“Eating out is cheaper than cooking at home!”:
the transformation from household to
market in food preparation in Taiwan
Historical development
Before the 1970s: Dining out was seldom a choice of Taiwanese families
During the 1980s: Eating-out expenditure of household rose significantly
Beginning in the 1990s: RM meal market started to expand, proliferating in the past ten years
Cost of eating out as percentage of total household food expenditures
1987 10.9% 1997 23.9% 2007 33.3% 2011 37.9%
Frequency of Buying Meals outside in One Month
% 2001 2012
Breakfast 60.8 70.8
Lunch 48.8 58.5
Dinner 23.6 27.9
Dining-out: a popular meal solution
About 30-40% Taiwanese consumers rely on food prepared outside for dinner
Popular choices: (1) cafeteria dishes and meal box (2) rice and noodle dish shops offering
several side dishes
Ready-made dishes in Convenience Stores
Growing rapidly since the late 1990s
Seating areas: “heating” and “after-meal cleaning” are done by low-paid clerks
Cooperating with giant food producers and factories to reduce cost
Routine practices--planning
Meal planning is regarded as tiring labour, less enjoyable than cooking.
Emergence of “delivery dinner”
-- Consumers can choose cooked dishes or ready-to-cook dishes
-- Consumers can have a complete dinner at home without planning, food shopping, and cooking.
Routine practices--cleaning
Dishwashers are uncommon.
Some interviewees choose to eat out to avoid any cleaning, including to deal with leftover food and trash.
-- R2: The most tiring part of cooking is to clean all pots and the kitchen.
-- R3: Cooking is interesting, but I do hate washing and cleaning.
Equipment
Reluctant attitude toward microwave ovens
1985 5.5% 2005 45% 2012 43%
Difficulty to clean rangehoods
Skills acquisition
Survey “my cooking skill is worse than my parents”
-- 2001: 65.7% -- 2012: 70.2%
Taiwanese parents encourage children to study language, music, painting and sport but not acquire living skills like household cleaning, fixing and gardening.
Co-ordination of activities, people, and products
Long working time and distance marriage result in more:
-- Individualized dining
--Combination of ready-made foods and self-cooked dishes
Changing female labour and long working time
Women’s labour force participation rate has grown from 38.76% in 1981 to 50.19% in 2012.
44.4% of employed female work in “clerical support” and “service and sales” sectors.
Average weekly work hours of labours, 2012
Legislators, Senior officials & Managers
Professionals
Technicians & Associate Professionals
Clerical Support Workers
Service & Sales Workers
Skilled Agricultural, Forestry & Fishery Workers
Craft & Machine Operation Related Workers
Male 44.73 42.85 43.75 42.54 48.86 39.93 43.32
Female 44.15 41.02 42.41 41.87 47.14 39.45 42.29
Types of food preparers in Taiwan
1. The loyal family cook Regarding “cooking for the family” as their
obligation, feeling guilty if not cook
Women over 50, young housewives, and those who live in rural areas
Good at cooking, familiar with routine
practices and equipment maintaining
Buying RM only to add the variety of dishes
2. Selective family cook
They cook at home when their spouse or children are at home, but prefer dine out or go back to parents’ home to dine
Suggesting that “dining out is cheaper than cooking at home” because it is not economical to cook for less than three diners:
-- more food waste-- inefficient if counting the time and energy it
takes
3. Heavy user of prepared food (dining-out lovers)
They cook less than 10 times a year.
Generally aged between 20--40, do not live with parents
-- No time/willingness for routine practices
-- No competences in cooking -- No access to cooking equipment
4. Ready-made food lovers
Individual diners
Prefer dining at home to dining out
Too busy to go out for meals
Frozen festive dishes
Generational difference
The “royal family cooks” are mainly those who were born before 1970, regardless of employment status. Now some of them continue to cook for their married children and grandchildren.
Those were born after 1970 prefer dining out, and seldom feel guilty if they do not cook.
Conclusion
1. Rising Demand: Cooking as a chain process
No time for food shopping No willingness to do routines practices like
planning /cleaning Lack of cooking skills Low utilization of microwave and dishwasher(resulted from long working time and neglect of
home economic training etc. )
--- The chain cannot work, leading to less home cooking and more needs for food prepared outside.
2. Supply side: economic dining choices
Low cost and variety in dining-out
Cafeteria and meal-box: 2-3 £ “Accounting the cost in time and
energy, dining-out is cheaper than cooking at home for three or less diner.”
Food safety and healthy issues