. First, since family meals’ associations with eating behaviors, weight, and other behavioral outcomes have been the topic of prior literature reviews, we excluded abstracts which focused on family meals’ influence on these constructs. Second, while we reviewed interventions regardless of child’s age (to comprehensively capture all interventions to date), we excluded abstracts from correlational and qualitative research that focused on children whose mean age was younger than five. Third, we excluded abstracts that focused on populations with anorexia, bulimia, eating disorders not otherwise specified, feeding problems, or other diagnoses except overweight and obesity. Fourth, we excluded literature reviews and articles that were not original studies, even if they focused on family meals. These criteria resulted in the exclusion of 1,976 abstracts, leaving 139 remaining articles for full-text review.

Review of full-text articles

Consistent with the primary aim, we first reviewed the full texts of intervention studies. Intervention articles were included if they assessed family meal frequency among the intervention outcomes and described intervention results. Using these criteria, we identified six articles. From each of these articles, we summarized the following data: authors/year, country, sample characteristics (for parent and youth), theory, research design, intervention content, measurement of family meals, intervention effects on family meals, and statistically significant intervention effects on other outcomes.

After completing our full-text review, we took two approaches to check that we captured all relevant interventions. First, we conducted a supplementary search for articles that described intervention methodology without reporting on intervention outcomes to determine whether any other publications using intervention data reported on results related to family meals. Second, the reference lists of eight relevant literature reviews were scanned for additional interventions. Neither of these secondary methods returned additional articles for inclusion.

To meet the secondary aim, we reviewed the full texts of quantitative and qualitative articles examining correlates of and barriers to family meals. Quantitative articles were included if they had 1) an assessment of family meals as reported by a sample of school-aged youth and/or their parents, and 2) a statistical analysis of the association between family meal frequency and at least one other construct other than diet, weight, well-being, or other behavioral outcomes. We identified 38 quantitative articles for inclusion. We summarized constructs related to family meals and their association (positive, negative, and/or nonsignificant) across this set of articles. Qualitative articles were scanned to provide additional insights into barriers and suggested ways to promote family meals. To be included, qualitative studies needed to focus specifically on family meals. We identified five qualitative articles for inclusion.

Our review identified six intervention studies meeting our inclusion criteria, four of which successfully promoted family meal frequency. The interventions, which are described in detail in the following section, represented a range of intervention settings and techniques. Thirty-eight additional quantitative studies examined associations between family meal frequency and several other constructs, including those related to demographics, employment, family structure, psychosocial variables, and the home environment. Finally, five qualitative articles provided further data on barriers and facilitators to engagement in family meals.

Intervention studies

Interventions promoting family meal frequency.

Of the six articles, four presented statistically significant intervention effects on family meal frequency. One intervention was delivered to 8,618 clients of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in Washington State. 15 This intervention involved a module promoting family meals which was tailored to clients’ stage of change and delivered across 6 months by trained staff. Although family meal frequency was high regardless of condition, clients in agencies that received the family meals module reported more frequent family meals (assessed as the number of family meals during the past 7 days) over the course of the intervention (an increase of 2%). However, clients in WIC agencies that were assigned to a physical activity module had a 4% decrease in family meals during the intervention.

A second large-scale intervention was delivered via the Internet to 22,265 IBM Corporation employees with children (mean child age =9.3). 16 This 12-week program was provided to employees who enrolled for a cash incentive and focused on healthy eating (including family meals), physical activity, screen time, and parent role modeling. Families were guided through identifying and monitoring their progress toward behavioral goals in these areas, and they received online planners, tools, and recipes. Over the course of the program, the percentage of participants reporting their family eats healthy family meals on five or more days per week increased by 8.3% (from 48.8% to 57.1%).

Two smaller-scale interventions also successfully promoted family meals. Rosenkranz and Dzewaltowski 17 reported on a 4-week intervention for 100 girls (aged 6–12) attending a summer program. All girls received one 2-hour intervention session per week that promoted abilities to contribute to healthy family mealtimes, including cooking, preparing fruits and vegetables, and asking parents for healthy mealtime changes (eg, drinking water and eating fruits and vegetables during meals). After making changes at home, participants received jewelry beads to remind themselves of the skills learned in the program. A subsample of the girls’ mothers (n=30) reported in a follow-up survey that their family meal frequency (assessed with four items) was higher post-intervention.

