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How we eat what we eat:
A portrait of meal consumption in Portugal
Food provides us with energy and nutrients, but also with highly hedonic and symbolic experiences. Eating habits have key social, cultural and economic functions for individuals and communities.
Most studies about eating behaviour in Portugal focus on the types of foods eaten and who eats them, ignoring important factors associated with the physical, social, economic and historical context of diets. This kind of approach often ends up neglecting many decisions and actions that influence and frame food intake. In other words, the ends are scrutinised while the means are overlooked.
But the reality is that nearly half of the leisure time in Portugal is spent at the dining table, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication from the Oxford University. This underscores the importance of meals in the lives of the Portuguese as well as the need to better understand the context in which their food consumption takes place.
The study “How we eat what eat: A portrait of meal consumption in Portugal in the twenty-first century” was carried out by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the Catholic University of Portugal (CATÓLICA-LISBON School of Business & Economics) and the University of Porto (Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences and Institute of Public Health) for the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation. This study analysed the food consumption habits of the Portuguese, and their evolution over the last two decades, from the perspective of the consumption of meals rather than individual foods or food groups. The results underscore the need to change the way we understand our eating habits and our diets.
“Humans, as opposed to other animals, generally do not eat single foods, in natura and erratically, but rather eat several foods at once, compounded into cooked meals that take place at more or less fixed times each day. Meals give foods context and meaning while creating food-related routines and lifestyles. The sociological concept of food practices entails not only our specific eating habits but also the broader ways in which we plan, prepare and serve foods in different occasions and settings. Over time, these practices end up establishing our eating patterns, i.e., the types of meals – large or small – that we have, at what part of the day, where, with whom, how they are prepared and with what. Consequently, they end up determining much of our diet. In this study, we demonstrate that food practices have a strong impact on the diet quality and health status of the Portuguese population. They should therefore be taken more into account when analysing the prevalence and evolution of obesity and chronic diseases in our country, and certainly when developing public health policies to prevent such illnesses”, says Professor Ana Isabel Costa, the coordinator of the study:
"The meal is the temporal, physical, functional, social, cultural and symbolic context that frames most of the stages and facets of human food consumption: from planning where, when, what and with whom we are going to eat - through the processes of choosing, acquiring, storing and cooking the food to be consumed, and preparing and presenting dishes to diners - to eating the meal itself, disposing of, or conserving and reusing leftovers, and, finally, cleaning and organising utensils and spaces of storage, cooking and eating."
Trivial and yet complex, the meal is the cultural institution that regulates our food consumption as well as all of the decisions and actions associated with it, ending up having a great impact in several aspects of our lives beyond diet and health. In this respect, the meal, both as an institution and as a practice, is often the vehicle or the result of the thinking and actions of various economic agents - families, companies, markets and governments - without these agents even realizing it. This is also why it is important to study it and possibly ill-advised to neglect it.
In turn, the meal is the product of another profoundly human cultural institution, that of home cooking, and the actors involved in it, namely families.
Despite its high recurrency, relevance and ubiquity, the act of cooking and the nature of those who carry it out at home remain essentially private and inscrutable phenomena, as are the family meals they produce, server and eat. Perhaps this is why they are rarely researched.
This study shows that home cooking activities and those who carry them out daily in fact shape our food choices and our diets to a large extent. In many cases, however, they do so indirectly, by being the reference against which we evaluate the alternatives we select when we do not have the ability, the opportunity or the motivation to consumer meals made at home, including by ourselves. Last but not least, this study also demonstrates that domestic food practices paint a very accurate portrait of the complex associations between gender, labour, wealth and social class that characterize our society.
WOMEN STILL AT THE FOREFRONT OF DOMESTIC LABOUR
An aspect worthy of particular attention in the study is the prevailing gender gap in meal preparation. Feeding the family remains a woman’s job in Portugal. This reflects deep-seated gender roles in the Portuguese society and poses additional challenges to women in managing their time and reconciling the multiple chores of everyday life. This study, as well as other international and national studies, shows that women, on average, dedicate significantly more time to cooking than men, even when both are employed. This unequal division of domestic responsibilities not only impacts family dynamics, but also imposes an additional burden on women, which is often played down. Gender issues simply cannot be ignored or ruled out of the study of food consumption. Moreover, it is vital to acknowledge that policies promoting healthy diets must not do so at the expense of women’s emancipation. Rather, they should become yet another means of fostering gender equality in the performance of household chores and valuing the time spent in unpaid care and domestic labour.
WORK DETERMINES HOW WE EAT
Meal consumption patterns are largely determined by employment. The study analyses how work shapes the eating habits of the Portuguese, considering the frequency of preparing and eating meals at home during the week and at the weekend, as well as the factors that motivate home cooking. Different segments of the population emerge, holding distinct patterns of meal preparation and consumption according to their professional and socio-economic status: the emancipated gregarious, the make do homemakers, the diligent professionals and the disengaged students.
