Family Mealtime Food Facts

Family Mealtime Research

Courtesy of Harper Collins, publisher of What’s

For Dinner: In One Pot, by

Published Sept 2023

Last year The Food Foundation released the Broken Plate report that revealed the extent of the health crisis facing the UK due to our declining national diet. The report highlighted that 80% of children born in 2022 will be obese or overweight by adulthood with £74 billion of direct NHS costs being allocated annually to combat the related health issues.

Academic studies have revealed that the ‘silver bullet’ to tackle this crisis are families sitting down around the dinner table to share homecooked meals. It has been proven that children and teenagers who do so: ��

Have better overall diets by being more likely to consume fruits and vegetables and avoid fast food and sugary beverages (JAMA Network Open) so are less likely

Sarah Rossi

to be obese or have weight issues (Journal of Pediatrics),

Are protected from issues such as substance use, violent behaviour, depression, and suicidal thoughts (2015 review by a group of Canadian researchers) and therefore better equipped to handle bullying, bereavement and other liferelated traumas (Research published in JAMA Pediatrics)

Obtain higher selfesteem (Stanford Medicine Children’s Health) by being more confident and able to communicate with their family around issues important to their wellbeing (2017 Canadian study).

In the UK however, according to a survey by HelloFresh, 24%

of families sit down for a meal together only once a week with 33% eating dinner in front of the TV and 7% on their own. A recent report by Sainsburys, investigating the reasons behind this, revealed that 55% of respondents cited conflicting schedules and time deficiency and 31% fussy eating and dietary requirements.

Factors that will only become more prevalent with Allergy Clinic London calculating that the number of people in the UK with food allergies is growing by 5% every year with 50% of these people being children. Meanwhile, The Vegan Society predicts that 25% of the UK population will be Vegan or Vegetarian by 2025 with 10% of those being children and teenagers.

However - with Food Inflation hitting a 45-year-high of 19.1% this year (Office of National Statistics) and healthy nutritious food already being 300% more expensive on average than obesogenic unhealthy

products (The Food Foundation) – it’s inevitable that the barriers to families not only eating together, but sharing healthy and nutritious food, will only become more serve.

With the decline in UK culinary skills already resulting in 75% of families being partially reliant on convenience food (Swiss Digital Survey) and Food Tech at A-Level and GCSE in serious decline (Food A Fact for Life), it is arguable that the next generation will only be less equipped to deal with these mounting challenges.

�� These are everyday challenges that entrepreneur, home chef and mum of twins Sarah Rossi addresses in her cookbook What’s For Dinner: In One Pot. It tackles every one of the above issues to get families both back in the kitchen and around the dinner table.

Information compiled by Harper Collins, publisher of What’s For Dinner: In One Pot, by Sarah Rossi.