Another intervention, reported by DeBar et al, 18 was implemented in a primary care setting within a program for teens (mean age =14.1) who had an age- and sex-adjusted body mass index (BMI) percentile ≥90. Participants attended a total of 16 90-minute group sessions over 5 months. Sessions focused on healthy eating (including family meals), physical activity, issues surrounding mental health, body image, and disordered/emotional eating, and the development of coping strategies and behavioral goals. Parents attended weekly meetings over 3 months which focused on promoting family meals and positive family interactions. Pediatricians also met with participants at baseline and at the 6-month follow-up to further support behavioral goals. Twelve months after baseline, participants in the intervention condition reported less of a decrease in family meals per week (from 3.85 to 3.51 average meals per week), as compared to control participants who only received informational materials and a baseline visit with their primary care doctor (4.34 to 3.29 meals per week).

Interventions unrelated to family meal frequency

Two interventions were not significantly related to family meals, although they had positive effects on other measured outcomes ( Table 1 ). Ayala et al 19 reported on an intervention delivered in the home to 366 families (71% Latino) with a child in grades K-2 (median child age =6). Families received home visits by promotoras for 7 months, followed by four follow-up phone calls and mailings for the next 2 years, although 23% of parents opted to receive all study materials via mail. Intervention strategies included parental goal setting, delivery of printed materials, and discussions about healthy eating and physical activity, but the intervention did not influence the number of family meals (defined as the sum of whether the family eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner as a family four or more times per week).

Description of intervention studies related to family meals

Notes: All intervention effects on family meal frequency are reported, regardless of statistical significance. However, the final column presents intervention effects on additional outcomes (other than family meal frequency) only if they were statistically significant.

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; HMO, Health Maintenance Organization; PCP, primary care; PA, physical activity; FV, fruit and vegetables.

Finally, Fulkerson et al 20 reported on the results of a pilot study, “Healthy Home Offerings via the Mealtime Environment”, which was administered to 22 dyads of parents and their 8- to 10-year-old children. Dyads participated in five 90-minute sessions with other families in a church and/or community center. Sessions each focused on a unique topic related to healthy eating and involved a snack and group meal, as well as several interactive activities. Activities centered on meal preparation, nutrition education, separate discussions/activities for parents and children, and materials to complete at home. Although children in the intervention group more often helped their parents prepare dinner, there were no significant post-intervention differences between intervention and control dyads in family dinner frequency (defined as the number of family dinners per week).

Finally, there were several intervention studies that were related to family meals but did not meet all of the inclusion criteria. Articles were excluded if they: reported on baseline data only, described intervention design or methods without reporting intervention outcomes, or did not assess family meal frequency as an outcome. Supplemental searches revealed that one intervention mentioned in an article reporting only baseline data 21 was also discussed in another article reporting intervention results. 22 While this article presented a nonsignificant intervention effect on family meals in a results table, further description of family meals’ definition and assessment was not provided in the text. Therefore, we did not include this article in Table 1 .

Correlates of and barriers to family meals: quantitative studies

Tables 2 ​ 2 ​ – 5 summarize all correlates and barriers identified in the review. As evident in these tables, some constructs have been examined in only a limited number of studies or have been inconsistently associated with family meals within or across studies. To succinctly summarize the constructs that should be considered in future intervention design, we summarize in the following sections only the correlates that were significantly associated with family meals in two or more of the studies.

Demographic and family structure correlates of family meal frequency

Notes: “+” = statistically significant positive association; “−” = statistically significant negative association; “0” = no significant association. Mixed findings include studies where associations differed across subsamples, measures, or different statistical models.

