Americans Top List For Eating @ Restaurants, On the Run, Alone, As Well As Getting Takeout.

After surveys found Americans prone to nesting and comfort tendencies after September 11, many magazines popularized the notion that slow-food, the Crock-Pot, and fondue parties were all the rage again in the U.S. In reality, we’re eating in our cars more than by candlelight, according to Ipsos World Monitor, a global reporting service owned by Ipsos, the worldwide market and public opinion research firm. The latest survey, conducted in May and June 2003, compared eating habits in ten countries: the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, the Ukraine, the U.K., Romania, Russia, and the U.S.

Barely half (54%) of Americans are still sitting down to the table with their family “most days”, which trails far behind the 88% of Italians who do so this frequently (the survey average is 62%). Of the surveyed nationalities, Americans are also the most likely to eat at restaurants, the most likely to get take-out food, and the most likely to eat alone often (“every day” or “most days”).

“As much as we might like watching Emeril or Nigella on TV, many of us are on intimate terms with the burger, the Styrofoam container, and the drive-thru speaker-phone”, observed Gus Schattenberg, a vice president in the company’s global division. “Very few of us seem to have the time or inclination to put together a family sit-down dinner very often, even if we might want to.”

Most Americans are still eating three times a day but where, when, and whom with no longer follows tradition. Frequently Americans are letting someone else do the cooking: one-third of Americans (32%) eat at restaurants at least a few days a week and a further 29% of Americans do so once a week. Italians are the next-most likely (18%) to eat at restaurants at least a few days a week, then the Czechs (12%). Meanwhile, more than half of the respondents in Hungary, Poland, Romania, urban Russia, and the Ukraine said they never eat at restaurants—compared to only 5% of Americans.

Not surprisingly, given the busy schedules of most Americans, the survey revealed that Americans are big on take-out: one-third (33%) reported picking up lunch or dinner at least a few days a week, and nearly another third (27%) get take-out food bought from a restaurant, deli, or food-stand once a week. Except for Britons—13% of whom get take-out at least a few days a week and 24% once a week—Americans are more than twice as likely to get take-out as people in the other countries surveyed. Less than 10% of Germans, Hungarians, and Ukrainians eat take-out food once a week or more.

Moreover, a lot of the food Americans eat is eaten on the run: at least 1 in 5 eat on their way to somewhere else at least a few days a week, a trend that is especially pronounced among men and younger adults. Almost half (46%) of Americans eat a meal alone frequently (at least most days), of which a good proportion are doing so every day, making them the most likely surveyed nationality to be eating alone frequently.