Eating practice models in Spain and the United Kingdom: A comparative time-use analysis

Abstract

The time dedicated to eating is changing. Although a tendency towards the homogenization of eating habits has been confirmed, the scarcity of comparative studies means that it is impossible to know whether the variations are occurring equally or with the same intensity in all countries. In this study, time dedicated to eating and cooking in Spain and the United Kingdom is analysed. Questions are asked regarding the decline in eating at home and the fragmentation of meals. An analysis is made whether different social groups behave in a similar way with regard to the time spent eating and to what extent the changes affect some groups more than others, generating greater social differences. In order to do this, official Spanish and British time-use surveys are used, and the data from two different time periods are analysed using multivariate techniques. In both countries, signs of convergence are detected, although the speed of change is different. Despite the convergence, the results also show that the changes in eating habits are not linear and are affected by moments of intense social transformation. Phenomena such as the economic crisis in the case of Spain affect the society and impose specific eating habit trends, generating new forms of social differentiation.

Keywords

Eating habits food consumption homogenization of eating habits social differentiation time use

Introduction

In recent years, there was an increase in the number of empirical studies analysing changes in eating practices. Most are in response to the growing fear in society regarding the effects these changes may have on the population: on its economy, since eating patterns are changing with the consequent impact which that has on the agrofood system (Fine, 1994); on its health, since eating practice changes are associated with the appearance of diseases (Bush and Williams, 1999); and on the food culture of the society, since changes of the type analysed in this study lead to significant cultural transformations in terms of loss of symbols, standards, beliefs and values (Germov and Williams, 2008). These changes are related to the process of globalization of food and gave rise to a considerable amount of disagreement. How the globalization of eating practices was to be interpreted generated serious theoretical debates prompting empirical studies of eating practice changes (Beardsworth and Keil, 1997; Fishler, 1995; Germov and Williams, 2008; Koc et al., 2012; McIntosh, 1996; Mennell et al., 1992).

There are several lines of study regarding modern eating practice processes, which make it possible to understand the effects of globalization on societies. These phenomena are studied by many authors using a number of different approaches, but essentially, while for some the changes generate homogenization of eating practices, both in terms of forms of production and of selling and consuming, other analysts point to a diversity of models of production and consumption. This duality is the same as that subscribed to by analysts of globalization, and of course also takes into account the idea put forward by them that both homogeneity and diversity coexist as heterogeneous effects of the process of globalization.

Theoretical approaches to the globalization of eating practices

The first approach for the analysis of the homogenization of eating practices is that followed by analysts of the agrofood system. Good examples of this perspective are the studies of Blandford (1984), Fonte (1998) and Bush (1991). In these studies, agrofood changes are associated with changes in the relationship between man and nature. They argue that changes in eating practices are part of a gradual process in which there is a modification of the roles played by the different actors that intervene in nature and in the food produced by it. The possibility to eat anything, anywhere and at any time deepens the breach which now exists between where products are produced and where they are consumed. Everything leads towards a system of global consumption where local differences gradually disappear, principally due to the fact that the products available on the market are the same worldwide. This gives rise to an ever-increasing gap between producer and consumer.

These claims can be included in theories of the more general effects of globalization along the lines expressed by Ritzer (1996). For this author, the way the processes of production are rationalized and standardized, as happens in fast-food chains, results in similar forms of consumption all over the world. The process of Mcdonaldization of society, as he refers to it, is a metaphor used to explain the homogenization of consumption. These authors, based either on an analysis of the increasing complexity of the agrofood system or of the standardized methods of production and marketing, conclude that the premises on which eating practice choices are based are becoming increasingly similar worldwide. In their opinion, it is this global structure that leads to consumption habits which are increasingly homogeneous and less differentiated. The trend is clearly towards food consumption which is ever more similar and where differences are becoming more and more diffuse. This standardization leads to the differences between eating practices becoming more diffuse, in terms of both cultural and social aspects. As a result, the family meal is also transformed and there is a trend towards more individualized forms of eating.

The second type of explanation for the process of food homogenization is based on the idea that the differences in eating practices are based on the erosion of cultures. Some authors focused on the behaviour of the consumers themselves to explain this process. The most representative figure of this point of view is Fishler (1995). The author explained how in modern societies there exists a situation of anomy with regard to food, of gastro-anomy, a theory which this author elaborates using the play on words between gastronomy and anomy (in an article published in France in 1979) and in which he analyses the weakening of the norms on which choice of food is based. The profusion of products available on the market, together with the ease with which the merchandise can be acquired, submerges consumers in a situation in which they lose the traditional criteria for food choices. This leads to food choices becoming increasingly similar. In short, according to Fishler, as social and cultural norms disappear or weaken, the criteria previously used when choosing what to eat are eroded. As a result, consumers, as well as feeling anxious, take individual decisions which are not based on social norms and become increasingly similar to each other. A similar line was taken by Poulain (2002a), who empirically showed the discrepancy which exists between norms and practice, emphasizing the difficulty of choosing when faced with such diversity of norms.

A third group of analysts has reported a change towards food homogenization based on the increase in contacts favoured by modern societies. Basing their theory on Beck’s (2000) ideas of cosmopolitanism and Giddens’ (1993) reflexive modernity, they postulate that the widespread and frequent contact between people, for reasons of either work or tourism, and the permanent contact offered by the mass media give rise to a fluid and constant exchange of ideas and people. All of this gives rise to ever greater knowledge of the eating practices of other cultures, which in turn makes it easier for these to be assimilated by people worldwide (Appadurai, 1990; Warde et al., 2007). Some analysts even claim that certain societies, in reference to the British, do not have their own nutritional culture and define them as omnivores, since they are an example of nutritional cosmopolitanism and appear to accept any kind of international food and integrate it into their daily diets (Warde et al., 2007).