Employment-related correlates of family meal frequency

Behavioral and psychosocial correlates of family meal frequency

Home environmental correlates of family meal frequency

Demographics

In nine studies, child sex was unrelated to family meal frequency. 23 – 31 However, in two studies, male child sex was associated with greater reported frequency of family meals. 32 , 33 One other study found male child sex to be associated with fewer reported family meals, 34 and one found mixed results depending on variables in the statistical model. 35 Younger child age was a statistically significant correlate of more frequent family meals in six studies 23 , 25 , 27 , 29 , 33 , 34 but was unrelated to family meals in four studies. 26 , 30 , 31 , 36 In two studies, older parent age was associated with fewer family meals, 29 , 37 but this association was not significant in two studies 36 , 38 and mixed in a third study. 31

While several studies did not find any association between race/ethnicity and family meal frequency, 28 , 30 , 39 , 40 there were several exceptions. For example, three studies found that family meals were less frequent among African Americans, 23 , 26 , 29 and one study found that family meals were less frequent among African Americans and/or Hispanics. 31 One study found family meals to be more frequent among Asians, 33 although this association was mixed in a second study, depending on the type of family meal (breakfast or dinner). 31

A limited number of studies examined urban versus rural location as a correlate of family meals. Two international studies found that families in rural locations reported more frequent family meals, 24 , 41 while one study found a nonsignificant association. 38 A fourth study had mixed findings, in that there was a positive association between rural location and family meals at the bivariate level but not when other variables were included in the analysis. 35

While two studies found positive associations between parents’ education and family meals, 26 , 40 two found no significant association. 28 , 39 Three studies found mixed results. 31 , 35 , 42 For example, one study found a positive association for boys but not for girls, 42 while another found a negative association at the bivariate level but a nonsignificant association in further analyses, 35 and a third found the association to vary depending on whether the outcome was family breakfasts or family dinners. 31

Family structure

In two studies, having married/cohabitating parents or two parents in the household was positively associated with family meals. 26 , 39 In one other study, having a dual-parent household was associated with greater time eating with children but was unrelated to time spent eating with children specifically during the weekdays. 38 In another study, having two biological parents in the household was associated with greater family breakfast frequency but was unrelated to family dinners. 31 In two other studies, the association between marital status and family meals was not significant. 28 , 29 In three studies, number of children in the household corresponded to more frequent family meals, 26 , 38 , 39 but another study found this association to be nonsignificant. 28

Employment and workplace

Several factors related to parents’ employment and workplace environments have been examined in prior literature. Mothers’ employment was negatively associated with family meal frequency in four of the studies that we reviewed. 26 , 28 , 33 , 43 However, associations were nonsignificant in one study 44 and mixed in another study. 35 Parents’ time in employment was negatively associated with family meal frequency in several studies. 31 , 39 , 45 In two studies, there were mixed findings. 37 , 46 In two other studies, there was no significant association between time in employment and family meals. 29 , 38 There was also evidence that having nonstandard or variable work hours was associated with reduced family meal frequency, 29 , 45 although one study found that this association varied by length of follow-up 47 and another found the association to be nonsignificant. 48 In two studies, parents’ work–life stress/interference was negatively associated with family meal frequency. 37 , 46

Psychosocial variables

Both parents’ and adolescents’ perceived importance of family meals was consistently associated with family meal frequency, 30 , 34 , 36 , 44 with the exception of one study in which the association was significant for female, but not male, adolescents. 49 Perceived difficulty of eating together due to time and/or schedules was negatively correlated with family meals across two studies, 30 , 34 although one other study found differences in this association by child sex (significant for females only), and by type of schedule (parent work versus child activities), 50 and another one of the studies also found mixed results. 49 In two studies, general positive attitudes/perceptions toward family meals were associated with greater family meal frequency. 30 , 34

Home environment

Other aspects of the home environment were also studied in relation to family meals. Two studies found that watching TV during meals was negatively associated with engagement in family meals, 28 , 34 although one study found this association to be nonsignificant. 30 There was also some evidence for a positive association between having greater mealtime rules overall and engagement in family meals, 34 , 49 although Fulkerson et al 34 found that this association was significant only for adolescent reports (not parent reports). Two studies found that healthy food availability in the home was positively associated with family meal frequency, 49 , 51 although in one study, this was significant only among females. 49