Findings reveal that although most of Portuguese working-age individuals regularly eat meals at home, there are still sizeable segments of this population for whom this practice is less common, such as the emancipated gregarious and the disengaged students. These segments stand out due to their low consumption of homecooked meals during the week and, to a lesser extent, also during the weekend. Conversely, make do homemakers and diligent professionals exhibit significant engagement with cooking and consuming meals at home, with dinner being the meal most frequently prepared and eaten in this context.
The study also shows that the prevalence of eating meals at home is linked with factors like time spent at home, motivation to cook and perceived responsibility for the family’s well-being. Overall, findings demonstrate that the eating habits of the Portuguese are strongly influenced by their employment status, use of time and cultural values associated with home cooking. But while some internalize the practice of cooking and eating meals at home as an obligation or a necessity, others see eating out as a more convenient alternative, in this way reflecting economic, social and cultural differences in the way eating is socially organized.
INCOME INFLUENCES OUR DIET
The socioeconomic status of families is another key determinant of their meal consumption behaviour. Income has a direct impact on access to safe and sufficient food, as well as on one’s ability to plan and prepare balanced meals and adopt healthier eating habits. Low income is associated with the consumption of more affordable and often less nutritious foods, contributing to a cycle of nutritional and health vulnerability. On the other hand, families with higher incomes tend to have the resources to invest in fresh produce and homemade preparations, which can promote healthier eating patterns. Such socio-economic effects make it imperative that studies on eating behaviour explore existing income disparities. Only then can they provide data to adequately support public policies aimed at reducing inequalities and promoting food security across all population groups. According to the coordinator of the study:
"Healthy eating requires having enough time for planning and cooking meals, and it requires disposable income - both of which depend on employment. It is important to understand how to better balance the distribution of unpaid domestic tasks across household members, to figure out the kind of incentives need to be put in place."
MORE PEOPLE EAT OUT IN PORTUGAL THAN IN OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
In Portugal, food consumption away from home has grown significantly since 2008, except during periods of economic crisis (2010-2013) and the 2020 pandemic, when this expenditure fell sharply. On the other hand, food consumption at home increased during these times.
According to INE data, between 2015-2016, the Portuguese spent 8.1 per cent of their Average Total Annual Expenditure on food away from home, compared to 5.0 per cent in Belgium. As for total food expenditure, this figure was 35.1 per cent in Portugal compared to 30.7 per cent in the UK. Before the pandemic (2018-2019), catering services accounted for more than 10 per cent of private consumption in Portugal, while the European average was just over 7 per cent.
The analysis shows that spending on food at home increases with age, especially after the age of 64. On the other hand, spending in restaurants has decreased in female-headed households, a trend also seen in the US.
MADE OUTSIDE, EATEN IN
Food consumption habits in Portugal reflect a growing preference for away-from-home food, with two thirds of the meals consumed in our country resulting from production or preparation outside the home.
Although the consumption of meals prepared outside the home increases with household income, the preference for these meals is common to all income strata.
The study reveals that breakfast and afternoon snacks are the meals that the Portuguese most often buy or consume away from home, while dinner is the meal most often eaten at home. On the other hand, more than half of the meals eaten at lunchtime are produced outside the home, either by the food industry or foodservice, including restaurants and catering activities.
The study also shows that Portuguese households with a higher income tend to resort more to restaurants, while those with a lower income are more likely to eat homecooked meals, albeit more often prepared by family or friend than by themselves. This illustrates the impact of income level on the food choices of Portuguese families.
Altogether, these findings show that food consumption in Portugal is strongly conditioned by economic and social factors, reflecting distinct eating patterns in different population groups.
HOW WE EAT CONTRIBUTES TO HEALTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
An important part of the study is dedicated to the associations between the meal preparation and consumption habits of the Portuguese and their health status. Results reveal that factors such as the place of consumption, the type of meal and the time spent preparing it significantly influence the quality of the diet and the nutritional status of the population. In addition, variables such as income, gender and family composition play an important role in the way the Portuguese eat.
The study shows that a high consumption of meals prepared away from home or at home by others can move Portuguese adults’ diet away from Mediterranean dietary standards. Meanwhile, preparing and eating meals at home increases adherence to these standards. Nevertheless, the impact of the location and origin of meals varies according to age and level of physical activity.
Comparing Portugal with other countries such as Belgium, the United Kingdom and the United States, it can be seen that cooking at home is often associated with a more balanced diet. However, the time spent cooking meals can have implications for the Body Mass Index (BMI), with longer times spend on cooking being sometimes linked to a higher prevalence of obesity.
