Table Manners
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday November 12, 2005
It's time to put the TV dinner in its place and gather the family together to eat, writes FELICITY CARTER.
It's more than 50 years since Gerry Thomas invented the TV dinner, yet only now are people beginning to understand the implications of the way he changed our eating habits.We no longer just pop dinner on our laps and eat it in front of the television. Unhappily, says Clare Collins, a dietitian at the John Hunter Children's Hospital, there's a trend towards people eating in different rooms in the house. Children are now eating alone in their bedrooms so they can watch TV or play on their computer.It started in 1954 when Thomas created the Swanson TV dinner, which was packaged to look like a television set. Millions of people abandoned the dining room to eat silently in front of I Love Lucy, choosing television over sharing food. It's not all Thomas's fault, of course; his frozen turkey meal appeared just as people were beginning to value convenience over quality.Researchers at the University of Minnesota in the US have found that children who eat regularly with their family eat more fruit and vegetables than those who don't. And Collins says preliminary Australian studies support the US research. "We know that the quality of food eaten is better when you have food at the table," she says. "Intuitively, people know that when you sit down you make more effort." The benefits don't stop there, however: teenagers who eat regular family meals seem to do better at school, are less depressed and are less likely to drink or smoke than those who eat less than twice a week with their families.The irony is that these same studies show children actually want to eat with their families, even if it doesn't seem that way when dinner time comes. "Kids want to be more involved," Collins says. "They want to help with meal preparation more."Perhaps children know instinctively that sharing food has psychological and social benefits. Society is built on acts of reciprocity, the most fundamental of which is sharing food. Dining together teaches and reinforces manners and social obligations, and binds people to one another. As Margaret Visser points out in her book The Rituals of Dinner, sharing food is an act of deep trust. After all, that knife in every hand is actually a deadly weapon. It's why the shared table has been a mark of civilisation since ancient days.Dr Max Lake, winemaker and neurosurgeon, believes the need to break bread together may be evolutionary. "There's a hormone that clicks in when we eat together," he says. "It's oxytocin, a bonding hormone. If they give it to sheep in a herd they foster orphaned lambs."Lake says the rise in oxytocin is one reason why feasting is a sign of celebration and joy. He suggests sharing food may have a payoff in longevity and believes we flout our eating history at our peril.Just wanting everyone to sit down together isn't going to make it happen, because we're all too busy. And what do you do with a surly adolescent who insists on staying in his room? Collins says teenagers often eat as soon as they get home, so they're already full by the time dinner has been prepared. She suggests parents get tough. "Just lock the pantry," she says. "Or move your dinner forward. Prioritise family meals."And make the kids do the work. After all, they're the ones who keep telling researchers they want to be more involved, so get them washing and peeling. Finally, give up the idea that everything has to be homemade. "Take advantage of healthy convenience foods," Collins says. "If you can have home delivery, use it."She also recommends frozen vegetables. "They're picked and frozen straight away, so a lot of nutrients are retained."If Lake is right, however, the simple act of gathering around a table and eating together is just as important as the food itself. So if all else fails, gather the clan for a slap-up microwaved TV dinner, complete with enough frozen vegies for everyone. And raise a glass to Gerry Thomas, the man who made it all so easy.
© 2005 Sydney Morning Herald