Benefits of and barriers to family meals: qualitative studies

We identified five qualitative studies focused on family meals that provided additional insight into barriers, facilitators, and strategies of family meals (as seen in Table 6 ). Four of the five studies focused on parents, 53 – 56 while only one study focused on adolescent perception of family meals. 52 Consistency across studies suggests that parents are aware of many (but perhaps not all) benefits of family meals including increased communication, strengthening of interpersonal relationships, opportunity to model healthy behaviors, and the provision of structure and routines. However, these benefits were challenged in many ways. Time constraints driven by work obligations, shift work, and adolescent extracurricular activities interfered with family meals. Many parents felt too tired or burdened to provide routine family meals or were challenged by the various food preferences within the family and cost of providing family meals. Of particular interest is one study targeting adolescents, which raised additional challenges to family meals not mentioned by parents specifically including adolescent desire for autonomy and dissatisfaction with family relations. 52

Qualitative studies focusing on benefits, challenges, and strategies for implementing family meals

Note: Bold font indicates constructs assessed in two or more qualitative studies.

To address some of these challenges, families often multitasked (eg, prepared meal, helped with homework, sorted through school materials) and/or engaged children with their help in preparing meals. When prompted, parents suggested a number of possible intervention strategies to help promote family meals and the ways in which they could be engaged to promote family meals. Berge et al 53 suggested that within family-based intervention programs, it may be important to tailor messages regarding family meal barriers according to family type. For single-headed households, it would be important to focus on budgeting and low-cost meals, whereas for dual-headed households, the messages could focus on creative meals and child involvement. Interventions targeting providers could in turn have providers give information to families about the ways in which families can benefit from family meals, deal with challenges to family meals, and provide suggestions for increasing family meals, based on family structure. 53 Fulkerson et al 54 suggested the need for nutrition education interventions and programs that 1) provide resources for quick and healthful meals and meal planning, 2) provide reminders to serve raw fruits and vegetables to reduce preparation time, and 3) educate parents on the importance of eating with their children to serve as role models and the positive nutritional benefits and life skill building associated with children’s participation in meal preparation.

The six intervention articles reviewed used multiple strategies in efforts to promote family meals, among other outcomes. In four out of six interventions, family meal frequency was promoted as a result of the intervention. Successful interventions were varied in setting, and involved promoting youth involvement in family meals over the course of a 4-week program, 17 delivering a 6-month family meals module to clients of WIC agencies, 15 6 months of group sessions for teens, accompanied by support from parents and pediatricians for overweight teens, 18 and a 12-week online program delivered to employees. 16 Interventions, including those that both did and did not promote family meals, were implemented in several settings (home, community and medical settings, workplace, and the Internet), and varied as to whether they targeted the parent, adolescent, or family. Although varied, common intervention strategies included goal setting and group activities for parents and children. Intervention targets represented a diversity of factors contributing to family meals, including cooking and food preparation, cost, shopping, and adolescent influence.

These interventions suggest that it is possible to effectively increase family meals using various strategies. However, the number of effective interventions is limited, they are variable in scope, and it is unknown how the strategies utilized in these studies would vary in impact across populations (including outside of the US) or in the context of other barriers to engagement in family meals. Identifying the correlates of and barriers to family meals can provide insight into the constructs and populations that should be prioritized in future interventions. The present review of quantitative literature revealed many correlates and barriers that may be considered when designing further family meal interventions, including demographics (child sex, 32 – 35 child age, 23 , 25 , 27 , 29 , 33 , 34 parent age, 29 , 37 race/ethnicity, 23 , 26 , 29 , 31 , 33 location of residence, 24 , 35 , 41 and parent education 26 , 31 , 35 , 40 , 42 ), family structure (parent marital status 26 , 31 , 38 , 39 and number of children in the household 26 , 38 , 39 ), employment (mothers’ employment, 26 , 28 , 33 , 43 time parents spend working per week, 31 , 39 , 45 having variable work schedules, 29 , 45 , 47 and work–life stress 37 , 46 ), psychosocial variables (perceived importance of family meals, 30 , 34 , 36 , 44 perceived difficulty due to time or schedules, 30 , 34 , 49 , 50 and family meal attitudes 30 , 34 ), and the home environment (watching TV during meals, 28 , 34 mealtime rules, 34 , 49 and food availability 49 , 51 ). The qualitative literature further demonstrated that time constraints and schedules are key barriers to family meals, 52 – 56 in addition to cost, 53 , 56 family food preferences, 52 , 54 , 55 being too tired, 53 , 54 , 56 the burden of meal preparation, 53 , 54 and in a study of adolescents, desire for autonomy. 52