Another relevant finding of the study is the impact of income on diet through people’s preferences for where meals are prepared and consumed. For instance, the segment of Portuguese adults with a greater preference for consuming meals prepared away from home exhibits a lower adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern, but also less often includes obese or low-income individuals. Meanwhile, the segment of those who mainly prepare and eat meals at home contains more individuals with a higher body mass index and low income.
Importantly, the study highlights the challenges associated to the study of eating patterns, diet and health in Portugal. The irregularity in collecting data on food consumption and limited access to surveys on eating habits makes it difficult to carry out more in-depth analyses and formulate effective public health policies. Comparison with countries that have more accessible data reinforces the need for a more structured and continuous approach to monitoring the eating habits of the Portuguese population.
The analysis of eating habits is also an indispensable tool for assessing whether citizens' practices are in line with international commitments and for identifying areas where more effective intervention can be promoted, oriented towards well-being and sustainability, as defined by the United Nations, within the global framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 2 - Zero Hunger and Sustainable Agriculture - and SDG 3 - Health and Well-being.
The United Nations, in collaboration with bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has emphasized the need for an integrated approach to healthy eating. The study here showcased contributes to that goal by revealing how social, family, work and economic characteristics impact on the meals we eat, both in terms of content and form, allowing for a comparison between international targets and the national reality.
PROGRESS DEMANDS KNOWLEDGE
This study about the eating habits of the Portuguese reveals that, although most meals are eaten at home, cooking and out-of-home consumption have a significant impact on diet, particularly in the case of breakfast and teatime. The origin of meals influences the quality of diets, with meals taken in school and workplace canteens being more beneficial than those eaten in restaurants.
Socio-economic factors such as income and education determine food consumption patterns: lower-income families and those living in rural areas consume more meals at home, while individuals with higher incomes and education are more likely to eat out. The relationship between food expenditure and away-from-home food consumption varies with macroeconomic cycles and is lower in times of crisis.
The prevalence of home cooking reflects engrained inequalities in gender roles and social status. Women, especially those without paid employment, assume most of the responsibility for meal preparation. Young adults with higher incomes, on the other hand, dedicate less time to cooking, valuing the convenience and socializing benefits of eating out.
Counter-intuitively, perhaps, home cooking is not directly associated with better weight management, with obesity being more prevalent among those who prepare and eat meals at home more frequently. Factors such as income, food and health literacy, time available and access to healthy choices influence this relationship. For many Portuguese families, balancing work, education and other leisure activities is a constant challenge. Research on their food consumption habits must therefore consider not only individual preferences and habits, but also the temporal and organizational structures that influence daily decisions. This analysis makes it possible to identify barriers and potential interventions that can facilitate the adoption of healthier eating practices, even in contexts of limited time.
The study reinforces the need to deepen the analysis of different behaviours related to food and eating, distinguishing consumption patterns between weekdays and weekends, and considering gender and socioeconomic status differences in the relationship with food and health.
Studies investigating food consumption are a fundamental tool for developing public policies. The findings produced by studies of “how we eat what we eat”, such as this one, enable governments and policymakers to identify trends, challenges and most of all opportunities to improve many aspects of the lives of the Portuguese. They help formulate strategies that promote food literacy, improve access to quality food, strengthen the infrastructure that supports the production and distribution of healthy food and promote flexible working hours that allow for a better work-life balance, to name a few. On this basis, it is possible to promote not only health, but also social justice and sustainable development, strengthening the country’s commitment to sustainability, equity and the health of its citizens, aligning national actions with global challenges.
It should finally be noted that studies researching food consumption behaviour are a fundamental tool for policy makers. Conducting national surveys on time use, food expenditure and food consumption in a regular fashion is essential. Countries such as Belgium, the UK and the US, where the results of these studies are publicly available, are leading the way in research about food practices and their effects on people's lives, the economy or health. In Portugal, the irregularity with which nationwide surveys are carried out and the lack of public access to their results limit research in this area. There is thus the urgent need to change this situation to better support the advance of science and the formulation of policy.
"The scarcity of data and studies about food consumption in Portugal is truly astonishing. If we are not aware of the facts about our diets and do not acknowledge them, we cannot possibly start to understand the reality and adjust individual decisions and general policies to it."
Ana Isabel Costa, coordinator of the study
METHODOLOGICAL NOTE
The study How we eat what we eat: A portrait of meal consumption in Portugal applied a socio-ecological approach to food consumption behaviour in the analysis of multiple sets of data, both primary and secondary, relating to the planning, cooking, consumption and disposal of meals by the Portuguese population, and how these practices evolved between 2000 and 2020. Findings were also compared with those obtained in other Western countries over the same period - namely Belgium, the United Kingdom and the United States - so that they could be interpreted from an international perspective.
