The Convenience of Food
With so much attention on ultra-processed foods (UPF) in the media, it’s easy to point the finger at the major food manufacturers for fuelling the obesity crisis. However, we need also to understand the societal shifts in driving up demand for drive-throughs.
The traditional protein-dense cooked breakfast has been replaced by quicker sugar-laden cereals and carbohydrate-heavy on-the-go options.
The demand for the main meal at lunchtime that diminished alongside the decline in industries such as coal and steel, which often operated round-the-clock schedules, with workers typically starting their shifts early in the morning. As a result, the working man would eat a cooked breakfast, which provided the energy and sustenance needed for a physically demanding day's work.
With the decline of manufacturing, there was a shift towards service-based and retail industries in the UK economy. Many workers transitioned to jobs in sectors such as hospitality, healthcare, and administration, which often had different working hours and mealtime patterns.
Convenience foods saved time in meal preparation, which was particularly appealing to women as they joined the workforce outside the home.
As more women joined the workforce, their role as chief cook and bottle washer was squeezed into less time. This led to a gradual transition away from the main meal being consumed in the middle of the day to the evening meal becoming the focal point of family dining.
The need for convenience became paramount as women balanced household responsibilities with their jobs. Convenience foods, such as canned goods, frozen meals, and processed snacks, became more readily available due to advances in food preservation and manufacturing techniques.
Its not just in the house that pre-prepared foods are featuring. The convenience food options have exploded outside the home as most workers turn to quick, on-the-go options. Globally, 8 out of 10 consumers use fast-food outlets and there's a rising trend for quick, informal meals and impulse snacks. In 2023, the bakery chain Greggs attracted 23 million shoppers in the UK.
8.7 million people in the United Kingdom consumed 'Ready Meals - Chilled Or Frozen (Excluding Pizzas)' in 2022.
While prepared meals may be an occasional choice for some, these meals featured in 90% of consumers diets in 2023 (Mintel Ready Meals and Ready-to-Cook Foods report – UK, 2023), with 29% of consumers surveyed eating ready meals at least once a week.
Additionally, the rise of fast food and takeout culture has altered perceptions of food and eating, leading to the loss of traditional culinary practices and communal dining experiences. Research has found that a fifth of people do not feel confident providing their households with nutritionally balanced meals on a daily basis and only 39% of consumers enjoy cooking and are confident in cooking a wide variety of dishes.
Convenience foods have robbed us of the enjoyment of eating experience
The juggle struggle continues today as we are told that it is progress to have convenience food. But the luxury of having the time to cook with the sensual experience of choosing the food fresh in the morning, the time to prepare it lovingly, soaking in the aromas as it cooks and evoking all the senses so that when you eat the meal it is more than just refuelling the body. Convenience foods have robbed us of enjoyment of cooking and eating.