Designing new interventions

Future research should consider multilevel determinants of family meals 14 and whether and how to target these determinants through new interventions to promote frequent and sustained engagement in family meals. One way that the current intervention literature could be expanded upon is by targeting populations who experience more barriers to family meals. These populations may include families with older adolescents, 23 , 25 , 27 , 29 , 33 , 34 as well as families with greater parental employment 26 , 28 , 29 , 31 , 33 , 37 , 39 , 43 , 45 , 46 and/or perceptions of time commitments that conflict with mealtimes. 30 , 34 Of the six interventions reviewed, there was variation in scope; however, some interventions involved attendance in multiple out-of-home sessions. 18 , 20 An intervention of this magnitude may be less beneficial for families who are juggling multiple time commitments, including full-time or variable employment. For these families, interventions delivered to parents remotely or in the workplace may be most feasible, as might interventions directed at youth. Youth-focused interventions may help promote greater adolescent involvement in meal preparation which can provide practical support for busy households.

In addition to considering barriers and time constraints, future work should consider how to develop tailored interventions for different types of families. It is unknown how the strategies in the six existing interventions would translate into greater family meals across various populations. An illustration of how intervention approaches may need tailoring based on family characteristics is provided by Berge et al, who found that single-headed households experienced barriers related to food cost, while dual-headed households were concerned more with having creative meals and child involvement in meal preparation. 53 Given recent findings that socioeconomic gaps in family meal frequency may be widening over time, 57 it is particularly important to consider which intervention strategies will be most effective, and which behavioral changes most sustainable, across levels of economic resources. Doing so will be particularly important among families for whom food cost is a barrier to family meals. 53 , 56 Second, characteristics of children and adolescents should be considered when tailoring interventions. Only one of the interventions studied to date focused on families with overweight and obese adolescents. 18 Given the ultimate goal of reducing obesity, future research should examine whether and how different strategies are needed for family meal interventions with overweight youth. In addition, researchers should consider the proper timing of interventions to both promote family meals early in childhood and reduce decreases in family meals that occur during adolescence. At least one intervention found that effects were strongest among families with younger children, 16 which demonstrates the importance of considering timing, changing family dynamics, and adolescents’ interests in future research.

Limitations and future research directions

Limitations.

We focused this review on interventions and correlates of family meal frequency among relatively healthy populations of families with children. We therefore excluded subsets of articles that are relevant to family meals. First, we excluded studies of family meals among children with feeding problems or among individuals with eating disorders or medical diagnoses. However, medical or mental health conditions contribute to the diversity of families’ mealtime experiences. We also excluded abstracts that focused on the influence of family meals on behavioral and health outcomes because they have been represented in prior literature reviews. However, it is likely that those studies include additional information on correlates of family meals, as well as moderators of family meals’ influence to consider in future intervention development. Although we excluded studies on shared eating among the general adult population, evidence of positive effects of family meals and other shared meals during adulthood 9 demonstrates the importance of considering whether and how to facilitate shared meals among adults, regardless of whether or not they are parents. Additionally, the small number of intervention articles assessing family meals limits the ability to compare methodology and rigor across a large number of interventions. Given the limited intervention research, the goal was to present all of the current intervention findings on family meals regardless of the study methods and scope. However, as this body of literature grows, future literature reviews would benefit from a more detailed discussion of the strength of each study’s findings.

Future research

Few interventions promoting family meals have been studied, leaving many opportunities available for the development of new approaches. Future research should develop interventions to make mealtimes easier for specific subpopulations, including families with adolescents, families with two working parents or parents with long or variable work hours, or families that experience other scheduling difficulties or time constraints.