The three approaches are all explanations of the effects of globalization on eating practices, but each stresses different aspects: globalization of the agrofood system, the weakening of social norms with regard to food and intercultural interaction. These points of view suggest a scenario which is favourable to food homogenization: eating practices are increasingly similar and cause the cultural and social differences which were characteristic of these practices in previous eras to become less clear (Meyer, 2007). However, these theoretical explanations, which regard homogenization of food practices, from production to consumption, as a pattern of social modernity are complemented by other analyses which focus on diversity.

The first of these perspectives is supported by a large number of analysts, all of whom question the process of conventionalization of agriculture, a term referring to the adoption of agriculture of the working norms of the capitalist market economy. Mention is made of how small-hold farmers adapted to the changes as a result of the globalization of the agrofood system. Emphasizing the idea of the resistance of small-hold farmers, they highlight the role played by these farmers as a link between nature and society, between production and consumption, at the same time showing the social function which they fulfil by revitalizing rural areas and responding to new consumer values. Alternative markets and the development of new relationships between production, commercialization and consumption provide a challenge to conventional markets, dominated by large food corporations, and lead to diversity of production methods (Goodman, 2004; Marsden et al., 2000; Raynolds, 2002).

Another approach which questions the concept of food homogenization refers to the concept of glocalization, in reference to how localization phenomena coexist with more global trends (Beck, 2000; Robertson, 1992). Current eating practices fluctuate between globalization and local peculiarities. Food homogenization runs parallel to a return to more localized eating practices which reinforce a sense of identity. In a social context where identity references are severely lacking, food and land acquire a symbolism in which food is seen in terms of those aspects of gastronomic culture which differentiate one territory from another (Grignon and Grignon, 1981; Warde, 1997). The question is asked whether national food trends are being maintained or abandoned. By studying immigrants, it is possible to see whether there exists a process of acculturation or of food assimilation (Cleveland et al., 2009). The studies confirm the maintenance of ethnic identity despite immersion in the host society and at the same time reflect considerable interaction between people; there is neither a process of total acculturation nor of immersion, nor of total resistance. It is a complex process in which immigrants simultaneously acquire characteristics of the dominant culture and maintain links with their original food culture.

Studies regarding the preservation of the family meal

In relation to the process of homogenization of eating practices, supported by some and questioned by others, the study of the decline or maintenance of domestic eating practices is of particular importance. There is concern regarding the decline of the family meal due to the element of conviviality which it represents and also regarding the disappearance of culturally deeply rooted eating trends due to the process of homogenization caused by globalization. The studies related to these topics all express concern about the change and stress the slowness of the process but their results are not concordant.

Those studies which most strongly support the theory of homogenization of eating trends confirm its existence using data showing signs of de-structuration and the progressive decline in the importance of the family meal. In general, those studies that support the theory of homogenization of eating practices base their ideas on the confirmation of Engel’s Law, which states that there is a progressive decrease in the amount countries spend on food as their level of development increases. One recent example of this type of study is that of López Martín-Lagos (2011). This study analyses the 27 countries of the European Union and confirms that there is an inverse relationship between gross domestic product (GDP) and the amount spent by households on food.

Those studies which question this point of view most strongly offer data showing the persistence of differences in eating practices between individuals and/or groups. The study carried out by Warde et al. (2007) compares eating time use in five countries: the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Holland and Norway. These authors investigate the degree of homogenization of eating behaviour through the results of the time-use surveys of 1975 and 2000. For Warde et al. (2007), family meal practices continue to exist over time and this is also confirmed by other authors who analyse social groups which could be expected to be more prone to food instability, such as adolescents (Gallegos et al., 2011). Meals are prepared and eaten as a family. National peculiarities apparent in the results obtained by Warde et al. (2007) suggest that it would be important to carry out more profound studies of cultural differences and to explore the routines and conventions which are most resistant to change and those dimensions which show the most homogeneous and stable tendencies.

In Belgium, Mestdag and Glorieux (2009), using longitudinal studies based on the time-use surveys of several different years, analyse the changes which have taken place in family meals and detect transformations which would point to a decrease in the time dedicated to eating in groups but not to a drastic abandoning of this practice. They confirm that eating is a social activity shared with members of the household and that variations in eating practices are directly related to changes in the structure of those households.

Davidson and Gauthier (2010), using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report and the World Values Survey (WVS), analyse 43 countries in order to determine the factors which predict eating as a family. There are some countries where values are held which give greater importance to the social aspect of eating. Family interaction and the educational resources of the group are good predictors of eating as a family, more so than income or occupation.

Some authors turn their attention to the study of eating episodes, pointing out that the real changes in eating practices are as a result of the fragmentation of meals and of the increase in the number of time periods dedicated to eating, rather than of a reduction in the time spent eating. The increase in snacking, of eating between meals, is, according to these authors, a sign of de-structuring associated with modern societies and has a harmful effect on the longer, main meals (Diasio, 2008; Grignon and Grignon, 2004; Poulain, 2002b).

An analysis of who people eat with can also clarify to what extent family meals are resisting change in as far as an increase in eating alone is a sign of the individualization of eating practices. This would also show that eating has lost the social element attributed to it, especially in countries with food cultures like that of the Mediterranean. The study of Cheng et al. (2007) which analyses changes in eating practices through the time-use surveys of 1975 and 2000 in the United Kingdom helps clarify these questions. The results of the study indicate that the time spent eating at home is resistant to change, although a larger number of shorter time periods are shown when eating takes place outside the home. Gender, age and employment status continue to lead to differences in the time spent eating by different sectors of society, but there is also evidence of new types of social differentiation of increasing importance such as the make-up of the household and education, in the latter case particularly when eating is outside the home. The study being presented here takes into consideration several of the aspects analysed by other authors with a view to contributing to the debate regarding whether family meals are being maintained or are disappearing. An analysis is made of whether the organization of eating time is similar in two societies, the United Kingdom and Spain, and whether variations are a result of the same factors. Historically, the two countries had different eating habits, both in terms of the type of products and of the calories consumed (Frank and Wheelock, 1988). Halfway through the 1990s, the eating patterns of 16 European countries were analysed using the Family Budget Surveys, and seven European eating models were described (Albisu et al., 1999). One group included Great Britain (together with Austria and Holland), and a second group included Spain (together with Greece, Italy and Portugal) (Albisu et al., 1999). At the end of the 20th century, there still existed a clear difference between the diets of the countries of the north and of the south of Europe (Gracia and Albisu, 1999). This study tests the hypothesis of food consumption homogenization with regard to the time spent on organizing daily eating in the two countries, as representative of two societies with different eating models.

