دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی مصرف کنندگان جوان در رستوران فست فود: تکنولوژی، اسباب بازی و زمان دورهم بودن خانواده - امرالد 2018

Introduction

Restaurant meals, once an occasional family treat, now represent a significant amount of the daily nutrients children consume. The amount of food eaten by families, away from home, has been increasing for over 40 years (USDA, 2016). Food-at-Home refers to total grocery expenditures for food prepared by the consumer in their home, while Food-Away- from-Home (FAFH) includes all meals at fast food and full service restaurants, take-out, delivery, concession stands, buffets, cafeterias, and vending machines (USDL, 2015). In American households, 50% of the total food budget goes to FAFH (USDA, 2016), and over one third of American children consume fast food on any given day (Castro et al., 2016). This growing trend is not unique to US households. In Canadian households, 29% of the total food budget is spent on FAFH (Statistics Canada, 2015), in the United Kingdom it is 28% of the total food budget (Office for National Statistics, 2016) and in Australia, FAFH is 27% of the total food budget (Australia Bureau of Statistics, 2006).

Conclusions

The study investigated the behaviours of families in fast food restaurants, both their ordering and inrestaurant dining experience. Twelve years ago, Brembeck (2005) suggested that fast food meals provide an opportunity for parents to have a ‘proper’ family meal with their children. Indeed, fast food restaurants appear to have taken on a ‘third place’ role for families, offering not only fast, and convenient dining, but also a public space in which to gather and spend time. Elements of how the observed families dined together may illustrate common behaviours in a sizeable proportion of today’s family meals. The presence of technoference for personal entertainment had not yet become mainstream during the time that Brembeck studied families in fast food restaurants. The rise of technology has led to a shift in dining practices, such as the intrusion of technology during the meal. With food consumed away from home on the rise, understanding how families dine outside of the home will continue to grow in importance, especially in terms of technology, toys and family time.