Primary data
National Food and Physical Activity Survey
MAKE DO: Survey of the domestic food practices of the working-age population
Secondary data
National Time Use Survey
https://www.cesis.org/pt/area-actividade/
International Time Use Survey data
https://ourworldindata.org/time-use-living-conditions
Portuguese National Accounts
https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain
EU National Accounts database
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/national-accounts/database
Household Budget Survey in Portugal
https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?
Household Budget Surveys in the EU
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/household-budget-surveys
Living Costs and Food Survey in the UK
Trivial and yet complex, the meal is the cultural institution that regulates our diet as well as all of the decisions and behaviours associated with it. But what are the meal preparation and consumption habits of the Portuguese today? How have they evolved in recent decades? How do they compare to other countries? In what way do they impact their diet, health, wealth and food security? Based on the study we carried out for the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation between 2020 and 2023, entitled How we eat what we eat: A portrait of meal consumption in Portugal, we answer these and other questions about Portuguese eating habits today and their evolution over the last few decades.
WOMEN DO MOST OF THE MEAL PREPARATION IN PORTUGAL
According to data from the latest National Time Use Survey, around three quarters of Portuguese women devote one or more hours a day to cooking meals at home, compared to less than a quarter of men, with women spending on average 18 minutes more per day on this unpaid care activity than men. Moreover, almost two thirds of women do not share or delegate home cooking to other household or family members. Meanwhile, the women who do share this task with their mother or daughter(s) are almost as many as those who share it with their spouse or partner. Considering the whole of household care tasks, including meal preparation, it can be concluded that women carry out more 12.6 hours of unpaid work per week than men. This difference increases among the Portuguese labour force, with working women having less time for personal care and leisure than their male counterparts.
The study How we eat what we eat: A portrait of meal consumption in Portugal sought to deepen knowledge about gender differences and their impact on domestic food practices by carrying out a survey of a stratified sample of the Portuguese working-age population. The analysis of answers resulted in the identification of four segments of the population with very distinct meal preparation and consumption patterns: the emancipated gregarious, the make-do homemakers, the diligent professionals and the disengaged students.
The emancipated gregarious and the disengaged students comprise the share of the working-age population with the least involvement in cooking meals at home. They are younger, come more often from households with high income and attribute less value to food consumption at home than the remainder. In contrast, the make-do homemakers and the diligent professionals come more often from older age strata and are more involved in cooking meals at home. In spite of this, the make-do homemakers are more willing and pleased to cook both lunch and dinner at home daily than the diligent professionals, largely because they are more often not employed and belong to a low- or moderate-income household. Meanwhile, the need to combine a career with caring for the family leads the diligent professionals to cook household meals mostly out of a sense of duty and feelings of responsibility, especially during the week.
"Cooking enjoyment, good culinary skills and self-confidence in one’s ability and autonomy to cook are the psychological factors that promote home cooking among the Portuguese working-age population the most. A heightened sense of duty and responsibility towards the health and well-being of the household is likewise an important driver of meal preparation at home. On the other hand, the motives that inhibit individuals from cooking meals at home more regularly are valuing the opportunities for socialising and conviviality offered by eating out and wanting to spend leisure time out of the house."
Ana Isabel Costa, coordinator of the study
This study made it possible to identify, for the first time, the main demographic and socio-economic factors that determine the level of engagement with cooking household meals and the time invested in this activity by Portuguese women and men. Its results also revealed the motivations associated with greater or lesser involvement in other domestic food practices. Finally, it is important to emphasise the prevalence of strong social norms that place the responsibility for the family's diet, health and well-being on women and that, to a large extent, continue to exempt men from this burden.
O TRABALHO INFLUENCIA AS NOSSAS REFEIÇÕES
The study How we eat what we eat: A portrait of meal consumption in Portugal sought to deepen knowledge about the impact of labour on domestic food practices by carrying out a survey of a stratified sample of the Portuguese working-age population. The analysis of answers resulted in the identification of four segments of the population with very distinct meal preparation and consumption patterns: the emancipated gregarious, the disengaged students, the make-do homemakers and the diligent professionals.
Emancipated gregarious and disengaged students are younger and more often members of households with medium to high income than the remainder. On the other hand, diligent professionals are more frequently employed and belong to wealthier households than make-do homemakers. The differences lead to very different meal consumption habits. For instance, while the make-do homemakers and the diligent professionals eat at least one meal at home every day, this may not be the case in the other two segments, particularly on weekends.
The meal most frequently consumed at home by working-age Portuguese during the week, especially make-do homemakers and diligent professionals, is dinner. Lunch and tea at home, on the other hand, are much more prevalent among make-do homemakers and emancipated gregarious than the remainder. Diligent professionals, in particular, seldom eat these meals at home. Together with disengaged students, they are also those who least often eat breakfast at home during the week.
