Are we raising a nation of snackers?
As The New York Times reported recently, “sitting down to three square meals is going the way of the landline.” People now graze throughout the day and some 40 percent of Americans eat only snacks, not meals.
And yet, we still write cookbooks for one-pot meals and recipes for dishes meant to be consumed by more than one, sitting around a table. We still organize cookbooks by appetizers, side dishes and entrees, oblivious to this new development.
I’ve been thinking about how new cookbooks might be organized to address this trend. There would be no sections for breakfast, lunch or dinner, because these categories are outdated. We could categorize snacks as sweet or savory, crispy or salty. They could be dips, proteins, carb loads, or produce heavy. Would there be a point to an entertaining section? People could eat any of these snacks at any time of day. And would there now be opportunities for entire cookbooks about low-carb or high-protein snacks, paleo snacks, or vegan snacks? Snacks that can be frozen and microwaved?
Sadly, these new research results mean more people eat while in cars, at their desks, or in front of the television. Of course you eat this way too, from time to time. But it’s sad that more than 50 percent of Americans now eat alone, says NDP, a market research group.
Other trends reported in the story that provide food for thought:
* Increasingly, people are looking for high-protein snacks as a way to feel full without lots of calories
* Portable foods are desirable
* Quick preparation is key.
Parade magazine reported on the same story with lots of infographics — kind of a snackable format (heh heh). It says, for example, that Americans ate 405 savory snacks, 366 sweet snacks and 357 healthier snacks per year, with healthier snacks (fruit, nuts and protein bars) up 14 percent since 2006. That’s more than 3 snacks per day.
So if you are a recipe developer or cookbook writer, it might be time for a sea change. There’s nothing wrong with five small meals a day, after all. As long as they’re not all eaten alone.
(Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
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For more on snacking trends, you might also like:
- Snack Foods Growing at Mealtime
- Americans Snack Differently Than Other Nations (scroll down after the chart)
- Bar Menus Play with Salty and Sweet Flavors
Gosh – so depressing. When I was a family therapist, I asked families in my office how often they ate a meal together. Lots of folks never did so!
Well, things aren’t that bad, right? We still eat together sometimes. Just not as often as we used to.
I say, just write a recipe for a single pill that you could swallow in the morning and be done with food for the day!
Writing this from a French perspective, the idea that the three-square-meal way of life might be disappearing blows my mind, and worries me more than a little about a society in which this would be true.
As food writers, I feel we have a choice between A- just “going with the flow” and following our audience wherever they seem to already be headed, and B- trying instead to set an example and offer an aspirational yet realistic idea of what we believe eating should look like.
You raise such an interesting point — I’ll be thinking about this all day!
Aw, Clotilde, taking a pill sounds really depressing. People still enjoy their food, although they now consume it in new forms like bars and drinks. Fast and portable seems to be a big theme.
The French way of life is changing too, according to many articles I’ve read. Over here in the US, we have a romantic point of view about leisurely meals with big French families, where everything is homemade.
I was with you until I read this:
>>There’s nothing wrong with five small meals a day, after all. As long as they’re not all eaten alone.
Many people live and eat alone. Why not create recipes so that they, too, can learn to love to cook and eat healthy foods?
I’m also surprised you didn’t make the obvious connection between snacking, the lack of balanced meals, and obesity.
I’m all for the idea of creating recipes for one, and many cookbooks have done so. But eating alone is not healthy if you do it all the time. Many studies have shown that a lack of friends and connections leads to a shorter lifespan and more illnesses.
This is interesting, to consider obesity. What connection would you make? In the US, people eat out often, and the sizes of the meals are gigantic. The cheapest meals are often the most caloric, so poor people get the brunt of it. Fast food restaurants have not discovered snacking yet.
my mother is 84 years old. spent a lifetime cooking meals for the family (she is a fabulous cook) and now lives alone. most nights she prepares a balanced meal for herself, sets the table like for company (nice dishes, napkin, place setting). she says it is what makes a person civilized. it is a discipline to feed oneself properly.
the snack meal is for people on the go, who do not cook, or especially, do not want to do dishes. making a meal takes time and forethought. it is the young person’s game today eating in transit or at a desk. even the 4 or 5 small meals per day (as recommended for diabetics) are balanced veg and protein not just a smoothie for the entire day. I grew up with a brown bag to school. my father took leftovers to work. portable meals is not new.
the one pot meal and the standard meal (either a few dishes or multiple small dishes as in Asian cuisine) is about feeding a group, such as a family or guests. the grazing or snack paradigm is not about family values. It is a culture on the run.
It is a skill that every person needs to know how to cook for themselves, even a few dishes like a stirfry or chicken dish. countertop appliances like a rice cooker make it lots easier. I enjoy hearing about dorm rooms and kids cooking in a crock pot for their friends. that is one pot cooking. all age people love and appreciate a home cooked meal.
my supermarket is in a small mall around the corner with multiple businesses. one of the most memorable sights was driving on thanksgiving afternoon and looking into the Jack in the Box fast food restaurant dining area and there, with no one else in the room, was a family of 4 eating dinner.
