Sustainable Consumption Institute

The way we eat has some detrimental effects on our health, the environment and social cohesion. Time-poverty, feeling rushed, and lacking quality time – often attributed to juggling competing demands of work and family life – is a societal problem often associated with poor eating habits. These critical concerns are high on personal and public agendas and, together, demand attention. Bringing together understandings from the sociologies of food and work, the aim of this research is to explore how working arrangements and schedules shape the way we eat: when we eat, whether we eat at home or eat out, with whom we eat, how much food preparation we do, and the combination of meals and snacks consumed. The research takes a comparative, mixed methods approach to examine shifting patterns and mechanisms underpinning the temporal organisation of employment and eating over the last 40 years (1975–2015). This research will generate empirically-evidenced, theoretically grounded insights that speak to critical and policy-relevant debates about poor eating habits and work-life balance in the UK.

Start Date                  January 2017

Completion Date     December 2020