Future research will also benefit from further study into the nuanced findings of correlates of family meals, as well as measurement variations across studies. Studies differ in whether how family meals are defined and whether they are reported by parents or adolescents, which may obscure research findings. 7 , 10 A challenge we experienced in summarizing correlates of family meals is the wide variety of populations, methodologies, and definitions utilized in this body of literature.

It is also of particular importance for future interventions to examine how promoting family meals ultimately impacts diet and obesity. Studies should investigate whether interventions have positive effects on both family meal frequency and obesity, and whether intervention outcomes on obesity can be partially explained via increases in or maintenance of family meals. The interventions included in the present review did result in several positive outcomes other than family meals, including, among others, reductions in teens’ BMI 18 and improved diet (fiber and calcium intake, 20 fruit and vegetable consumption, eating a healthy breakfast/dinner, less consumption of unhealthy foods, 16 and less fast food consumption 18 ). However, there is a lack of data on whether interventions promoting family meals have subsequent influences on obesity. One paper not included in the present review 58 described the methodology of an ongoing intervention aiming to prevent obesity, promote healthy eating and physical activity in children, and promote the frequency and nutritional quality of family meals and snacks. Family meal frequency will be among the outcomes assessed, in addition to BMI as the primary outcome measure. 58 To the extent that family meals and obesity are concurrently assessed in intervention work, we can gain information as to whether interventions targeting family meals can be effective in reducing the risk of obesity.

Finally, it is important to recognize potential interpersonal conflict that could result from encouraging families to eat meals together. To date, it remains unclear whether family meals retain their positive influences among families who have less positive interactions, and/or whether promoting family meals among families with more interpersonal conflict can promote more positive interactions. 7 Overall, it is important for future research to recognize the complexity of influences on youth’s eating patterns when considering whether and how to encourage family meals. 8 , 9 While the majority of the literature has focused most heavily on the parent, a few studies have focused on older children and adolescents. Understanding the interplay of parent and child factors in influencing family meals will provide useful insight, as will considering how social functions and meanings of eating influence the context of family mealtimes. Youth ascribe multiple meanings to food and eating, and shared eating is meaningful in promoting youth’s social interactions. 59 , 60 Furthermore, meanings of eating often evolve across life stages and cultural/generational contexts. 60 , 61 Understanding individuals’ and families’ diverse beliefs about eating may foster the development of relevant interventions across populations.

Interventions to promote family meals are limited. While some effective interventions exist, efficacy in promoting family meals is variable. However, interventions reflect diverse possibilities for settings and strategies to consider building upon in further efforts to encourage family meals. Although methodological nuances may be contributing to mixed findings in the literature, quantitative research findings suggest that several factors are associated with family meals, including employment-related variables, socioeconomic and demographic factors, family structure, child age, and psychosocial constructs. Qualitative work suggests that barriers to consider in future interventions include time and scheduling challenges, cost, food preference, and adolescents’ beliefs. Increasing youth involvement in mealtime, tailoring interventions to family characteristics, and providing support for families experiencing time-related barriers are suggested strategies for future research.

Acknowledgments

This project has been funded in whole or in part with federal funds from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, under contract number HHSN261200800001E (Hennessy). The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the US Government. Additional funding was provided through a Cancer Research Training Award from the National Cancer Institute (Dwyer).

The authors have no conflict of interest to report.

• Social Justice
• Environment
• Health & Happiness
• Get YES! Emails
• Teacher Resources

• Give A Gift Subscription
• Teaching Sustainability
• Teaching Social Justice
• Teaching Respect & Empathy

Student Writing Lessons

• Visual Learning Lessons
• Tough Topics Discussion Guides
• About the YES! for Teachers Program
• Student Writing Contest

Follow YES! For Teachers

• Teaching Respect & Empathy

“Eating Together” Student Writing Lesson

Does it matter who you eat with and how often you eat together?

The YES! Magazine article, “ You Are Who You Eat With ” by Katherine Gustafson is a story about why the people you choose to eat with, and how often you eat together, is important in these hectic times.

Students will use Katherine’ Gustafson’s story to write about their family’s daily eating rituals and how these foster a sense of togetherness.