Moreover, it is important to note that there are significant differences in the prevalence of eating dinner at home during the week - 90.0 per cent of emancipated gregarious and 88.6 per cent of disengaged students, compared to 95.9 per cent of make-do homemakers and 98.1per cent of diligent professionals - and at the weekend - 73.2 per cent of emancipated gregarious and 72.7 per cent of disengaged students, compared to 86.8 per cent of diligent professionals and 88.8 per cent of make-do homemakers.
The consumption of lunch and dinner at home, both during the week and at the weekend, occurs more often among make-do homemakers than the remainder, being coherent with their greater involvement with home cooking and number of hours spent at home daily. This segment also exhibits the highest proportions of unemployed or inactive people and members of lower income households, displaying at the same time greater intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy in cooking meals at home than other segments.
The diligent professionals, on the other hand, present the lowest shares of consumption of breakfast, lunch and tea at home during the week, in line with their higher engagement in the labour market and consequent reduction in the time spent at home during the day. Still, the highest share of consumption of dinner at home during the week is observed in this segment. This behaviour reflects a greater engagement in cooking this meal, which is essentially the result of a strong sense of duty and responsibility for ensuring the household's dinner on a daily basis. This motivation also regulates, to a certain extent, the preparation and consumption of home-cooked meals at the weekend, the prevalence of which is also higher among diligent professionals than in the other patterns, except for the make-do homemakers. This is due to the fact that these spend more time at home also on this occasion.
Most working age Portuguese adults maintain the habit of cooking and consuming meals at home, influenced by economic factors and feelings of personal satisfaction. In particular, make-do homemakers and diligent professionals exhibit a very high degree of internalisation of home meal preparation and consumption practices, albeit for different reasons. The aforementioned socio-economic factors help explain their low consumption of meals outside the home. Moreover, these segments show little tendency to share, delegate or externalise household tasks related to food. For both make-do homemakers and diligent professionals, socialising and the pleasure associated with occasionally eating outside the home may therefore be perceived as real rewards for any drawbacks endured as the result of preparing meals daily. These behaviours reflect a sense of duty to maintain the practice of home cooking, especially dinner, which is prepared every day.
In contrast with diligent professionals, emancipated gregarious spend more time at home and are more committed to prepare meals, particularly breakfast and tea, during the week than in the weekend. They are however much less engaged with cooking meals, especially dinner, during the week. This idiosyncratic pattern of behaviour is linked to certain motivational aspects, like low enjoyment and satisfaction with cooking at home, as well as specific demographic characteristics, such as younger age and higher household income.
Finally, disengaged students exhibit a similar behavioural pattern to diligent professionals, spending less time at home and being less involved in preparing daily meals overall. They share with emancipated gregarious a low autonomy in cooking and a lack of motivation to prepare meals at home. Altogether, this results in a heightened preference for delegating meal preparation tasks in household members as well as eating out.
In short, around a quarter of the young adult population devotes little or no time to cooking. This group is mostly made up of men under 30, students or workers, belonging to households with several working adults and high incomes.
INCOME INFLUENCES OUR FOOD CONSUMPTION PATTERNS
The study How we eat what we eat: A portrait of meal consumption in Portugal sought to expand knowledge regarding the consumption of meals in and out of home in Portugal by analysing data from the National Household Expenditure Survey, carried out by the National Statistics Institute every five years.
Results show that, over the last two decades, the main factor associated with Portuguese families choosing to eat at home rather than eating out is their level of income. The inverse relationship existing between the proportion of average expenditure allocated to food consumption at home and the household income bracket is quite striking in all the periods analysed. For example, in 2015-2016 food consumption at home accounted for 21.1 per cent of expenditure by households in the first income bracket, while in 2005-2006 it accounted for 24.7 per cent. For households in the sixth income bracket it was only 11.7 per cent in 2015-2016 and 12.0 per cent in 2005-2006.
The direct relationship between income level and the consumption of meals away from home is less strong, albeit equally apparent. In this respect, the differences between household income brackets are more visible in 2015-2016, when eating out accounted for only 5.2 per cent of expenditure by households in the first bracket but almost doubled (9.4 per cent) for those in the sixth bracket.
According to data from the latest National Food Survey, which was also analysed as part of this study, the prevalence of eating at home among Portuguese adults is significantly higher for those belonging to households with a net income < 970 euros per month and that are food insecure (+ 9 per cent). However, households with a net income > 485 euros per month exhibited lower self-preparation of meals (-10 per cent), which was offset by an increase in the consumption of meals prepared by relatives or friends. In contrast, the consumption of meals in restaurants or through catering services is more common in households with a net income > 1 455 euros per month and that are food secure. Food insecure households spend less on meals in restaurants or catering. These results are in line with those obtained by analysing the food expenditure of Portuguese families.
