A lot of research and discussion has been devoted to how people eat in groups. We already know that people
eat about 30% more when dining with friends and that
teen girls have a reduced incidence of eating disorders when they participate in family dinners and that
we eat more in "healthy" restaurants, among other interesting food-as-a-social-construct tidbits. But a new book (which I haven't read but really want to, thanks NPR!),
What We Eat When We Eat Alone, finds authors Deborah Madison and Patrick McFarlan on a quest to discover how people choose to eat if left entirely to their own devices.
The question du jour - what do I eat when I eat alone? - is one I have not given much thought to. This is probably because I honestly cannot remember the last time I ate alone. Having wee ones at home 24/7 precludes any semblance of normal dining, much less solitary dining. In fact, these days I'd settle for a meal where nobody regurgitates their food, throws silverware or insults my cooking while invoking their favorite potty word.
The last time I was alone at all, when I accompanied my husband sans children on a business trip, I was too busy relishing the fact I got to lounge around on a pillow-top mattress and watch all the MTV I could guiltily enjoy (what?) to worry about eating. I had a bag of trail mix, a packet of turkey jerky, instant oatmeal that I could make with the coffee maker, and a mint chocolate Luna bar to tide me over during the days until dinnertime when we'd go out with his coworkers to some crazy expensive restaurant and eat a lot of yummy food. Which brings me back, again, to the fact that I haven't eaten alone years.
Still trying to answer the question, I went way back in time to my pre-marriage college years. And you know what? Between living with 3-5 other girls (don't ask), dating and coworkers I don't think I ever ate alone even then! How weird is it to be a grown woman of 31 and to have never had a memorable meal alone? Thinking back on it, I came to an epiphany of sorts - I don't like to eat alone. If I am alone, I don't eat. I don't "forget" per se, like some people claim to do, but I'll put off eating until I can share a meal with others. I guess I've always been a social eater.
So my long-winded answer to what I eat when I'm alone is that I don't eat meals alone. I'll snack - or not - until the rest of the pack shows up dragging the wooly mammoth behind them. But someday all my kids will be in school (I know, I can't imagine it either) and ostensibly I will have at least one meal a day all by my lonesome. Will I make lunch dates with friends? Call my sister and eat on the phone with her? (Yes, we do that.) Or will I finally learn to enjoy the pleasure of solitary dining?
All of which makes me wonder what
you eat when you eat alone. Do you cook yourself a beautifully crafted, nutritionally balanced meal eaten off real china at the table? Lean Cuisine in front of the TV? Or do you just kinda snack like me?
Comments (57)
i dunno...i'm just commenting cos i'm in love with that picture! haha
i'm a huge snacker when i eat alone. snacking while i watch tv :)
i eat foods that ar far more nourishing and more diet friendly alone, no bf, friends or company to giggle and scoff and my home made turkey and zuchinni burgers with steam broccoli. I was aone tonight and that was what i ate. i like eating alone, esp dinner, a few times a week as unfortunately im not lucky enough to have ppl around me who are supportive of my lifestyle. In order to have any sort of balance i have to have some uber healthy alone meals! i also eat 5 times a day which is a bit socially rejected.
@aalyceh@xanga - that's why i like eating alone. i can eat the healthiest---umm most bizarre---meals without getting teased or made feeling guilty that i didn't make something others would eat. i love having the freedom to experiment in the kitchen and eat whatever i want!
Chocolate frosting out of the can with my fingers. Hey, fingers are nature's spoons!
I eat the whole pizza if I'm alone. Ha.
Same!
I tend to eat crappy when alone. It's usually whatever I can find in the fridge. There are some that would go hungry because of it. I always prefer eating with someone. Breakfast doesn't count.
if im by myself im usually alone and bored at home so i dont mind taking more time to prepare a meal. those are the meals that usually end up the best too. when im around people i generally make something quicker.
I eat the same kind of stuff regardless of who I am around.
Pasta, pasta, pasta all the way.
Cereal. I can't live without it! When I'm alone, I scoff it like a pig.
i eat basically the same things when i'm alone. it's how i eat it that's different.
I eat really healthy when I'm alone, because after 7 years of working in the restaurant industry, I know that portion sizes are too large & almost everything is made with butter/grease. So I have to eat well when I can to balance out the food I eat at work or when I go out with friends. Being a small girl, I already get enough crap for not having extra meat on my bones, when I'm perfectly healthy. I would just get more crap if I ate a bed of lettuce in front of my friends.
I almost always eat alone because I live by myself, and will for the rest of my university education. I don't eat significantly different food, but I tend to eat slightly healthier and cook simpler meals than when I eat with someone else. Part of that is because I naturally eat healthy food but other people tend to get me off-track, and part of me just thinks that dirtying 4 pots just for one meal is a little silly.
@aalyceh@xanga - I do that too! I like making my own energy bars and other healthy stuff that most people just buy. My boyfriend is pretty open to trying stuff, but he tends to buy crappier food than I do and leave it at my place...and if it's there, I eat it.
I try to make something good and make a LOT of it. I pig out when I'm eating alone.
I eat pretty much the same whether I'm alone or not. College budget lends itself to pasta dinners, frozen chichen nuggets or fish sticks, and big bags of frozen mixed veggies. Between my SO and I we also go through at least two gallons of milk a week on drinks and cereal.
I eat whatever I want, whenever. I don't worry about my weight. I've tried to gain weight, but I just can't.
instant noodles
I tend to just snack, but sometimes I'll eat cereal. Usually if I have a meal alone it'll be chicken, chips or baked potato.
I rarely prepare an actual meal for myself alone. I usually eat packets of stuff - a packet of bread rolls, or a packet of lollies, or a packet of fish fingers, or a packet of salad etc. . . Shit really. I would never eat like that with company. It's just weird.
When I'm alone and there's junk I'll eat it all. :l Don't leave me alone with icecream, ever!
I'll eat more fast food because those are the only places I'll sit and eat by myself. I won't go to a dine-in place to eat by myself.
I never eat alone...so I wouldn't know.