Change and Stability in Commensality Patterns: A Comparative Analysis of Belgian Time-Use Data from 1966, 1999 and 2004

Abstract

The decline of the family meal is a popular concern in contemporary Western society. This article assesses how commensality patterns have evolved in Belgium over the last four decades and which factors have an impact on commensality. The study uses Belgian time-budget data from 1966 and 1999 to obtain an insight into the evolution of commensality patterns. Flemish time-use data from 2004 are used to determine the factors that affect commensality patterns. It is concluded that there has been a significant decrease in family commensality between 1966 and 1999, while eating has become more individualized during the same period. This holds for all days of the week and for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The data also revealed that a number of factors that are often assumed to entail the individualization of eating practices, such as the increased availability of products for self-catering, have little impact on commensality patterns in practice.The factor with the strongest impact on commensality patterns is living arrangements. People who live alone generally do not have anyone with whom to share their meals. Married and cohabiting couples, on the other hand, tend to eat together on a regular basis, while parents still share the majority of meal-times with their co-resident children.

Destructuration or continuity? The daily rhythm of eating in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in 1997 and 2012

“…It would have been preferable to compare our two time-points with, say, the 1950s or 1960s, since those decades are arguably representative of the collective and stable eating culture of which observers think when characterizing the decline of shared eating culture. Indeed no signs of destructuration were observed from 1988 to 1999 in a study of Flemish eating practices (Mestdag, 2005), while some change was observed when comparing changes in meal commensality from 1966 to 1999 in Belgium (Mestdag & Glorieux, 2008). Nevertheless, we believe that a comparison of 1997 and 2012 offers a unique opportunity to evaluate the main aim of this paper, and to extend some of the findings from Belgium to the Nordic countries with updated data covering a very recent year: 2012.…”

Consuming family quality time: the role of technological devices at mealtimes

“…In fact the idea that family meal time is disappearing is gaining growing attention in western societies (Mestdag and Vandeweyer, 2005), as time becomes increasingly scarce (Southerton, 2003). In this context, Mestdag and Glorieux (2009), show that the decline in the family meal is largely due to the changing structure of households, with the proportion of households with a partner or children decreasing in Belgium and other countries. They found that "people who live alone generally do not have anyone with whom to share their meals.…”

The evolving content of meals in Great Britain. Results of a survey in 2012 in comparison with the 1950s

“…Comparison, across space and time, has been a primary object of interest in the analysis of eating (see for example Cheng et al, 2007;Kjaernes, 2001;Mestdag & Glorieux, 2009), yet it also presents some of the field's greatest methodological challenges. It is needed in order to be able to give due proportion to claims about approaching crises, of which many are predicted, and to estimation of the impact of new and alternative practices, like for instance the encroachment of foreign or global cuisine on local tradition.…”

“…Yet each of these qualifications would now appear far from necessary or deserving of committed observance. The proliferation of formerly less available foodstuffs, the spread of specialised diets such as vegetarianism, shifts in family and household structure (in particular diminishing household sizes, see Mestdag & Glorieux, 2009), changes in the distribution of paid and unpaid labour across the sexes (Brannen, O'Connell, & Mooney, 2013), and significant increases in eating out (Warde & Martens, 2000) mean that the social significance of meals is manifesting in different configurations of the elements of eating occasions (also see Marshall & Pettinger, 2009, for a good summary of shifts in the food system). There is plenty of evidence that the meal, and particular named meals such as breakfast, lunch and dinner, continue to hold enormous social significance, but their attributes, meanings, and other dimensions such as how they are eaten and with whom, are subject to creeping change (Cheng, Olsen, Southerton, & Warde, 2007;Mestdag & Glorieux, 2009).…”