Forget about leisurely meals — Americans are devoting less of their time and attention to eating and drinking. For the average American, dining is the main activity for 64 minutes of each day, three minutes, or 5 percent, less than in 2006-08, with breakfast seemingly an optional meal, says a USDA report.
Mealtime is well-defined for lunch and dinner, say Karen Hamrick and Ket McClelland, authors of the report, based on a survey conducted by the Census Bureau. More than 35 percent of Americans are engaged in “primary” dining between noon and 1 p.m. and again between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Breakfast was amorphous; over the two hours of 7-9 a.m., 17-18 percent of Americans say they make eating a primary activity.
An additional 16 minutes a day was consumed in “secondary” eating, when food was an adjunct to an overriding activity, such as work, watching a movie or driving. The amount of time spent on secondary dining was unchanged from 2006-08. The new survey did not try to trace how Americans used time outside of eating.
“Some researchers have posited that multi-tasking allows individuals to stretch their time budgets. If so, Americans are, by engaging in secondary eating, adding on average 16 minutes to their day,” said Hamrick and McClelland. At any time from 9 a.m. until bedtime, 5 percent or more of the population is engaged in secondary eating.
Four percent of Americans older than age 15 “did not have any eating or drinking activity that they considered their main activity” and spent 42 minutes a day ingesting food and beverages while focusing on other activities, said the Economic Research Service report. Conversely, senior citizens, whether employed or retired, spent more time in primary eating and drinking, an average of 76 minutes, than other age groups.
“There may be a generational difference in eating patterns,” said USDA.
Home is the primary location for food consumption, whether it is a primary or secondary activity. Men spend more time in primary eating and a larger portion of women engage in secondary eating.
There was a marked difference in time spent preparing meals and cleaning up after them. Men spent half as much time as women on those chores, regardless of who was the usual grocery shopper. People who routinely shoulder the shopping chores tend to spend much more time each day in the kitchen, a total of nearly 50 minutes.
“Americans across social classes are willing to spend only about an hour a day on cooking or roughly 20 minutes per meal,” said three University of North Carolina scientists in a 2011 study that discussed tactics to counter-act obesity. “Given that at-home food remains the most important source of Americans’ diet, a more effective approach might seek to boost the healthfulness of foods that people make and consume at home,” compared to approaches such as calorie counts on labels, said the researchers.
“Further research is required to determine how home cooking is linked to better dietary intake, and what types of home-cooked foods can maximize both time and health,” said the study published online in Nutrition Journal.