Stop and Go

How and where do you eat breakfast, lunch or diner?

When autumn is coming days are getting shorter and it becomes more difficult to wake up. But your agenda is as full as always so after you decided to go out of bed there is no time left for any break until late at night. Therefore it is very important to keep your energy levels on the right level.

In an earlier post I already wrote about the fact that food is available and eaten almost everywhere since people started to travel more. The places where food is plenty are – apart from (super)markets and restaurants - fuel stations, airports and train stations. Although prices are high food is sold in even higher amounts. Apparently travelling makes hungry. Or is there another explanation for the lucrative business on these places?

Today’s people are usually busy and want to do more than possible in the 24hours of a day. Luckily we are able to combine some of our activities: cycling to work means some exercise, watching news while ironing your shirts or calling a friend while taking a bath. And some also seem to be able to combine travelling with eating one of the three meals one should eat each day.

Since travelling usually takes place before or after work it is the perfect moment to eat breakfast or diner so you could continue with more important activities right after you’ve finished your trip. But are those meals not important then?

Dietician advice to eat three main meals a day and some (healthy) snacks to make sure energy levels stay where they should be. It is said that eating breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day. When you have breakfast or any other meal you should at least pay attention to what you are doing. Besides that those diners are also a perfect opportunity to enjoy the fun of preparing it and to spend some times with those you are sharing it with. Having a meal with someone else is the perfect moment to share your thoughts; what happened at work, did you hear the news, do you have plans for the weekend? Eating is not only useful for your physical energy levels but also for your social energy.

Are you filling those needs when eating while travelling? Do you really enjoy you croissant when a smelly fat man is sitting next to you? What about your desktop lunches? Wouldn’t the cleaner be happy if she does not find any crumbles in your keybord anymore? And those fries with mayonnaise or other sauces? Are you sure the rest of the train wants to share the odours coming from it?

It is time to reconsider those 15 extra minutes in bed or that hour after work. Clean up your agenda and make sure you have three moments a day in which you only have to concentrate on your meal and those you are sharing it with. Or – train traveler - fight for your right and try the train companies to (re)introduce a special wagon in which you could use your travel time to have breakfast while reading a (free) newspaper and making new friends. You got your time, they got their money.

A recent research showed that the French now spent only 22 minutes to have lunch while this used to be 138 minutes in 1990. Article is published in Trouw on Thursday 29th of September 2011.