Sharing the Meal: Food Consumption and Family Identity

Family meals and identity in urban China

“…The finding that families diverge in the extent that they derive family identity through meals via emphases on commitment and continuity indicates that segmentation strategies based on these dimension may be meaningful. Also, while beyond the purview of this study, it was confirmed in both the qualitative and quantitative phases of this research that, as found in many homes around the world, the women in Chinese families assume most of the responsibility for the tangible tasks related to getting the family food on the table and most of the guilt when dinners do not meet the normative ideal (Daly, 2001;Cappellini and Parsons, 2012;Wilk, 2010). This was found despite the finding that, as reported in the qualitative results, Chinese men seem to receive as much emotional payoff through the practice of the family dinner as women.…”

Practising Thrift at Dinnertime: Mealtime Leftovers, Sacrifice and Family Membership

“…Findings reveal that everyday meals are thrifty meals, as they are driven by the idea of saving resources, including time, money and effort. Elsewhere (Cappellini and Parsons, 2012b) this has been examined in detail, looking at all of the practices surrounding the everyday meal (from the planning to the washing up). Here we want to highlight how the served meal is influenced by the family's likes and dislikes, but also by saving resources.…”

Faith, hope and love: doing family through consuming pilgrimage

“…In other words, practices 'have a degree or fixity and solidity rooted in their everyday character' (Morgan, 1996, p. 190). Much of this research stream on everyday family practices focuses on family identity (Cappellini & Parsons, 2012;Epp & Price, 2008). In contrast, within our context it is not identity goals that take centre stage.…”

“…For Morgan (1996, p. 190), 'Practices are often little fragments of daily life which are part of the normal taken-for-granted existence of practitioners'. Understandings of the family have therefore emerged from studies of everyday activities (Epp & Price, 2008); for example, research has explored the significance of sharing family mealtimes (Cappellini & Parsons, 2012). Many such everyday activities become habitual and require little conscious thought; an example for our participants may include going to Sunday Mass 1 together as a family.…”