Furthermore, the study analyses two different moments in time, making it possible to identify whether the variations detected are in the same direction and at the same rate. The data were obtained from Time Use Surveys: the British ones from 2000 and 2005 and the Spanish ones from 2003 and 2010. An attempt is also made to answer the question of whether different social groups organize their eating in a similar or different way, whether, in short, they share the same eating model. This makes it possible to test the hypothesis of homogenization of eating practices in terms of time use.

Data and methods

In order to study time use in Spain and in the United Kingdom, two databases were used: the Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS), version 2011, of the University of Oxford for the data for the United Kingdom for the years 2000 and 2005 (the only 2 years which were harmonized in the MTUS) and the data for Spain for the year 2003.¹ The second source of data was the Time Use Survey 2009/2010 of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE). This Spanish time-use survey had not been harmonized in the MTUS. As a result, the authors of this article had to adapt it in order for it to be included in the analysis.² The data refer to population of 16 years of age and over. The study focuses on three eating practices: eating at home, preparation of food and eating outside the home (the definition of these activities can be found in Appendix 1).

The ‘time’ variable offers certain advantages over other ways of measuring eating behaviour, as was recognized by the first sociologists to carry out time-use studies (Gershuny and Sullivan, 1998; Prieto, 2007; Southerton, 2006). This type of studies are closely linked to the daily lives of households and individuals since what is registered is not a behaviour at a given time (such as purchasing a product) but rather all the activities carried out in a brief period of time (10 or 15 minutes) over a whole day. This makes it possible to record all the small events of the day, including those associated with eating. What is more, time-use studies bring out into the light domestic activities which normally remain hidden in analyses of commodified activities. Time-use surveys record activities which take place outside the market, non-remunerated activities, which is the case of a large proportion of activities linked to eating. Furthermore, studying how time is used helps acquire a deeper understanding of activities which are secondary or simultaneous, among which cooking and eating can often be included. This methodological approach analyses eating time in terms of time spent cooking and eating inside and outside the home.

The surveys for both countries are based on questionnaires where daily activity is registered in 10-minute periods. It is the responder who classifies the activity. First, a descriptive general analysis was carried out using tables showing the average number of minutes dedicated to each of the specified eating practices, the percentage of participation and the average number of minutes spent by those people carrying out the activity. The time organization of eating practices was also studied. This first analysis also contained observations regarding coexistence situations or those people with whom eating time was spent. All the data were weighted using the original weighting variable for each country.

Multiple linear regression models were elaborated in order to analyse the sociodemographic factors associated with the time spent eating at home and the time spent preparing food. Most subjects said they spent some time on these two practices, which act as dependent variables. The same did not occur with regard to time spent eating outside the home. In the case of this variable, there was a high percentage of zeros, of people who did not carry out the activity. In this case, we were faced with a more skewed distribution, and the requirements of the linear regression statistical model were not fulfilled. For that reason, a logistic regression model was applied. The logistic regression model was used to analyse the probability of eating outside the home, not time, but this did not reduce the validity of the results of the analysis.

The independent variables included in all the models were gender, age, living as a couple, educational qualifications, employment status, area of residence³ and youngest child in household with three categories: young children (age of youngest child is <5 years), older children (age of youngest child is 5–17 years) and no children. It was not possible to take income into account due to the discrepancies in how the data were collected and the high number of people who did not reply in some surveys. Consequently, education was considered a proxy variable for income, social class or cultural capital. These variables were used in previous studies of time use and eating practices, and it was considered to be of interest to discover whether they would follow similar trends in this study (Cheng et al., 2007; Mestdag and Glorieux, 2009; Warde et al., 2007).

Eating at home, food preparation and eating outside the home

As can be seen in Table 1, in both countries more time was spent eating at home than outside the home. The trends in eating change were, however, not identical. In Spain, time spent eating at home by those people who did so remained stable during the period from 2003 to 2010, approximately 100 minutes a day. In the United Kingdom, this time decreased by 9 minutes in a period of 5 years, from 81 minutes in 2000 to 72 in 2005. With regard to the time spent preparing food, there were no notable differences between the two countries, especially in the decrease in the percentage of people involved in the activity. In Spain, there was a decrease in the percentage of the population carrying out the activity from 66 percent in 2003 to 61 percent in 2010, and there was also a shortening of the time spent carrying out this practice, both in terms of the mean for the population as a whole and the mean for people who cooked, which fell from 78 minutes in the first year recorded to 69 minutes in the last. In the United Kingdom, both the percentage of people who prepared food in the period analysed and the amount of time spent on the activity (around 60 minutes) remained fairly stable.

Table 1.

Mean minutes per day for all respondents, participation rates and for people involved in the activity. Spain and UK sample age 16+ years.

Spain	Mean for all respondents	Participation rates (% of sample)	Mean for people involved in activity	Mean for all respondents	Participation rates (% of sample)	Mean for people involved in activity
	2003			2010
Eating and drinking at home	99	99	100	100	99	101
Food preparation, cooking	52	66	78	42	61	69
Eating and drinking out	18	18	101	20	25	80
United Kingdom	2000			2005
Eating and drinking at home	78	97	81	67	93	72
Food preparation, cooking	44	75	59	45	74	61
Eating and drinking out	9	12	72	16	30	53

Source: Own elaboration from Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS) 2011 database. Own elaboration from Spanish Encuesta de empleo del tiempo 2009–2010, INE (National Institute of Statistics).

