How the modern American family eats
A video-ethnographic study
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24214847 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Maria Maria Castillo (Leadership, Policy, and Organizations, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University), Catherine Duggan (0000-0001-7369-4021, Leadership, Policy, and Organizations, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University), Joanne W Golann (0000-0001-9337-4674, Leadership, Policy, and Organizations, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-22 |
| Publication date | 2026-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Food and Foodways (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0740-9710 • E-ISSN: 1542-3484 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/07409710.2026.2736397 |
| OpenAlex | W7215032317 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 39 |
The traditional family meal is a powerful cultural symbol of family connectedness and socialization, but it has become increasingly difficult to maintain. In this article, we expand on the concept of the fragmented meal (Ochs et al. Citation2010) to conceptualize modern family eating patterns. Deviating from traditional family mealtime norms, families in our study followed unstructured and, in some ways, unpredictable eating patterns. We frequently observed fluctuations in the timing of meals, types of food, mealtime setting, and mealtime participants. Our study is innovative in drawing from video data of 21 racially and socioeconomically diverse families with young children inside their homes over a one-week period. Because we video-recorded families for the full day, we can capture the dynamics of meals and everyday eating patterns that might escape studies that have focused on formal mealtimes.
dietary habits · family connectedness · family meals · meal timing · Socialization · video ethnography · young children · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Food, Nutrition, and Cultural Practices · Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
Unequal Childhoods
Understanding the Identities of Mixed-Race College Students Through a Developmental Ecology Lens
Ritual in Family Living
Everyone would be around the table”
An ecological systems approach to family narratives
Family meals then and now
Continued Barriers Affecting Hispanic Families’ Dietary Patterns
The cultural structuring of mealtime socialization
Reflection
Introduction
Coached for the Classroom
Collecting Ethnographic Video Data for Policy Research
The balancing act
Power at the Table
When We Do Sit Down Together
Sharing Big Video Data
Family Displays and Personal Lives
Working with Immigrant Children and Their Families
Materiality and family consumption
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |