TY - JOUR
T1 - Habits of a lifetime
T2 - Family dining patterns over the lifecourse of older Australians
AU - Banwell, Cathy
AU - Dixon, Jane
AU - Broom, Dorothy
AU - Davies, Anna
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - Here we examine how older Australians' accounts of family meals mirror shifts in the Australian way of life over the second half of the twentieth century coupled with their changing personal circumstances as they age. We provide qualitative accounts of these changes drawn from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 111 men and women resident in greater Melbourne and born in the 1920s and 1930s. Mostly, study participants have retained many of the habits and practices of their youth, although changing domestic arrangements, aging and health concerns have impacted on their culinary habits. When young they learned to view food as a utilitarian necessity and this attitude has translated, in later life, into a concern for its health effects, often signalled by changing body weight and shape. The most obvious impact of evolving Australian foodscapes on their culinary habits is that they now dine out more frequently and consume a great diversity of food.
AB - Here we examine how older Australians' accounts of family meals mirror shifts in the Australian way of life over the second half of the twentieth century coupled with their changing personal circumstances as they age. We provide qualitative accounts of these changes drawn from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 111 men and women resident in greater Melbourne and born in the 1920s and 1930s. Mostly, study participants have retained many of the habits and practices of their youth, although changing domestic arrangements, aging and health concerns have impacted on their culinary habits. When young they learned to view food as a utilitarian necessity and this attitude has translated, in later life, into a concern for its health effects, often signalled by changing body weight and shape. The most obvious impact of evolving Australian foodscapes on their culinary habits is that they now dine out more frequently and consume a great diversity of food.
KW - Body mass index
KW - Elderly Australians
KW - Family dining patterns
KW - Health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79551585375&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5172/hesr.2010.19.3.343
DO - 10.5172/hesr.2010.19.3.343
M3 - Article
SN - 1446-1242
VL - 19
SP - 343
EP - 355
JO - Health Sociology Review
JF - Health Sociology Review
IS - 3
ER -