In both countries, there was an increase in the percentage of people who ate outside the home. In Spain, the figure increased from 18 percent of the population to 25 percent, although the mean number of minutes spent eating outside the home decreased from 101 minutes in 2003 to 80 minutes in 2010. In the United Kingdom, a similar trend was observed. In a shorter period of time – 5 years – the percentage of participation rose from 12 to 30 percent, and there was also a decrease in the mean number of minutes spent by those involved in the activity (from 72 to 53 minutes).

The time organization of eating practices can be seen in Table 2, where data relative to eating time distribution are shown according to duration periods and the mean number of events per day. This information makes it possible to analyse to what extent this study coincides with the trends shown in other previously mentioned studies, which suggest an increase in episodes of short duration, both when eating at home and when eating outside the home, and point to the decline of family meals in Western societies. With regard to the number of times people eat at home, the Spanish mean was 2.96 in 2010, while in the United Kingdom it was less, 2.48 times a day in 2005. In the period analysed, it is important to emphasize the great stability regarding the duration of eating events at home in Spain. In both years, as a mean, the population dedicated around 15 percent of its eating time to meals of less than 10 minutes and a similar proportion of time to meals of over 60 minutes. The largest percentages were concentrated in the periods between 10 and 30 minutes. In the United Kingdom, there was a reduction in the percentage of eating time dedicated to events of less than 10 minutes and an increase in the percentage corresponding to periods of over 60 minutes, as there was in events of between 10 and 30 minutes, which were the most frequent. These results show that there was no significant increase in short episodes of eating at home, but rather just the opposite.

Table 2.

Eating time distribution by periods of duration, measured in minutes.

Spain	2003					2010
	≤10 (%)	10–30 (%)	30–60 (%)	≥60 (%)	Number of daily meals	≤10 (%)	10–30 (%)	30–60 (%)	≥60 (%)	Number of daily meals
Eating and drinking at home	15	48	22	14	3.05	15	51	19	15	2.96
Eating and drinking outside the home	6	23	20	51	1.42	8	28	18	46	1.29
United Kingdom	2000					2005
Eating and drinking at home	45	37	12	6	3.54	23	55	11	12	2.48
Eating and drinking outside the home	19	25	20	37	1.48	19	50	10	21	1.47

Source: Own elaboration from Spanish Encuesta de empleo del tiempo 2009–2010, INE (National Institute of Statistics).

The number of daily meals eaten outside the home was slightly lower in Spain than in the United Kingdom, with figures of 1.29 and 1.47, respectively, in the last year. In Spain, the time dedicated by the population to eating outside the home decreased. In the period analysed, the percentage of eating time corresponding to meals which lasted between 30 and 60 minutes decreased from 20 to 18 percent, and in those which lasted more than 60 minutes, it decreased from 51 to 46 percent. The same thing occurred in the United Kingdom, where the proportion of time which the population spent on meals of over 30 minutes halved, while the percentage spent on meals of between 10 and 30 minutes doubled. Consequently, in both countries, there was a decrease in long meals and an increase in short meals with regard to eating outside the home.

These results were supported if the mean number of minutes spent on each of the eating practices, be it alone or in company, was taken into account. It should be pointed out that these data were available for the United Kingdom only for the year 2000 and not for 2005, which meant it was not possible to analyse their evolution over time. For this reason, the results shown refer only to the case of Spain. As can be seen, the mean number of minutes spent eating alone at home remained relatively stable from 2003 to 2010, the time spent eating with children of less than 10 years of age decreased slightly and the time spent eating with a partner also increased moderately. Where a more significant increase can be observed is in time spent eating at home ‘with others’. In this case, ‘others’ refers to relatives and friends, excluding partners and offspring. Here, the time increased from an average of 77 minutes for those people who carried out the activity in 2003 to 92 minutes in 2010 (Table 3). A result of this kind reinforces the idea of the importance of the family meal in Spain, but could also reflect an effect of the economic crisis which this country suffered in the past few years. The high rate of unemployment and the need for families to cut costs could be producing an increase in the number of people eating in each home, with the consequent increase in consumption time. The data referring to time spent cooking point along the same lines. Here the mean time decreased from 2003 to 2010 in all the situations except preparing food in the company of members of the family or others, which increased from 46 to 54 minutes.

Table 3.

Mean minutes per day for all respondents and mean minutes for people carrying out activity according to who people eat with. Spain sample age 16+ years.

	Spain 2003		Spain 2010
	Mean for all respondents	Mean for people carrying out activity	Mean for all respondents	Mean for people carrying out activity
Eating and drinking at home
Alone	17	35	20	38
With partner	53	72	53	85
With children (<10)	11	88	14	73
With other	27	77	56	92
Food preparation, cooking
Alone	26	64	21	58
With partner	4	51	12	45
With children (<10)	16	51	5	46
With other	6	46	11	54
Eating and drinking out
Alone	1	43	1	37
With partner	1	91	7	83
With children (<10)	5	95	2	75
With other	10	114	18	90

Source: Own elaboration from Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS) 2011 database. Own elaboration from Spanish Encuesta de empleo del tiempo 2009–2010, INE (National Institute of Statistics).

Factors associated with time spent eating

In this section, an analysis is made of the influence of particular sociodemographic factors on each of the eating practices studied: eating at home, preparing food and eating outside the home. The aim of this is to determine, on the one hand, how extensive the social differentiation is within each country and whether that differentiation has been reduced with time, and, on the other hand, whether the eating models in Spain and the United Kingdom are divergent or, on the contrary, tend towards homogenization. The results of the linear regressions carried out for the study of eating at home and food preparation have been complemented with the analyses conducted to test the hypothesis that the coefficients of the linear regressions are equal. To that end, we realized significance tests of the coefficients of the interactions of each variable with a dummy variable, which refers to the moment of the survey, and global test by means of a Chow test (Baltagi, 2011; Chow, 1960; Gujarati, 1970). The comparison was carried out in different periods of time within each country and between countries.⁴

Eating at home

In Spain, the application of the Chow test brings to the fore that the regression models for 2003 and 2010 implemented for the analysis of time eating at home are different. For all analysed variables, the changes in the effects from 1 year to the next turned out to be significant. According to the results shown in Table 4, in Spain women spent less time eating at home than men in both years, although differences according to gender were smaller in 2010. Age was a significant variable in 2003, showing that as age increased, so did the time spent eating at home. In 2010, however, it was no longer statistically significant. In 2003, people who lived with a partner spent more time eating at home compared with those who lived alone and the difference between the behaviours of these two groups increased in 2010.