The differences observed between Portugal and the United Kingdom in what respect the distribution of the share of household expenditure on meals consumed away from home across income levels are worth of notice: Portuguese households classified in the fourth and fifth brackets spent proportionally much more on food consumption away from home between 2005-2006 and 2015-2016 than their counterparts in the United Kingdom, while those in the first and second brackets spent proportionally less.
Analysing the food consumption of Portuguese families over the five-year period between 2005 and 2015 showed, moreover, that the proportion of expenditure on domestic food consumption is higher and increasing in households living in rural areas - particularly in the Alentejo and the Azores islands - compared to those living in urban areas. This is also the case in households with no members employed or with three or more members employed, and households where the main sources of income are pensions or other social benefits, rather than employment.
On the other hand, the share of expenditure on meals away from home is higher and increasing in households located in urban areas - especially in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and the Algarve - compared to households located in rural areas, or those where the main source of income is labour or whose representatives have a medium or high level of education.
Meanwhile, and according to data collected by the latest National Time Use Survey, take away meals are the most popular type of foodservice offer in Portugal, with 20.6 per cent of households using it to replace home cooking, de facto externalising part of the domestic chores.
The use of this and other services that de facto externalise the execution of food-related household chores, such as hiring domestic staff, is largely linked to the socio-economic profile of households. Consequently, it can be observed that the use of such services is more than eight times higher in Portuguese households with a higher net monthly income than in those with a lower net monthly income. In addition, their use is highest in families where the head is employed in specialised technical or managerial positions (16.9%) and in couples in which both members are in paid employment (59.0%). Finally, it can be concluded that purchasing this type of service leads to an effective reduction in the average daily time spent by women on household chores, particularly at the weekend. However, this effect is limited to those who belong to households with a higher level of income. According to the study coordinator, Ana Isabel Costa:
"There is a structural preference for eating out among Portuguese families, which distinguishes them from most of their European counterparts and brings them closer, for example, to North American households. The fact that households’ share of out-of-home food expenditure has grown or contracted more rapidly in Portugal than in countries like Belgium or the United Kingdom over the last decades, as a result of the cycles of economic prosperity or recession occurring in Europe, offers additional evidence of this preference."
In short, the share of at-home food expenditure of Portuguese households is linked to different demographic and socio-economic factors, such as location (rural vs urban), age of the head (over vs under 65), composition (with vs without children), level of education of the head (low vs high), number of employed members (none vs 1+) and main source of income (pensions vs work).
Food insecure households spend less on meals in restaurants or catering. Moreover, outsourcing the preparation of household meals by buying ‘ready-to-eat’ alternatives or hiring domestic staff, is associated with the socio-economic profile of the Portuguese. Namely, it is more likely to occur in families where one or more adults are employed in qualified jobs and have higher than average income than in the remainder. In families with higher income, externalising food-related practices translates into an effective reduction in the average daily time spent by women on household chores, particularly at the weekend.
Finally, it is important to keep in mind that, in addition to socio-economic factors and the availability of options for outsourcing care work, the level of engagement in cooking household meals and the time spent with this activity in Portugal is mainly the outcome of the prevailing social norms about gender roles. Such norms place the burden for home cooking and caring for the family's well-being almost entirely on women and continue thus, to a large extent, to exempt men from these duties.
WE PREFER EATING OUT TO EATING IN
In Portugal, there has been a noticeable acceleration in the growth of out-of-home food consumption, as a proportion of total Household Final Consumption Expenditure, since 2008 and especially between 2013 and 2019. This trend was only reversed between 2010 and 2013, due to the severe economic recession experienced during that period, and in 2020, when there was an abrupt drop in this type of expenditure due to the covid-19 pandemic.
On the other hand, there was a slowdown in the growth of the proportion of expenditure on food consumption at home between 1995 and 2010, which also reversed between 2010 and 2013, and later in 2020. The growth in the proportion of expenditure on the purchase of durable goods used in the preparation and consumption of meals shows a similar trend, although it slowed down earlier and more markedly in periods of economic hardship.
The relationship between food expenditure and consumption away from home weakens in periods of economic crisis. When we analyse the proportion of total household food expenditure, it can be concluded that there are significant cyclical transfers from out-of-home food expenditure to domestic food consumption, particularly in periods of economic recession, which are reversed in periods of greater prosperity. Such transfers are also observed in the United States of America, for instance, another country where out-of-home food consumption has historically represented a high proportion of household food expenditure.
The relationship between food expenditure and consumption away from home weakens in periods of economic crisis but becomes more important when we analyse the proportion of total household food expenditure. According to data from the national Household Expenditure Surveys, food consumption away from home accounted for 8.1 per cent of the Average Total Annual Expenditure per household in Portugal in 2015-2016, compared to just 5.0 per cent in Belgium in 2016; while food consumption at home accounted for 15.0 per cent, compared to 14.7 per cent in Belgium. Food consumption away from home, on the other hand, accounted for 35.1 per cent of the Average Total Annual Food Expenditure per household in Portugal in the same period, compared to just 30.7 per cent of the Total Weekly Food Expenditure per capita in the United Kingdom.
