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The family meal is a quintessential part of contemporary family life and initial findings from our research project ‘’ suggests that it remains an important focal point in the daily weekly activities of families. Professor David Marshall, University of Edinburgh Business School, and Associate Professor , University of Sydney Business School, are looking at family meals in Edinburgh and Sydney with a view to understanding how such practices may have particular consequences both in the context of health and in terms of the sociology of the family. A key part of the project involves asking families to keep a visual record of their weekday evening meals by using selfie sticks and their mobile phones to record these events. The pictures serve as the basis of a discussion around the family meal and the visual images capture some of the complexities of contemporary family life. Participants are asked to take at least one picture of their main weekday meal over five consecutive days but what they choose to capture remains at their discretion. In the follow up interviews we cover everything from the food served through to who clears the table, and we explore ideas about social relations and family ties negotiated around these meal time rituals.

We find that the family meal is an important site for food socialisation but there are different experiences across families depending on the composition of the household and age of children. Most families subscribe to the idea of eating together but the practice reveals considerable variation and families have adapted to accommodate the demands on their time. Moreover, family food socialisation is a long-term project and one that continues to have implications beyond the family table.

The use of ‘selfies’ offers a fresh perspective on this otherwise private occasion and provides some interesting insights into the location of the family meal and the consumption context. While the pictures are ‘selective’ they are relatively unedited or staged and capture some of the ordinariness of everyday life as families try to juggle work and home life. Pictures reveal the central role of the table for many families and the negotiated seating arrangements that reflect practicalities and preferences on what to eat, where to sit, and what is permitted or prohibited at family meals. As one of our respondents, with teenage kids, reflects: “the table is really where family life happens“. Discussions reveal how domestic commensality has changed and adapted to new demands in family life. The main message is that meals remain an important part of identity and how we ‘do’ family.

The project, funded under a university led collaborative , aims to build strategic links between the University of Edinburgh and University of Sydney. It has allowed us to build on previous work looking at advertising images of the family and extend our research on food consumption practices (see Hogg, M., Davis, T., Petersen, A., Marshall, D., and Schneider, T. (2018) ‘Families and Food: Marketing Consuming and Managing’, European Journal of Marketing Special Issue (in Press)) and build links with local research networks. We hosted an Edinburgh workshop on event earlier this year in collaboration with with speakers from Scotland and Australia. One unanticipated outcome has been the opportunity to connect with other research projects and teams at both Edinburgh and Sydney. Finally, we plan to recruit an additional 5 families in Edinburgh. For further information please contact d.w.marshall@ed.ac.uk.

Project outputs

1. Marshall, D. and Davis, T. (2018) Imag(e)ining’ commensality through the selfie: weekday family meals and practices. Paper presented at 8^th International Child and Teen Consumption conference, Cultural and creative Industries of Childhood and Youth, 3-6^th April, Angouleme, France.
2. Marshall, D. and Davis, T. (2018) Commensality and the Construction of family identity across two cities. BSA Annual Conference, 10-12 April, Newcastle, England.