Table 4.

Eating and drinking at home: Linear regression analysis.^a Spain and UK sample age 16+ years.

	Spain		United Kingdom
	2003	2010	2000	2005
	B	B	B	B
Female (Base: male)	−3.64 (0.48)***	−1.71 (0.79)**	−0.68 (0.92)	−1.27 (1.55)
Age	0.37 (0.09)***	0.16 (0.13)	0.18 (0.17)	−0.29 (0.30)
Age 2	−0.00 (0.00)**	0.00 (0.00)	0.00 (0.00)***	0.00 (0.00)***
Couple (base: not in couple)	5.58 (0.55)***	7.64 (0.87)***	9.46 (1.02)***	15.02 (1.57)***
Completed secondary	−2.16 (0.55)***	1.61 (0.92)*	2.30 (1.03)**	1.99 (1.92)
Tertiary education (base: below secondary)	−2.94 (0.70)***	1.37 (1.09)	6.71 (1.12)**	3.45 (2.11)
Full time	−14.95 (0.66)***	−18.44 (1.24)***	−21.32 (1.42)***	−15.05 (2.87)***
Part time	−8.92 (1.55)***	−12.25 (1.80)***	−11.71 (1.62)***	−5.60 (3.08)*
Unemployed	−0.86 (1.02)	−1.00 (1.52)	−6.30 (2.76)**	−1.48 (5.21)
Student	−3.79 (1.28)***	−5.32 (2.30)**	−6.45 (2.90)**	−9.54 (5.01)*
Retired (base: inactive)	1.35 (0.80)*	−1.41 (1.34)	0.47 (2.05)	5.42 (3.77)
Young children	−1.47 (0.77)*	−5.58 (1.22)***	−4.08 (1.46)***	−0.01 (2.65)
Older children (base: no children)	1.49 (0.55)***	−0.34 (0.94)	−2.48 (1.12)**	−4.19 (2.22)*
Urban (base: rural)	−1.17 (0.55)***	−3.95 (0.72)***	−5.77 (1.47)***	NA
Constant	93.91 (2.20)***	98.79 (3.72)***	65.06 (4.33)***	55.83 (7.62)***
R ²	0.052***	0.052***	0.124***	0.109***
N	42,546	18,236	16,165	4853

Source: Own elaboration from Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS) 2011 database. Own elaboration from Spanish Encuesta de empleo del tiempo 2009–2010, INE (National Institute of Statistics).

NA: not available; B: regression coefficients.

Values in parentheses are standard error.

Regression models have been used excluding those outliers which could affect the low R². These people with very high eating times are very few in number, and their exclusion does not basically change the results of the models shown.

p < 0.10; **p < 0.050; ***p < 0.010.

Working full time or part time and being a student were associated with spending less time eating at home when compared with people who were inactive and this result became much more significant in 2010. The influence of education changed over the period of time analysed. In 2003, the lower the educational level, the longer the time that was spent eating at home, while in 2010, this was no longer an explanatory factor. One relevant variable was the presence of small children in the home. This reduced the time spent eating at home and its effect was even stronger in 2010. Another explanatory factor which became stronger was the area of residence, with a tendency towards a greater reduction in the time for people who lived in urban areas compared to those who lived in rural areas.

The Chow test also reveals important differences between the models for Spain and the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom, gender was not a significant variable in either of the 2 years analysed. If we consider employment status, in 2000, the full-time and part-time workers, the students and to a lesser extent the unemployed and the retired were the collectives that spent less time eating at home in comparison with those who were inactive (this group consists of all people who do not form part of the other groups). As for the variable of education, the effect diminishes and stops being statistically significant in 2005. The little time spent eating at home when there were young children in the home was of great importance in 2000 but ceased to be a key element of social differentiation in 2005. Nevertheless, the test of the hypothesis that the estimated coefficients for two periods are the same indicates that the only variable whose effect changes significantly over time is the one that measures whether one lives with a partner or alone.

People who lived with a partner spend more time eating at home than those who lived alone, and this behaviour became much more pronounced with the passing of the years. To sum up, it can be said that British society displays a more stable behaviour with regard to time spent eating at home when compared to Spanish society.

Food preparation

In the same way as occurred in the analysis of the time spent on eating at home, in Spain the models of 2003 and 2010 with respect to the time spent on preparing food differ significantly. Being a woman was associated with spending a greater length of time cooking with respect to men in both years, with high regression coefficients, although a certain tendency towards a reduction in this inequality can be observed. Nevertheless, despite the fact that the differences according to gender are becoming smaller, women continue to spend more time cooking than men and, as mentioned previously, spend less time eating, which would suggest that men eat at home but it is other people who cook for them (Table 5).

Table 5.

Food preparation: Linear regression analysis. Spain and UK sample age 16+ years.