More recent macroeconomic data confirms this preference for out-of-home food and beverage consumption compared to other countries, showing that the foodservice expenditure of families living in Portugal already exceeded 10.0 per cent of total private consumption in the two years prior to the pandemic (2018-2019), while the European average in that period was just over 7.0 per cent.
Finally, it should be noted that the proportion of Total Average Annual Expenditure dedicated to food consumption at home in Portugal increases with age, particularly from the age of 64 onwards, regardless of the period of analysis considered. On the other hand, expenditure on food consumption away from home has decreased mainly in households represented by women and more significantly in the last decade, a development like that seen, for instance, in the United States.
According to the results of the analysis of data from the latest National Food Survey (2015-2016), four eating patterns can be identified among the Portuguese population, according to the main place where meals are consumed: At home (37 per cent), at the home of family or friends (8 per cent), at the workplace or school (31 per cent) and in restaurants or other places outside the home (24 per cent). From these results it can also be concluded that most of the Portuguese eat their meals mainly outside home, either at the place where they work or study, or in foodservice establishments. The meals occurring most frequently out of home are the lunch and the afternoon tea, in line with the influence of the daily work-leisure cycles on the patterns of meal consumption.
EATEN AT HOME, MADE ELSEWHERE
According to the most recent data from the National Food Survey, two thirds (66.5 per cent) of the meals consumed by the Portuguese resident population (aged 3-84 years) are not cooked at home. Nearly half (45.8 per cent) of these meals result from food production, preparation and/or cooking activities taking place in the food manufacturing or retail sectors (including foods consumed in natura).
Meanwhile, only a fifth stems from commercial catering activities – 8.6 per cent from cafés, snack bars, bakeries or confectioners and 7.9 per cent from restaurants, hotels, catering, self-service or ready-to-eat businesses – and collective catering (4.0 per cent). Meals resulting from home food production, processing and/or cooking, by individuals themselves or by others for them, make up the other third (33.5 per cent). Of these meals, 18.6 per cent are the result of activities carried out by family or friends, and only 12.2 per cent are produced, prepared or cooked by those who consume them.
Foods and beverages produced or prepared out of home predominate at breakfast (90.1 per cent) and teatime (88.6 per cent), especially those originating in the food industry or retail (74.8 and 66.6 percent, respectively) and in cafés or similar establishments (14.0 and 17.4 percent, respectively). These instances also account for more than half of the food intake at lunchtime (54.9 per cent), with 26.0 per cent coming from industry or food retail, 12.6 per cent from collective catering and 11.2 per cent from restaurants and other similar establishments. Even so, manufactured foods and drinks or those originating in retail operations accounted for 33.9 per cent of consumption on this occasion.
On the other hand, and according to data from the national Household Expenditure Survey, it can be observed that foods and beverages produced or prepared out of home predominate over their counterparts regardless of the household's income bracket: 57.1 against 42.9 percent in the first bracket; 62.3 against 37.7 per cent in the second; 66.0 against 34.0 percent in the third, and 69.3 against 30.7 per cent in the fourth. It is also noticeable that the difference between these proportions grows as income level increases, with the differences between all levels being significant for both types of consumption.
In Portugal, the likelihood of adults under 65 years having a diet that includes more eating out is associated with gender. Consequently, men are more likely to eat out in restaurants or other similar establishments than women in the same age group. This likelihood varies also according to area of residence. Adults who eat meals prepared at friends’ or relatives’ houses, for instance, are the least common in almost all regions, except for the Centre and Madeira. However, residents in the Centre are more likely to eat at work or school canteens. Eating in restaurants is more common in the Algarve, being the least frequent in the Azores. These findings largely confirm the trends observed in the analysis of longitudinal data on the average expenditure of households living in Portugal, collected by the national Household Budget Survey.
HOW WE EAT CAN IMPACT OUR HEALTH
The last part of the study How we eat what we eat analyses the relationships between meal preparation and consumption practices and the diet and health of the Portuguese, based on data collected by the latest National Food Survey (2015-2016) and the survey of household eating practices carried out among the working-age population in the last quarter of 2021. Results show that diet quality is associated not only with where we choose to eat our meals, especially when we do so outside home, but also with the origin of the foods and drinks that integrate them, including those meals prepared at home.
In addition to daily energy intake and sociodemographic characteristics, other factors have been identified that influence diet quality and health, such as the type, time and occasion of meals, the time and effort invested in cooking them and other household chores, as well as the underlying motivations. Also noteworthy is the potential impact of hours of paid work and care labour, as well as the gender, composition and income of households.
