title: Convenience on the menu? A typological conceptualization of family food expenditures and food-related time patterns.
abstract: One of the most fundamental, but also controversial, food trends of the past years is convenience food. This article investigates the underexplored relationship between the heterogeneity in (convenience) food consumption (a feature of a food culture's cuisine) and meal patterns (characteristics of a food culture's structure). This study hopes to illustrate that convenience food can be interpreted both as a means to maintain a food culture's structure and as a means to overturn it. Latent Class Cluster Analysis is performed using data from the HBS 2005 survey on families' food expenditures to conceptualize convenience-orientation and to examine the relationships with families' meal behaviors. Whereas outsourcing cooking is most prevalent among single-person households; two-or more-person households are most likely to buy unprocessed and natural foods and to spend most time cooking and eating in. A higher consumption of convenience food is also more likely to affect individuals' kitchen than table habits.
authors.affiliation: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Research Group TOR, Sociology Department, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: sarah.daniels@vub.ac.be.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Daniels
authors.affiliation: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Research Group TOR, Sociology Department, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ignace
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Glorieux
authors.affiliation: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Research Group TOR, Sociology Department, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Joeri
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Minnen
authors.affiliation: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Research Group TOR, Sociology Department, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: T P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: van Tienoven
authors.affiliation: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Research Group TOR, Sociology Department, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Djiwo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Weenas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003132:Commerce; D003296:Cooking; D004032:Diet / Q000191:economics; D005191:Family Characteristics; D057140:Fast Foods; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005518:Food Preferences; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D062407:Meals; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Convenience foods; Household food consumption typology; Latent Class Cluster Analysis; Meal preparation and consumption habits; Time- and Household Budget data