	Spain		United Kingdom
	2003	2010	2000	2005
	B	B	B	B
Female (base: male)	50.15 (0.52)***	36.05 (0.73)***	26.58 (0.75)***	21.81 (1.42)***
Age	2.99 (0.09)***	2.52 (0.12)***	1.35 (0.43)***	0.73 (0.27)***
Age 2	−0.03 (0.09)***	−0.02 (0.00)***	−0.01 (0.00)***	−0.00 (0.00)
Couple (base: not in couple)	9.22 (0.60)***	5.87 (0.79)***	3.31 (0.83)***	3.99 (1.43)***
Completed secondary	−2.01 (0.60)***	−1.12 (0.84)	−0.61 (0.84)	0.08 (1.75)
Tertiary education (Base: below secondary)	−5.55 (0.75)***	−4.20 (1.00)***	−3.62 (0.91)***	−1.10 (1.93)
Full time	−37.54 (0.71)***	−32.03 (1.13)***	−20.64 (1.16)***	−16.22 (2.62)***
Part time	−25.41 (1.68)***	−22.02 (1.64)***	−9.72 (1.32)***	−3.53 (2.81)
Unemployed	−16.21 (1.11)***	−12.99 (1.39)***	−6.60 (2.25)***	−0.09 (4.76)
Student	−31.84 (1,39)***	−26.55 (2.11)***	−16.99 (2.36)***	−11.74 (4.58)**
Retired (base: inactive)	−15.64 (0.86)***	−14.60 (1.23)***	−1.87 (1.68)	2.16 (3.44)
Young children	2.85 (0.83)***	4.22 (1.12)***	7.66 (1.19)***	14.67 (2.42)***
Older children (base: no children)	2.33 (0.60)***	5.13 (0.86)***	3.80 (0.89)***	8.31 (2.03)***
Urban (base: rural)	−0.90 (0.47)*	−1.09 (0.66)	−0.80 (1.20)	NA
Constant	−24.23 (2.38)***	−20.69 (3.41)***	−0.14 (3.54)	9.77 (6.96)
R ²	0.370***	0.269***	0.126***	0.130***
N	42,546	18,236	16,165	4853

Source: Own elaboration from Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS) 2011 database. Own elaboration from Spanish Encuesta de empleo del tiempo 2009–2010, INE (National Institute of Statistics).

NA: not available; B: regression coefficients.

Values in parentheses are standard error.

p < 0.10; **p < 0.050; ***p < 0.010.

Older people, those who were inactive, lived with a partner or were married and had only completed primary studies spent more time preparing food. Having children in the home also increased the time that people spent cooking and the size of the effect grows in 2010. The area of residence also increases the size of its effect over time, but this is not a significant variable.

As for the United Kingdom, the collective which spent most time preparing food continued to be women, although the size of the effect of this variable was less in the United Kingdom than in Spain. Similarly, in the United Kingdom, elderly people, people who are inactive, those who lived with a partner and people with children in the home spent more time preparing food. With regard to educational level, as occurred in Spain, it was people who only finished primary studies who spent most time cooking and university graduates who spent the least. When a comparison was made with 2005, certain changes were observed. According to the analyses carried out, the lower effects of sex and age stand out, while the relevance of the presence of children in the home on the time spent preparing food increased. This result suggests that in the United Kingdom, the composition of the home is turning into one of the most important factors of social differentiation with regard to the time spent cooking.

Eating outside the home

If an analysis is made of the probability of eating outside the home in Spain in 2003, the most likely participant in this practice is a young male, living alone, with a high educational level and without children in the home. Employment status was also a significant variable (Table 6) as having employment, being retired or even being unemployed were associated with a greater frequency of eating outside the home compared with those who were inactive. In the last decade, there were certain changes which show that in Spain in 2010, there was an increase in the probability of individuals with full-time employment eating outside the home, whereas this probability decreased in other social groups, as is the case of the students. It would appear that the economic crisis of recent years is having an effect on these groups, resulting in their reducing their spending on eating outside the home. The influence of sex and living as a couple, although they continue to be significant factors, decreased slightly.

Table 6.

Probability of eating and drinking outside the home: Logistic regression analysis. Spain and UK sample age 16+ years.

	Spain		United Kingdom
	2003	2010	2000	2005
Female (base: male)	−0.45***	−0.28***	−0.06	−0.14*
16–24 years	1.04***	0.79***	0.85***	0.25
25–44 years	0.85***	0.82***	0.69***	0.18
45–64 years (base: 65 years or over)	0.65***	0.71**	0.53***	0.13
Couple (base: not in couple)	−0.24***	−0.11***	−0.17***	−0.09
Completed secondary	0.36***	0.29***	0.14***	0.20***
Tertiary education (base: below secondary)	0.58***	0.51**	0.42***	0.34***
Full time	0.20***	0.30***	0.24***	1.27***
Part time	0.31***	0.19**	0.15	0.67***
Unemployed	0.13**	0.11	0.15	0.04
Student	0.13*	0.01	0.30**	1.08***
Retired (base: inactive)	0.44***	0.47***	0.30**	0.22
Young children	−0.39***	−0.32***	−0.44***	−0.40***
Older children (base: no children)	−0.13***	−0.18***	−0.38***	−0.07
Urban (base: rural)	−0.02	0.08*	0.33***	NA
Constant	−2.21***	−1.98***	−2.91***	−1.74***
-2LL	38,018.60	19,702.66	11,799.11	5558.03
N	42,546	18,236	16,165	4853

Source: Own elaboration from Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS) 2011 database. Own elaboration from Spanish Encuesta de empleo del tiempo 2009–2010, INE (National Institute of Statistics).

NA: not available. -2LL statistic measures how well the model fits the data.

p < 0.10; **p < 0.050; ***p < 0.01.

Similarities can be observed between the UK model and the Spanish one, although the regression models indicate that there exist some important differences. In British society, sex is not a variable which influences the probability of eating outside the home; it was of no statistical significance in 2000 and its significance in 2005 was minimal. Age, which resulted in noticeable differences among the population in 2000, with the young having a greater probability of eating outside the home, had no relevant effect in 2005. The same happened with the variable living as a couple, as in 2005 there were no differences between those who lived alone and those who lived with a partner. Education, on the other hand, is important, having a similar influence to that observed in Spain, where those with university studies spend the most time eating outside the home. Both in the United Kingdom and in Spain, the presence of young children in the home is associated with a lesser tendency to eat outside the home. With regard to employment status, which was of little significance in 2000, there appears to have been an increase in its importance over the years. This can be observed especially in the increase in the probability of eating outside the home in the groups of workers and students.

In order to facilitate the interpretation of these results, we have carried out additional analyses. In particular, we estimated the Average Marginal Effects⁵ (Table 7). The need for this analysis derives from the problems that may appear when we compare logit coefficients across (country–period) samples (Karlson et al., 2011; Mood, 2010; Wooldridge, 2002). From the data obtained, we deduce that in Spain, the factors that most influence eating outside of the home are age, level of education and, to a lesser extent, household composition. In the United Kingdom, the most prominent factors are socio-economic status, level of education and household composition.

Table 7.

Average marginal effects.

	Spain		United Kingdom
	2003	2010	2000	2005
Female (base: male)	−0.06	−0.05	−0.00	−0.03
16–24 years	0.13	0.13	0.08	0.05
25–44 years	0.10	0.13	0.06	0.03
45–64 years (base: 65 years or over)	0.07	0.11	0.05	0.02
Couple (base: not in couple)	−0.03	−0.02	−0.02	−0.02
Completed secondary	0.04	0.05	0.01	0.04
Tertiary education (base: below secondary)	0.08	0.09	0.05	0.07
Full time	0.02	0.05	0.02	0.24
Part time	0.04	0.03	0.01	0.11
Unemployed	0.02	0.02	0.01	0.00
Student	0.02	0.00	0.03	0.20
Retired (base: inactive)	0.06	0.09	0.03	0.03
Young children	−0.05	−0.06	−0.04	−0.07
Older children (base: no children)	−0.02	−0.03	−0.04	−0.01
Urban (base: rural)	−0.00	0.01	0.03

Source: Own elaboration from Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS) 2011 database. Own elaboration from Spanish Encuesta de empleo del tiempo 2009–2010, INE (National Institute of Statistics).

To sum up, it is not possible to affirm that Spain and the United Kingdom have the same model of outside-the-home eating habits. Nevertheless, the two countries do have common tendencies. Both in Spain and in the United Kingdom, the factors which continue to produce a greater degree of social differentiation are education, the composition of the home and employment status. University graduates are the social group which participates most in this practice, together with full-time workers. Whereas the presence of young children in the home considerably reduces the probability of eating outside the home.

Conclusion

This study tested the hypothesis of the trend towards homogenization of eating practices using an analysis of time use with regard to food and comparing the United Kingdom and Spain. The diversity of trends and rates of change, together with the results regarding the behaviour of different social groups in the two societies, indicate that what we are seeing are heterogeneous changes with certain things in common.

Eating continues to be a domestic matter both in Spain and in the United Kingdom, since the majority of those sampled in the United Kingdom data dedicate somewhat over 2 hours a day to the activities of eating, drinking and preparing food and the Spanish dedicate almost 3 hours. The two countries also coincide with regard to the trends associated with eating outside the home: an increasing number of people eat outside the home but spend less time doing so. These are two societies, therefore, in which people eat principally, thanks to work done at home. The time dedicated to this activity, although there are variations, does not suggest that there has been a drastic reduction in tasks of food preparation. In Spain, there is a decrease in the number of minutes dedicated to cooking, while in Britain, the time dedicated to preparing food remains the same. The decrease of 10 minutes in 7 years detected in Spain could be the result of an increase in the technology used in the kitchen or of the use of certain products which require less preparation time rather than of a change to a new form of eating based on ready-to-eat products. The Spanish and the British spend around 45 minutes a day cooking in order to satisfy their nutritional needs.

This similarity in behaviour is also reflected in how eating periods are organized. At home, the number of long meals increased or was maintained, while the number of short meals decreased. The opposite trend was observed with regard to eating outside the home, with a decrease in long meals and an increase in short ones. Some doubt could exist as to whether this main meal eaten at home is or is not a family meal. Although no data are available for the United Kingdom, data for Spain regarding who people eat with make it possible to confirm that it is in fact a meal eaten in company and that there has been no increase in meals eaten alone. With regard to snacking, this trend does not suggest substitution for main meals but appears to be as integrated into daily life as the rest of the meals, especially at home.

Certain similarities can also be observed in how the eating behaviour of the different social groups evolved in the United Kingdom and in Spain. At present, the most important factors with regard to explaining differences in use of eating time at home are employment status, living as a couple and the composition of the household. However, the evolution of variables in both countries is different. In Spain, the effect of occupational status, of the household composition and of the area of residence increases over time. Conversely, the United Kingdom is a more stable society with respect to the evolution displayed by the combination of the analysed factors, since the only really significant change has been the increase of the effect of living as a couple.

In Spain, the trend is that fewer people dedicate time to cooking and that they devote less time to this activity. In the United Kingdom, both the time spent on the activity and the number of people who engage in it remained stable over the 5 years covered by the study. Educational level is a differentiating factor and those who only completed primary studies spend more time cooking than other social groups. What best explains the differences in the time spent preparing food is the composition of the household, since having children in the home leads to more time being spent on this activity and this variable has grown in importance over the years. The other variable which established most differences between the different social groups, both in Spain and in the United Kingdom, is gender. This reinforces the idea of the family meal, prepared by a single member of the group, in particular by women, whether they work outside the home or not and especially in the case of Spain. This could be seen from the opposite angle. In other words, if in Spain women spend their time cooking for others and for themselves, it is not surprising that the meal is eaten in the home, as that reduces the cost to the rest of the members of the group, both in terms of time and money. Spanish men who work outside the home can decide to eat at home more frequently than British men because Spanish women spend more time cooking for them than British women do, be they unemployed, children or students, men either in work or out of work or other members of the household in other circumstances. The cost in terms of cooking time for them is zero. What is more, in both countries the composition of the household is the variable which results in the greatest differences in time spent cooking. Consequently, it is reasonable to assume that the presence of dependent children will have a greater influence on the time spent cooking by women than by any other social group.

