Social varieties of eating out: evidence from Santiago and Paris

ABSTRACT

This article reveals social varieties of eating out through a comparison of the metropolises of Santiago (Chile) and Paris (France). Building on recent scholarship, we move beyond dichotomies of work vs. leisure and domesticity vs. commodification by generating a typology that integrates spatial, social, and temporal dimensions. Operationally, the spatial dimension corresponds to eating places, the social dimension to commensality (eating with others), and the temporal dimension to meal synchronization (eating on a socially shared schedule). Furthermore, we seek to document sociodemographic correlates of eating out and to advance comparative scholarship in food studies by including the Global South. We use representative, population-based survey data with information on weekday meal patterns and conduct latent class analyses. First, we describe differences between Santiago and Paris regarding places, commensality, and synchronization. Second, we map out varieties of eating in and eating out. Third, we identify three sociodemographic factors as significant, strong predictors of weekday eating out in both metropolises: young age, employment, and higher education. Our findings point to a twofold diversity of practice: (1) conventional and occasional, familial and friendly, and distinguishing older people; (2) driven by convenience, shared with a wider variety of people, and distinguishing younger people.

KEYWORDS:

• Eating out
• meals
• weekdays
• Chile
• France

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval & consent

Encuesta de Comensalidad en Adultos de la Región Metropolitana [Survey of Commensality in Adults of the Metropolitan Region]: The study obtained approval from the Ethics Committee in the Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Respondents signed informed consent forms.

Santé, Inégalités, Ruptures Sociales [Health, Inequalities, Social Ruptures]: The study obtained approval from two French national authorities for non-biomedical research: the Advisory Committee on Information Processing in Health Research (CCTIRS) and the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL). Respondents provided informed consent verbally. (Written consent was not required since the survey did not fall into the category of biomedical research, as defined by French law).

Data

Not available: the authors do not have permission to share data.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the ECOS-Sud–Chile program (grant no. RES-143-25-0002), the ECOS–CONICYT program (grant no. C16H03), the CONICYT–FONDECYT (grant no. 11140407) and the French National Research Agency (convention no. ANR-07-PNRA-0002).

Notes on contributors

Coline Ferrant

Coline Ferrant is an Assistant Professor in Social Development & Policy at Habib University. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Sciences Po and Northwestern University. Her professional interests include food & eating, urban & rural sociology, and public writing.

Claudia Giacoman

Claudia Giacoman is an Associate Professor at the Instituto de Sociología of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the École de Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). Her expertise lies in food and body culture studies.

Anne Lhuissier

Anne Lhuissier is a Research Professor at the French National Institute for Research on Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (INRAE). She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the École de Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). Her expertise lies in food and poverty studies.

Ignacio Bórquez

Ignacio Bórquez received his B.A. and M.A. in Sociology from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. His research focuses on hidden and vulnerable populations, such as people with problematic drug use, people with severe mental health disorders, and offenders.