In Portugal, lunch accounts for the largest share of daily energy intake (31.8 per cent), followed by dinner (27.5 per cent) and teatime (25.0 per cent) with similar weight, and finally breakfast (15.7 per cent). These figures are different, for example, in the USA, where breakfast (18 per cent) and dinner (35 per cent) are more important, and lunch (25 per cent) and teatime (22 per cent) are less important. Protein consumption contributes the most to total energy at lunch (21.3 per cent) and dinner (20.3 per cent), and is lowest at teatime (12.0 per cent) and breakfast (15.4 per cent). Lipid consumption is highest at dinner (30.4 per cent) and lunch (29.4 per cent), and lowest at teatime (24.8 per cent) and breakfast (24.5 per cent). The consumption of carbohydrates is highest at teatime (58.1%) and breakfast (58.0%), and lowest at lunch (41.6%) and dinner (41.9%). Finally, food consumption at breakfast and teatime contributed the most to daily intakes of saturated and trans fats, as well as free sugars.
Findings also indicate that a high consumption of food prepared outside the home or by family or friends among Portuguese adults (< 65 years old) is linked to lower adherence to the Mediterranean diet. The same association is observed among children, but only when foods and beverages originate from food manufacturers or retailers. Meanwhile, a high consumption of food prepared outside the home or by family or friends is linked to a more sedentary lifestyle in adults and the elderly, except when the food comes from food manufacturers and retailers.
International studies show that cooking at home is associated with diet quality: UK adults who cook their own meals regularly have a healthier diet, while in the US preparing dinner often results in higher daily vegetable consumption. Such associations may not translate into long-term benefits in terms of weight status, however. In Belgium, for instance, the consumption of family meals is directly related to weight status: obese people (35.1 per cent) tend to eat two meals a day at home with their family, while normal-weight people (17.2 per cent) eat this type of meal only at weekends.
Other studies suggest that the amount of time spent on paid work and household chores, and especially in home cooking, is associated with the diet quality and weight status of working-age adults. In the UK, longer hours of paid work are linked to higher consumption of processed meats, saturated fats and alcohol, especially in families with children. In the USA, middle-aged women who spend more time preparing lunch and dinner consume more substantial meals and increase their risk of chronic diseases. In Belgium, a food intake survey also revealed that the time spent cooking meals was directly associated with an increase in BMI - Body Mass Index, with obese people spending more time preparing meals than normal-weight and lean people.
"In the adult Portuguese population (<65 years), frequent consumption of restaurant and other commercial food service establishment meals is negatively associated with pre-obesity and obesity. However, the results of the IAN-AF show that among those who eat meals prepared by themselves at home, the proportion of obese people (26.6 per cent) is higher than that of individuals with normal weight (10.2 per cent) or pre-obese (15.3 per cent) among adults who eat meals they prepare at home more often. As for Portuguese adults who eat meals prepared away from home more frequently, the percentage of individuals with normal weight (52.7 per cent) exceeds that of pre-obese (44.7 per cent) or obese (39.2 per cent). Significant differences are only observed for meals cooked in public catering establishments, with people of normal weight consuming this type of meal the most."
Ana Isabel Costa, coordinator of the study
A survey was conducted to investigate the existence of significant associations between meal preparation/consumption practices, diet quality and weight status in Portuguese working-age population. The analysis of answers resulted in the identification of four segments of the population with very distinct meal preparation and consumption patterns: the emancipated gregarious, the make-do homemakers, the diligent professionals and the disengaged students.
Average BMI was higher in male disengaged students than in males in other groups. Disengaged students was also the group exhibiting the lowest frequencies of domestic food practices like home cooking or grocery shopping. Indeed, individuals in this group spent less time cooking meals than the remainder, were the least motivated to perform this activity and reported the lowest level of culinary skills. Even so, 48.9 per cent of disengaged students regularly ate lunch at home, spending an average of 26.7 minutes preparing this meal.
On the other hand, women in the group of emancipated gregarious had a lower prevalence of pre-obesity and obesity (20.3 per cent) compared to those in other groups: diligent professionals (35.1 per cent), make-do home makers (36.1 per cent) and disengaged students (34.1 per cent). They were also the ones who ate the least meals at home.
On the other hand, nearly one third of make-do home makers reported to be on a diet (31.9 per cent), a higher proportion than emancipated gregarious (22.1 per cent), diligent professionals (17.6 per cent) and disengaged students (16.9 per cent). Make-do homemakers were also the group that ate the most meals at home and spent the most time preparing food, both during the week and at the weekend, being motivated by enjoyment, personal satisfaction and culinary self-efficacy. Diligent professionals shared many of these traits, but generally did not eat lunch at home during the week and were less involved in preparing meals at the weekend. For them, the main motivation for home cooking was a sense of duty and responsibility for the care of the family. Emancipated gregarious, on the other hand, were the least involved in cooking and ate the most meals out of home, especially during the weekend.