Eating at the table, on the couch and in bed: An exploration of different locus of commensality in the discourses of Brazilian working mothers.

BACKGROUND: Commensality is a remarkable human act, and tends to be more present among families. Nevertheless, it is possible that eating at the table is being taking for granted when one refers to family meals. Thus, this paper aims to analyze working mothers' discourses about family meals eaten at the table, on the couch and in the bed/bedroom. METHODS: The participants were thirty mothers working in public universities of the Brazilian region called Baixada Santista. A qualitative study was conducted, using semi-structured interviews. In the transcripts the words "table", "couch", "bed", "bedroom" were located and the excerpts containing them were extracted and analyzed according to a classical and exploratory content analysis. RESULTS: The table is a significant component of meals that unite the family. While for some the meal at the table is an enjoyable moment, it is a stiff moment for others. Indeed, manners and the notion of hierarchy appeared only for the table. Regarding the couch, it seems that the family chose to eat there, because it is a more casual and relaxed setting. Eating in the bed was related to precarity, intimacy and casualness. In the three settings, watching television was a common practice, replacing or being added to talking. CONCLUSIONS: Commensality is such an important practice that appears in different settings and even in precarity contexts. The table emerged as the maximal cornerstone of commensality. However, when it was not present, new arrangements were made. Especially the couch seems to be a new commensal space, less formal and rigid, but able to allow some collective conviviality. Eating in the bed was a less common practice. Finally, the significant role that television assumed in meals is highlighted.

Eating practices and habitus in mothers. A Brazilian population-based survey.

A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted with mothers living in the city of Santos, Brazil, in order to investigate their eating practices, and the interface between those practices and the concept of habitus. From a cluster analysis of the scores for dietary pattern and for food preparation and consumption, the mothers were categorised into five clusters of eating practices: practical mothers (19.8%), symbiotic mothers (3.2%), health-conscious hedonists (17.3%), traditionalists (34.6%), and family cooks (25.1%). To access the habitus of the eating-practice clusters, the following variables were compared: location of residence, profession, socioeconomic status, weight-loss practices, risk behaviours for eating disorders, disordered eating attitudes, body dissatisfaction, and cultural and technological consumption. For all the groups, the observed eating practices were permeated by responsibility for the family's diet, but with different manifestations. For symbiotic mothers, practical mothers, and family cooks, the primary function of their relation with food was to nourish their families, with little expression of their own tastes and preferences. The traditionalists and the health-conscious hedonists, on the other hand, manifested their role as mothers by providing food considered 'nutritionally proper' to their family members. Furthermore, aspects of contemporary lifestyles, such as little time for food, individualisation of meals, and consumption of processed foods, were found to coexist with the valorisation and maintenance of the traditional meals within some groups. The variety of eating practices could not be understood as a linear association between economic and cultural capitals; however, eating practices seemed to interact with those capitals, composing a habitus.