Meals and table behaviors: a study from urban consumers

Abstract

The aim of this study is to understand and analyze the eating habits and behaviors related to the structure of daily meals of urban consumers. The quantitative / qualitative methodology was built from a field research conducted with 43 consumers and pre-selected consumers according to their socioeconomic profile and place of residence, in Pato Branco/PR. The research instrument was a questionnaire, based on multiple choice questions, applied individually at each participant's home. A field observation diary was also used, recording the researcher's impressions from speeches and statements by the interlocutors. The results indicate that meals around the table symbolically represent an important practice as a family space, conversations, information exchange and dialogues that also serve as a form of sociability of the home group. In addition, shedding light on the structure of contemporary meals has made it possible to understand that the transformations of eating resulting from food modernity - evidenced by a movement of greater homogenization and individualization of food - are not limited solely to the reproduction of eating conditions in hegemonic contexts and agro-industrial interests.