As American society has shifted more and more to an individualistic lifestyle in which people operate on their own schedules with little cohesion with others, meal-time is changing in connotation as well as denotation. People work on their own schedules, and that work has changed from time-based to task-based, where one needs to get a certain thing done versus working for a set amount of time. With this in mind, it is no surprise that people eat meals in different ways than they did with a classic 8 hour work shift with a lunch break.
In Eating at the Edge, Jamie Horwitz describes this phenomenon and how meals are becoming something that is no longer a ritualized social connector but rather moving toward something that is done because people need food to perform well during their daily grind (Horwitz 45). Horwitz references Manuel Castella in agreeing upon his point of the disconnect of "space of flow" diverging with the "space of place" being a product of a hyper-mobile society (qtd. in 44). Ultimately, this is leading to people eating on their own time and not with others as everyone creates different structures of their days.
Americans seem to be content with this shift, however, with companies producing huge varieties of ways to eat food on the go. The example that Horwitz uses is the "Campbell's Soup at Hand" which is an innovative packaged soup that just needs a couple minutes in a microwave and is 12 ounces of portable, cup-holder fitting, sustenance that requires no cleanup. With the stresses of the day always apparent on individuals with pressures reaching the quota of individual production, it is only natural that people put less emphasis on meals s something worth allocating the day's valuable time to. Because of this, companies will continue to produce products that are efficient and portable because the market for these are only increasing.
As a university student, these concepts make complete sense to me and I am without a doubt a part of this societal shift in meals. The fact I have only eaten a granola bar today is a product of being on my own time schedule as well as the amount of work that I need to get done to have some level of academic success. I am living in my own world where my work schedule is hard to collaborate with others in order for us to eat meals together, especially on the weekend. During the work week it is easier to eat with others because of set meal times at the dining halls that people who want to eat to ensure they eat the food their meal plan is paying for. However on weekends with people setting their own schedules which includes staying out later as well as sleeping later, sharing meals is not as mechanical as during the week.
Overall, this shift of meals is something that really reflects a bigger picture occurrence that social theorists see as an issue. The hyper-mobile society that is being further cultivated each day creates a lifestyle that is increasingly individualistic. Societally, this can be seen as a huge issue with each step of increased individuality being seen as a threat towards a community centered society. Where this becomes an issue is with less community less social problems get solved and less social institutions improve. A decreased sense of collective identity and consciousness sparks less collective action toward a shared vision or goal. Although right now, this is clearly not entirely the case in American society it is something that is in my generation's best interest to keep in mind, and tread lightly in accepting a lifestyle where each person lives a life that is shared with few people around them.
I like how you connect the piece to larger cultural and social shifts. There is a lot of attention right now on this idea that people are becoming more isolated even through they are more technologically connected, this idea of being "alone together." Perhaps eating trends are a part of this, too, as you suggest.
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