Horwitz's Eating in the "space of flow"

In his article Horwitz analyzes the way that Americans consume food in a different way than any of the other articles we have read. He focuses more on how Americans now eat within a “space of flow”. This basically boils down to the fact that most Americans no longer have set meal times where they gather with family or friends and eat face-to-face. He structured this by first laying out when this phenomena started, the TV dinner. Rather than meals being shared around the family dinner table, they were now shared around the TV. Interestingly enough this started not because Americans love television, but we like the ability to have small one serving meals that are easy to prepare and have no cleanup time. This evolved to become the many one-serving products that we see today such as the Soup in Hand. The author then went on to discuss the eating habits of American astronauts. He noted how they paralleled the change in the general American public’s eating habits. While they started with sit-down meals, the standard practice became eating small servings on your own. I found it interesting that they compared this with the European astronauts and how they prefer to eat in groups, which probably parallels the general European public’s eating habits. Horwitz also shows how the increase in long international flights has increased the amount of irregular eating habits. To facilitate this, countries now have many places that are open all night and cater to both people from different time zones and locals. Overall you can see how our culture has changed with how we eat our meals. We eat as a part of multitasking and fitting more into our day.

Horwitz compares the information to his own experience with being a professor at a university. Reading this article I could see a lot of what he was talking about in my own life. Being a college student, food can be somewhat of a time inconvenience. It’s difficult to fit regular meals in every day, with a schedule that changes daily and an immense amount of homework. When I’m rushed for time I often eat meals by myself. Also since the food served in college dining halls leaves a lot to be desired, I find myself having very little food for lunch or dinner, and then preparing small microwave meals once I get back to my room. My eating habits have changed a lot since I was at home eating three square meals a day at the dinner table. WIth my consistently changing schedule and the variety of food available to me in college, my eating habits have become a lot more relaxed both in what I eat and when I eat. As university Professor Horwitz notes, "The absence of dominant codes, customs, and practices is an invitation to innovation" (Horowitz 45). This is definitely seen within a college culture. I have become very innovative with preparing my own meals, which is caused by the lack of rules and restrictions on my life. I definitely feel that Horwitz’s conclusions are supported by the college student lifestyle. We eat more in the “space of flow”.

Horwitz, Jamie. "Eating at the Edge."