Places Of Consumption

A discussion of places of consumption should begin where food has been consumed since the beginning of humankind, in the home. In the twenty-first century in most countries the home remains the primary location for eating. That is not to say that the nature of the food eaten in the home has remained constant or that the preparation of the food has not changed. Even the formality and regularity of dining in the home was altered in the twentieth century.
During the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century in the United States, dining at home was usually regular (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and occurred at the kitchen table or in the dining room. Food was often seasonal. The heaviest meal (dinner) was at noon or, if the breadwinner worked outside the home, in the evening. If the lighter meal occurred at night, it was called supper. The fare did not include a great deal of variety.
The improvement in the means of transporting food and people as well as the advancements in preservation markedly increased the places of consumption and the types of food consumed in much of the world. With modern transportation and refrigeration in mind, this overview examines places where people eat, starting with the contemporary home, moving to the world of work, touching upon the varying modes of travel and places where people play, and concluding with the increasingly vast array of dining-out possibilities.
The Home
The sit-down meal three times a day at set times is disappearing. Although such mealtimes happen, they are becoming a rarity in technologically advanced societies, where mothers and fathers work and children come and go more freely. The family eats when there is time and often not together. Dress is casual. People eat at the kitchen counter, in a breakfast nook, in front of a television, in bed, on the porch, on a patio, on a lanai,