Thanks for your long comment, Beth. My mother also cooked every night for our family and was a fabulous cook. My father died when she was in her late 40s, and she never cooked again, aside from an occasional pot of vegetable soup. She was done!
This is an interesting point that portable meals are not new. I often took my lunch to work. I suppose what is different is that perhaps we are more “on the go” now than ever?
Re cooking, we are all proselytizers for it, but some people don’t have the time, money, or interest to do it with any regularity.
Re Thanksgiving, that is a sad story. On the other hand, the family spent Thanksgiving around a table together, so what difference does it make that no one made the meal (other than it was not a healthy one)?
This is so weird to me. I can’t even fathom a society in which people, families, couples, don’t sit down to eat at least one meal a day together. Being Greek, where we value our time together over a dinner table, this is so foreign.
Being a food blogger, I couldn’t suggest to people that snacking by any means implies a full meal. I realize I’m coming from a very different culture than the American for which you talk about, but still, this sounds so depressing.
Thank you, Dianne, for always raising interesting issues and questions.
My pleasure Magda. I don’t think it’s an either/or thing, just that snacking is gaining ground.
This makes me sad. I think you’re right but it still makes me sad.
I really feel there is something so nourishing about sitting together and breaking bread.
Me too. Maybe it has something to do with entertaining — that people perceive it as too much work, or too much of a performance.
As always, Diane, thanks so much for bringing this article to our attention, and for highlighting the most important points from various sources concerning recent surveys.
But, wow! I am so not on board with any of this. Perhaps it’s that I’m coming from a European perspective, but the idea of grazing seems exactly the type of thing, as a food writer, that we should seek to discourage, not encourage. I, at least, consider my writing to not only be inspirational, but aspirational. If we don’t set the bar at least a little higher, what’s the point?
Also, I guess I was a little shocked how often you were using the word snack, both as a verb and a noun. Snacks, for the most part, at least in the USA, mean processed food. And if there is anything I am going to rally against, it’s processed food.
So, to answer your original questions, yes, I do think we should be writing about meals.
Elizabeth, interesting points.
If you looked at the USA Today link at the bottom of the post, you will see that Europeans and the rest of the world eat snacks too. But their top three foods are not very processed. They are chocolate (64%), fruit (62%), and vegetables (52%). Compare this to the US, where people consumed chips (63%), chocolate (59%) cheese (58%) and cookies (53%) most. So yes, I take your point about processed food.
Aspirational cookbooks will always sell. But we do know that most purchasers make only 1 or 2 of the recipes, so they are not changing their lives in a major way.
I am a firm believer in “the family that eats together, stays together!” Being Persian, we will never be snackers. We will continue to share a family meal together. And even though I am often not hungry at dinnertime, I still sit with my family during meal time and we share the stories of our day.
That is a lovely idea, Laura, especially sharing stories. I’m curious about why you are not hungry for dinner if you do not snack, but that is a different story.
Some people grow up in a dysfunctional family though, where eating dinner together is less magical. There was lots of shouting and hitting around my family table. In my husband’s family, everyone ate in silence during meals, watching the television. There is lots more to a good dinner than just the meal.
Now that’s thought provoking. I think there’s room for all different kinds of dining and cookbooks. Sometimes we graze, sometimes we dine. It all depends.
It’s not a requirement for me that cookbooks be organized by meal. Maybe I want to dine on bacon and pancakes for dinner one evening. So, I’d be looking for recipes in the breakfast section. Type of food can be a good way of categorizing recipes too. To me the most important thing about a cookbook is its overall quality, including clear organization, good recipes, writing with flair and, yes, I’m also a sucker for great photographs.
Marlene, you are the only commenter so far to not be shocked by the idea of writing about snack food!
Good points about what makes a fine cookbook, too.
It saddens me that Americans aren’t even thinking twice about not incorporating meals into their day. There is so much happiness, joy and, yes, health benefits to sitting down to meals. We know societies that do sit down to meals have a healthier relationship with food and their friends and family. While there is a place for “snacking” cookbooks, I would sure hope that the majority of cookbooks still provide recipes for a sit-down meal.
My heart sinks reading this. I could talk about our cooking lifestyle and our good health (even at age 53 my husband has never been on prescription drugs). But, the bigger thing is sustaining a food culture. Eating together, delicious, real food that we put our heart into makes us feel good in every way, and it’s civilized. It’s a gift that we have as humans to give to each other and to participate in. There are many countries where people go hungry or the govt rations their food source. My whole lot in life is encouraging entire families to get together in the kitchen not just as the goal of producing a meal, but for the journey. Just returned from Italy where people are much much thinner and yet love food and eating together. Eating in isolation especially mindless snacking doesn’t lead to a life of contentment. I know that I witness mothers who hate cooking and claim that they can’t get their kids to sit at the table, but I also know those kids are missing a beautiful cultural experience.
You raise a lot of good points, Angela. It does make you wonder when people have family time, if not around the table. In my childhood it was around the television, but that doesn’t happen now either, as everyone can go off and watch whatever they like.
Well I can’t say I’m shocked by the statistics about people eating alone… Saddened, but not shocked. I think this change in our culture-the end of families sitting down to dinner together, discussing their day the good and the bad, is where society got off track, which is unfortunate. Hopefully, as you said, if people choose to eat 5 smaller meals a day, they will not do so alone but will do so as a family.
I don’t think so, Susan. People are eating in the car, on the street, and at their desks, in addition to eating alone at home. People in families eat different foods at different times from each other, so they don’t all sit down as one family at every meal.
This post is helpful in a larger way, Dianne, in that it points out how food writers, recipe developers, and publishers excel in creating content that’s not always useful to the average American eater. There’s the idea that we’re here to sell the dream, or maybe it’s the dream that sells.
And the idea of writing more snack-friendly recipes is just boring to me, I have to be honest. Are snackers even wanting recipes? Who knows. But I do know I have very little feel for what real people eat, snacking or not, alone or together. And that’s a problem.
Fascinating, Sara. It does seem like we are out of touch, a rarified and old-fashioned group of women who just want to create food and feed it to people. Do people aspire to be us, and that is why they buy cookbooks and magazines?
Don’t worry, regular cookbooks aren’t going away anytime soon. But I’m sure there will be an explosion in snack food cookbooks. The few that are out now are apparently ahead of their time.
What a compelling conversation. So much about the way we eat these days has more to do with time management, not necessarily desire. Although I suspect many would argue that point.
As a food writer and first time cookbook author-to-be, I hadn’t considered this proposition to change the “formula” to create a successful cookbook when I drafted my outline. However, to be fair, mine is a single subject cookbook and doesn’t follow the standard guidelines for breakfast, lunch, dinner, apps, dessert, etc. Although it could. I think there are plenty of those types of books already.
Interesting note on this same vein. A cookbook author asked me to review her book. A few hours ago I looked to see if she had a recipe for Linguine with Clams and she did. Problem is, I am cooking for one. Her recipe Serves 4 and calls for 4 dozen hard shell clams. I can do the math and cut the recipe to fit my needs, but will others? There was no direction in her recipe to do so. Most of the recipes in this particular book are Serves 4, Serves 6 or Serves 6 to 8 which is the norm.
I guess I’d sum up by saying when crafting an idea for a cookbook, it is more critical than ever to know your audience. Quick and easy seems to be the current trend.
That is a good point, Maureen, about time management. Surely that is a driving factor of snacking vs. cooking.
Re cookbooks, there are plenty of books about cooking for one, but otherwise, yes, these are the standard amounts because there is an assumption that we are cooking for a group. I suppose people cook for a group when they are entertaining, but from what I’ve read, fewer people entertain.
I just came back from Whole Foods were it occurred to me how many, “grab and go” meals were on the shelves. One thing to note about “grazing” or “snacking” is that “snacking” does not necessarily mean processed foods or for the sole purpose of eating poorly, it is about convenience (and sometimes interest in something new).
Now, more than ever, people of all walks have become more aware of the need to eat healthier as well as willing to eat more adventurously. The grocery stores, restaurants and food manufacturers are catering to that with great success.
I, personally, think it is odd that everyone’s evening does not revolve around the evening meal, but most people, I suppose, think I am odd because mine does. At least, there are more interesting choices and healthier choices for those that will not, or can not, take the time to cook for themselves. This is true because food has recently become “hip” and “trendy” and important to the younger generation (at least that is what I see around the Seattle area).
So, although it is sad that families are not eating together often enough, the good news is that people are getting really excited about new types and combinations of food than they had been 20 years ago and are supporting the restaurants and markets that provide them.
Yes good point. As I was saying to Elizabeth earlier, snacks can be fruits and vegetables — not always processed food. I was just in a store with little snack packs of sliced meat and cheese, perfect for a airplane ride, and little snack packs of hummus and crackers.
Most people are not going to cook and bake these things, which leads us to the question of what do we put in cookbooks then, for people to make?
Now that’s the million dollar question!
Another side of the snack craze can be found in the baby food aisle. Squeeze bottles are replacing jars of baby food. Yes, feeding children is a messy business but there are so many tactile lessons to be learned. Sitting strapped in a car seat squeezing food into one’s mouth is just wrong.
Oh that does sound gross! I bet someone will come out with a squeeze bottle cookbook next. You heard it here first.
I’m running into this problem with my 3yo and yet grandparents tell that it’s okay since she’s young and I don’t see it that way!
Apparently everyone snacks, so it’s not just your three-year old.