Home to McDonald's

Abstract

Fast food is regularly referred to as a symbol of the decline of cooking skills, families and the community at the dinner table. With inspiration from theories on domestication and Actor Networks, and using examples from studies from McDonald's in Sweden, this paper argues that a McDonald's restaurant can in fact be regarded as a home and the meals eaten there as “proper” family meals. A meal at the restaurant is for many parents the easiest way of upholding family life, but also of creating “family” and “home” in new ways.