Download this lesson in a PDF

YES! Article and Writing Prompt

Read the article: “ You Are Who You Eat With ” by Katherine Gustafson.

Writing Prompt : Does it matter who you eat with, and how often you eat together?

Writing Guidelines

The writing guidelines below are intended to be just that—a guide. Please adapt to fit your curriculum.

• Provide an original essay title
• Reference the article
• Limit the essay to no more than 700 words
• Pay attention to grammar and organization
• Be original, provide personal examples and insights.
• Demonstrate clarity of content and ideas

This writing exercise meets several Common Core State Standards for grades 6-12, including W.9-10.3 and W. 9-10.14 for Writing, and RI.9-10 and RI.9-10.2 for Reading: Informational Text.*

*This standard applies to other grade levels. “9-10” is used as an example.

Evaluation Rubric

Sample Essays 

The essays below were selected as winners for the Spring 2012 Student Writing Competition. Please use them as sample essays or mentor text. The ideas, structure, and writing style of these essays may provide inspiration for your own students’ writing—and an excellent platform for analysis and discussion.

Dinner Table Matters by Kate LeBlanc, Grade 7

Read Kate’s essay about  how the dinner table is where her family shares stories about their day—and where she learned the names of all the U.S. presidents!

Family Bonding: From Tabletops to Laptops by Clara Lincoln, Grade 11

Read Clara’s essay about  the support she gets from eating together at her dad’s dinner table—and around a laptop at her mom’s. 

Brothers Around the Table by Willis Reed, Edmonds Community College

Read Willis’ essay about how  dinners at the fire station are the cornerstone of brotherhood and working together. 

Dinner at My House by Hanna Walker, Grade 8

Read Hanna’s essay about how eating dinner together improved communications between her parents and her, and helped her little brother calm down.

Response from author Katherine Gustafson to the student winners acknowledging that there is no one way to practice and enjoy a family meal and that the key is to foster a sense of togetherness.

We Want to Hear From You!

How do you see this lesson fitting in your curriculum? Already tried it? Share with us—and other teachers—how the lesson worked for you and your students.

Please leave your comments below, including what grade you teach.

Related Resources

“Three Things That Matter Most” Student Writing Lesson

“Gender Pronouns” Student Writing Lesson

“What We Fear” Student Writing Lesson

Get stories of solutions to share with your classroom.

Teachers save 50% on YES! Magazine.

Inspiration in Your Inbox

Get the free daily newsletter from YES! Magazine: Stories of people creating a better world to inspire you and your students.

• Gabriela Avila
• Kennedy Dick
• Casey Ferrara
• Carley Giles
• Lauren Hoffman
• Philip Hurier
• Cole Kaucheck
• Dexter Kowalski
• Laura Lenhart
• Mitchell Magee
• Eunice Park
• Tessa Wheeler
• Leila Akberdin
• Maria Basile
• Blake Charles
• Aaron Cochran
• Emma Coughlin
• August Majtenyi
• Kai McKinney
• Benjamin Mosher
• Julia Spencer
• Lauren Todd
• Ruohan Wang
• Sandra Allen
• Kate Belliveau
• Meredith Billman
• Conner Buel
• Allison Cashman
• Luiza Corrêa
• Calvin Dolatowski
• Lauren Goslee
• Blaine Hafen
• Allison Krish
• Josh Leidich
• Boston Logan
• Sabrina Young
• Princess Egbo (Priority)
• Sam Gaerke (CDME)
• Summer Geissman (Honda)
• Hayley Gregor (Huntington)
• Mylo Johnson (Desis Lab)
• Karl Ludwig (CDME)
• Theresa Pham (Battelle)
• Karam Ramadan (Battelle)
• Annie Roo (Battelle)
• Kaitlyn Smith (Priority)
• Sophie Stefanski (Desis Lab)
• Erika Stravinsky (Desis Lab)
• Alex Nonato (Honda)
• Matthew Turnquest (Priority)
• Amelia Walker (Huntington)
• Annie Waugh (Huntington)
• Madyson Webb (Honda)
• Maryam Alihoseini
• Priyanka Chowdhury
• Dominique Gedanke Flaksberg
• Catalina Munoz Arias
• Heloisa Rocha Rincon
• William Yuan
• Chuck Backus
• Maria Bowman
• Jackie Brandon
• Avery Caiazza
• Hattie Carr
• Jason Dionisio
• Olivia Doland
• Korene Embrack
• Grace Gerber
• Nolan green
• Sarah Kocher
• Danny Kraft
• Easton Nguyen
• Zoe Shay-Tannas

