Dinner in NY

The term dinner refers to the main meal in a day. Consumption of food is an essential element of life as sleeping is for a human being. Most of the people who know the importance of eating habits care about the quality of food and nutrition. However, even if the food provides the necessary nutrition, that alone is not enough. The question is, what is a quality dinner? Having dinner is not just about eating food, but portrays many aspects of our lives.

A study in Public Health Nutrition which compiles data relating to American’s food-related time use over the past 30 years reveals some interesting trends: Eating as a primary activity declined in the past 30 years. On the other hand, eating as a secondary activity rose dramatically in the past 30 years. When we combine the primary and secondary eating time, we see that we’re spending an average of 25 or more minutes in total daily than we did 30 years ago. We now do almost 50 percent of our eating food consumption while concentrating on something else.

The spread of Internet, computers and cell phones in recent years has given people many methods of communication, and dinner has lost its original essence as an occasion to socialize with others. The changes in society, as well as the people who form them have lead to a shift in how we spend our dinner time.

However, I would like to make myself clear. I have no intent on saying that having dinner with a cell phone is bad and eating alone is sad. My idea of this project is to propose what dinner is to people, how different it can be for everyone, and present the diversity found in this everyday act. When you enjoy mealtimes, you’re more likely to eat better. Needless to say, how people enjoy the many aspects of our lives, including dinner time, depends solely on that person.
Let’s think what we can do to enhance the pleasure of the table.