10 Ways Americans Eat Today
By Aimee Harvey on Dec. 13, 2017SAN FRANCISCO -- A new survey finds Americans' eating habits are changing, unexpected and sometimes downright weird.
Uber Eats, San Francisco-based Uber's stand-alone meal-delivery app, recently released findings from its first nationwide "How America Eats" survey, capturing some surprising data and trends from U.S. adults across generations and regions. The survey was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Uber Eats across the U.S. from Oct. 26 to Nov. 6, 2017, among 1,019 U.S. adults ages 18 and older.
"The eating habits of Americans are ever-evolving, and we believe it's important to just as constantly find ways to more deeply understand what, where and when people eat, and ultimately why. If we better understand our eaters, we can better serve through products built with their needs in mind," said Jeanette Mellinger, head of Uber Eats user research. "It's clear that today's everyday eating is a challenge for many, and we're excited to build a product that is making eating easier, in 2018 and beyond."
Click through to see 10 key takeaways from the Uber Eats study ...
1. Not so big on brunch
It seems that brunch has been all the rage in recent years, but there's evidence that the trend is waning. Eating dinner, or any late-night meal, at least once a week is now nearly twice as common as eating brunch.
2. The 5-second rule
At least half of U.S. adults have eaten food that they know is expired (56%) or food that has fallen on the floor (50%).
3. Glued to our phones
4. Picky eaters
Americans are picky eaters. But who's the pickiest? Overall, 43% of Americans say they are picky eaters. Half of millennials describe themselves as picky, compared to a third of baby boomers.
5. Kids' plates
The pickiest eaters of all may be children, which could explain why they tend to leave plenty of food on their plates. However, 60% of parents admit to eating their kids' leftovers at least sometimes, and 26% say they do so "always" or "often."
6. Salty vs. sweet
Generation X (28%) and baby boomers (27%) tend to prefer salty snacks, while millennials (24%) tend to crave sweets.
7. TV and food
Forget binge watching; for more than half of adults, it's about binge eating while watching TV. More than half (57%) of all U.S. adults overeat at least sometimes when watching TV. It's the biggest overeating trigger for millennials in particular (78% do it at least sometimes, including 38% who say they do so "always" or "often"). TV is an even bigger influencer on binge eating than being alone (72%), sad (53%) or stressed (63%).
8. Food delivery
About one-fourth of couples who order food delivery (23%) say they often argue over which restaurant to order from, and will at least sometimes order from two restaurants if they can't resolve their differences (24%).
More than a third of parents who order delivery (36%) do the same, sometimes ordering from multiple restaurants just to keep the peace among their children. And the same goes for cooking: Fifty-four percent of parents and 28% of couples say they sometimes cook multiple meals at once to accommodate different preferences.
9. That stinks
One-fifth of workers (21%) admit to sometimes eating stinky food at their desk, and 12% of the workforce admits to sometimes stealing a co-worker's lunch (either accidentally or intentionally). These behaviors are most common with millennials, who are more than four times as likely to eat a stinky meal at their desk than their baby-boomer counterparts (31% vs. 7%).
10. Split the bill
The most common way to handle the bill while dining out with friends is to itemize it (i.e., each person only pays for the items they eat, say 46%), followed by splitting it equally (36%). There also appears to be some regional differentiation, with those living in the Northeast (51%) more likely to split equally, while those in the Midwest (57%) and South (53%) more likely to itemize. Westerners are mixed in their opinion.