Americans are devoting less time to meals than they did a decade ago and waiting longer before eating them, according to two USDA analysts. The old idea of three meals a day applies to 21st century America only if you include food consumption that is secondary to something else, such as working or watching TV and movies.
When eating and drinking is the primary purpose, Americans spend an average 64 minutes a days on meals, according to data gathered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2014-17, a drop of 3 minutes from 2004-07. Almost all groups spent less time on food as a primary activity, except teenagers and young adults.
The gap between meals widened by nearly four minutes since 2004-07, reflecting the longer-running shift to fewer “primary eating and drinking events.” Whether now or a decade ago, barely a quarter of Americans report three such events a day. The largest portion, 38 percent, report two “primary” meals and 27 percent reported one a day.
“When we accounted for not only primary eating and drinking but also secondary eating, there was an overall rightward shift in the distribution of number of eating events,” said economists Tobenna Anekwe and Eliana Zeballos, referring to the bar chart showing meals per day. When secondary eating was included, 36 percent reported eating three times a day, an 11-point increase, and 22 percent reported four meals a day, compared to less than 6 percent previously.
“The most common primary activity was watching television and movies … followed by working one’s main job,” said the Economic Research Service report. Some 46 percent of people engaged in secondary eating reported one of those those activities and in roughly equal numbers. Other activities included work travel and grooming.
While almost everyone engaged in “primary” meals daily, half of Americans also reported secondary eating each day.
Food preparation remains predominantly the work of women; they spend twice as much time as men on average at the task. But the gender gap between the percentage of women and men who prepare food, 65 vs. 41, has shrunk by 3 percentage points in the past decade. Women spend more time in food clean-up than men and they are three times more likely to do the chore than men.
The report, “Food-related time use,” is available here.