Publication
Title
Family meal traditions : comparing reported childhood food habits to current food habits among university students.
Author
Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate if reported childhood food habits predict the food habits of students at present. Questions addressed are: does the memory of childhood family meals promote commensality among students? Does the memory of (grand)parents cooking influence students cooking? And, is there still a gender difference in passing on everyday cooking skills? Using a cross-sectional survey, 104 students were asked about their current eating and cooking habits, and their eating habits and the cooking behaviour of their (grand)parents during their childhood. Results show that frequencies in reported childhood family meals predict frequencies of students commensality at present. The effects appear for breakfast and dinner, and stay within the same meal: recalled childhood family breakfasts predict current breakfast commensality, recalled childhood family dinners predict current dinner commensality. In terms of recalled cookery of (grand)parents and the use of family recipes a matrilineal dominance can be observed. Mothers are most influential, and maternal grandmothers outscore paternal grandmothers. Yet, fathers childhood cooking did not pass unnoticed either. They seem to influence male students cookery. Overall, in a life-stage of transgression students appear to maintain recalled childhood food rituals. Suggestions are discussed to further validate these results.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Appetite: the journal for research on intake, its control and its consequence. - London
Publication
London : 2013
ISSN
0195-6663
DOI
10.1016/J.APPET.2013.05.013
Volume/pages
69 (2013) , p. 64-70
ISI
000322606400009
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
First food, then morals: the impact of (new) media on the ongoing decline in commensality, and the consequences on the development and activation of moral attitudes and moral behaviour
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 28.05.2013
Last edited 09.10.2023
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