The final aspect of the analysis of eating time is dedicated to the time spent eating outside the home. We have shown that this decreased in Spain, while it remained stable in the United Kingdom. However, the number of people carrying out this activity increased in both countries in the two periods analysed. Furthermore, the data show that some sociodemographic variables have more explanatory power with regard to eating outside the home than to eating at home. This is the case with educational levels, which have lost weight as regards understanding eating at home, and today they are able to explain the time distribution for eating outside the home just as well as before.

Special attention should be paid to the relationship with work status, since in both the countries there is an increase in the relationship between being at work and eating outside the home. Certain authors question this relationship and refer to a wide range of motives for this behaviour. For some, the motives are of a practical nature, whereas for others they are linked to leisure (Riley, 1994). There is no doubt that this behaviour is complex, not always motivated by convenience or the occupational activity, and also difficult to classify. However, the data do indicate that in the United Kingdom, workers and students are those who are most likely to eat outside the home and that the differences with regard to occupational status increased in recent years. In Spain this behaviour is also more probable among workers, but over the years the probability of eating outside the home decreased slightly in all groups, except for full-time workers and retired people. We must not rule out the possibility that this is an effect of the economic crisis and that eating outside the home is a behaviour that has decreased in all the social groups except that of those who are fully integrated in the labour market, due precisely to the economic difficulties caused by the crisis.

The different behaviour of students in the two countries analysed is probably related to whether they do or do not live with their families. The Spanish tendency to continue to live in the family home while studying at university would explain why there is a greater tendency to eat at home among Spanish students than among British students, who normally move away from home to study. This argument would be further strengthened by the fact that age has lost explanatory weight in both countries, which makes it seem probable that it is not a behaviour that is linked to being young, as appeared to be the case in the first periods analysed.

Although the time-use survey does not provide information about eating contexts, it is possible to make certain hypotheses to explain the differences in this behaviour. For the British, meals eaten outside the home are short and eaten in the middle of the working day and the supply of food products reflects this habit in the form of a large number of establishments selling ready-to-eat food. What is more, this behaviour is favoured by the fact that in the British culture eating in the street is seen as being perfectly acceptable. This is not the case in the Spanish context, where the culinary supply is based on menus, consisting of first course, second course and dessert, to be eaten on the premises, which would explain why the meals are longer when Spanish people eat outside the home. It is possible that, in essence, the context could be determining the practice.

The explanatory power of educational level is consistent and it is the groups of individuals who have completed higher levels of education who are the most likely to eat outside the home. The better educated classes behave in a similar way in the two countries, which may be an example of taste as a reflection of cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1984). Eating outside the home would be a trend of social differentiation both in the United Kingdom and in Spain. In other words, these social groups opt to eat in restaurants as a strategy to distinguish themselves socially from the lower classes.

As seen previously, the fragmentation of eating habits does not prevent eating from continuing to be seen as one of the basic foundations of daily life. It is, however, true that the way people eat in modern societies is made up of both elements: eating at home and eating outside the home. It is possible that the former is carried out outside the realm of the market and the latter is more commodified, but both make up and define the model of eating habits in modern societies. Furthermore, although there are signs of convergence between the two countries, the speed of the change does not appear to coincide. For this reason, it is not possible to state unequivocally that the trends observed in Spain and the United Kingdom are leading the two countries towards similar eating models. It would be more correct to say that we continue to be faced with two different eating models which are changing along converging paths. Above all, the Spanish data show how specific social phenomena, such as the economic crisis of recent years, can modify the homogenizing trends which may have been detected in previous studies. Changes in eating habits are not linear and are modified at times of great social change. This change affects some societies differently than others, imposing specific trends of change in each social context.

These changes differ with regard to how eating practices are organized in terms of time: some behaviours converge in the two countries while others diverge. It is clear that the changes are neither unidirectional nor linear and that processes of homogenization and of divergence coexist. We should emphasize that the importance given to lunch (although eaten later in Spain than in the United Kingdom) continues to be a point of reference around which eating practice, carried out principally in the home, is organized. In neither of the two countries analysed has this practice been abandoned in favour of the market.

On the other hand, the diverging trends are affected by context. The structure of the relative timetables could explain the differing eating practices in the two countries. What is more, there are sociodemographic factors which explain the changes and which are present both in Spain and in the United Kingdom. It is, however, true that although the transformation factor is the same, the effect is different.

Furthermore, the fragmentation of eating practices which was expected as a result of the change does exist, given that there exists an increase in eating episodes. However, this is not detrimental to the main family meal. Therefore, it could be said that this trait cannot be seen to be a sign of eating practice de-structuration.

To sum up, the stability in behaviour patterns associated with eating at home in the United Kingdom and, in the case of Spain, the continuing tendency to eat in company are a reflection of the persistence of an eating practice culture which resists the social changes taking place around it. It would therefore appear to be the case that aspects associated with the most deeply rooted customs of each country undergo only limited change. Eating culture has not been eroded; the family meal at home persists in both countries, both in terms of time spent and number of people participating. There is no sign of the standardization of eating practices referred to by authors using theories of globalization such as those subscribed to by Ritzer (1996).

The increased participation in eating outside the home in both countries and the greater influence of education on how time spent eating outside the home is distributed corroborate the effect of cosmopolitanism referred to by Beck (2000). Social groups with higher educational levels are more open to change; hence, cultural diversity with regard to eating practices is increasing. Factors associated with work no longer play such an important role in generating differences in outside-the-home eating practices, while there is an increase in the importance of post-materialist values and of the influence on eating practices of the multicultural nature of modern societies.

In short, there exist different structures and also shared sociodemographic factors. Changes in eating practices do not go in a single, linear direction, but rather are reflected in heterogeneous responses with regard to how the time dedicated to eating is organized.

Footnotes

Appendix 1

The study is based on three activities, defined as follows in the MTUS:

Funding

This research has been funded by Plan Nacional de Investigación. Ref. CSO2009-07351.Gobierno de España.

Notes

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