Eating Out: Social Differentitaion, Consumption and Pleasure

Alan Warde & Lydia Martens Hardcover - 258 pages Cambridge University Press,; ISBN: 0521590442 Price: £45.00 March 2000 Buy the book

Eating Out is a fascinating study of the consumption of food outside the home, based on extensive original research carried out in England in the 1990s. Reflecting the explosion of interest in food, ranging from food scares to the national obsession with celebrity chefs, the practice of eating out has increased dramatically over recent years. Through surveys and intensive interviews, the authors have collected a wealth of information into people¿s attitudes towards, and expectations of, eating out as a form of entertainment and an expression of taste and status. Amongst other topics they examine social inequalities in access to eating out, social distinction, interactions between customers and staff, and the economic and social implications of the practice. Eating Out will be a valuable resource to academics, advanced students and practitioners in the sociology of consumption, cultural studies, social anthropology, tourism and hospitality, home economics, marketing, and the general reader.

Contents

Acknowledgements;
List of figures;
List of tables;
List of boxes;
1. The study and its rationale;

Part I. Modes of Provision:
2. The development of the habit of eating out in the UK;
3. The meanings of eating out;

Part II. Access:
4. Patterns of eating out;
5. Domestic organisation, family meals and eating out;

Part III. Delivery:
6. Personal service in public and private places;
7. Last suppers;

Part IV. Enjoyment: The Attractions of Eating Out:
8. Eating out and its gratifications;
9. The enjoyment of meal events;

Part V. Conclusion:
10. Eating out and the theories of consumption;

Methodological appendix: data collection and analysis;
References.

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