The Importance of Eating Together

Anne Myers-Wright RD/APD

Most of us take eating together for granted but the simple act of sharing a meal is a greater one than we imagine. Food is so much more than just fuel. It’s a fundamental part of our health, relationships, culture and well-being. Eating together is about coming together; about belonging.

No-one likes to eat alone. Sadly, however, it is becoming more and more common for many of us to do so, especially in the UK. At the end of last year, the annual UK National Food and Drink report (2017/18) showed that close to a third of us had eaten alone in the last month.

There will always be times when we are eating alone. If we can, however, it’s better for us to try to minimise those times as much as possible. Eating together has benefits both physically and mentally.

Why we should eat together more

It’s tradition, and it’s basically in our genes.

Families have eaten together for as long as they have eaten! In most societies, families celebrate important events by sharing food. Mealtimes have traditionally been those times when whole communities or villages come together. Eating together is a symbol of shared life. It’s part of who we are.

Meal times are for bonding and communication

The dinner table is a place of community. Eating together gives us the opportunity to talk, laugh and share. Taking time out to catch up and talk lets us truly connect. For families, this is an important opportunity to switch off the digital distractions and enjoy each other. Family meals foster a sense of belonging. Research has shown that children who eat regularly with their families feel loved, safe and secure. Even teenagers, despite what we may think, treasure the family eating experience. A US study showed that 71% of teenagers said they consider talking, catching up, and spending time with family members as the best part of family dinners.

Eating together is better for our health and well-being

Regularly eaten meals that are prepared and/or eaten in company tend to be more nutritious and healthier. People who eat meals together have been shown to eat more fruit and vegetables, more dairy and fibre than those who eat alone.

Research suggests that people who eat alone have higher rates of obesity and are at higher risk of developing chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes. A 2010 study by the University of Bristol found that workers who eat alone at their desk are more likely to gain weight.

Studies suggest that people who eat alone have higher rates of depression. Those who eat regularly with others say they feel happier, are more trusting of the people around them and feel more engaged with their community. In fact, a recent study with the elderly revealed that one in five seniors report that they feel loneliest when eating by themselves.

In order to understand the problem at hand with seniors living in isolation, we have to first ask ourselves what the value of a shared meal is? What is the meaning of the meal? Across generations and cultures it has been proven that sharing a meal with loved ones is one of the best ways to engage in quality conversation, bonding time, and form healthy eating habits. From a young age, when we eat with our family, we are reminded of our meaningful role in our familial structure. This is where we build our sense of self and explore our food palette. It is a time for people to turn off the outside world of work, school, bills, and kids, and focus on each other. There are clear emotional and health benefits. And while sharing family meals is important especially for young children, we crave this connection with others even as we age.

For seniors, who are already predisposed to depression because of isolation, sharing a meal can be what they look forward to each day. Eating a meal alone, especially knowing that your children and their families are together, can be especially difficult. It can be even worse when family or friends don’t prioritize visiting, or live far away so as not to even be an option.

During a pandemic, all of the prior conventions of sharing meals have been thrown into the garbage disposal. Seniors are already a high-risk, compromised population. The act of sharing a meal as we once did with our grandparents is no longer simply hard to schedule, but it is dangerous. How can we let our grandparents or parents feel the love experienced when sharing a meal without risking their health and safety?

Source: https://www.amdietetics.com/articles/the-importance-of-eating-together

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

Op-Ed: Inspiration is Made Possible by Opportunity and the Relationships to the People and the World Around Us

The Civilian Response to Mass Casualty Incidents (MCI)

Huntington Foreign Currency – FAQ

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Log in to leave a comment