A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46
SECTION III
WHERE MEALS ARE EATEN
It is the policy of the Ministry of Food to provide extra rations for workers by supporting and founding canteens where coupon-free meals can be obtained, instead of giving extra coupons. It is therefore important to know what numbers and what categories of workers take meals outside their home.
Table 11 shows (for the whole sample) where people have their different meals.
Table 11
Where Meals are Eaten - by Meal-time
| Breakfast Weighted | Midmorning Weighted | Midday Weighted | Midafternoon Weighted | Evening Weighted | Late Evening Weighted | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Home | 92 | 3 | 42 | 8 | 84 | 65 |
| Cafe | - | 4 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| British Restaurant | - | - | 2 | - | - | - |
| Canteen | 2 | 15 | 22 | 21 | 3 | 1 |
| Packed Meal | 2 | 21 | 15 | 11 | 3 | 1 |
| Packed Meal and Canteen * | 1 | 9 | 4 | 5 | - | - |
| No answer | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Nothing to eat | 3 | 47 | 3 | 51 | 6 | 28 |
| SAMPLE | 4490 |
The overwhelming majority of people eat breakfast, evening and the late evening meal at home; if packed meals are included, it will be seen that 61% of the sample also have the midday meal provided by the home. Although, on an average, 35% buy their midday meal outside their home, variations among the different industrial groups are considerable.
Two-thirds of those who do not eat at home have their dinner at a canteen or British Restaurant; again considerable industrial difference exist, especially for men.
Table 12
Where Midday Meal is eaten
Male
Table 13
Where Midday meal is Eaten
Female
The sample is relatively small for each industrial group, and therefore the differences are not so significant; but it is certain that few building workers manage to go home for their midday meal, and clerical workers frequent cafes more than any other group. Dockers appear to use canteens much more than shipyard workers, but this apparent difference might well be due to bias in sampling. It is extremely difficult to get a proper sample for shipyard workers and dockers, as often, for security reasons, interviewers cannot enter yards which should be visited from the point of view of sampling.
Canteens
At the factories of 61% of the workers in the sample, hot dinners were served at midday. The prices of the dinners, most of which consisted of meat, two vegetables and pudding, are shown in the following table:-
Table 14
Prices of dinners served in canteens
| % | |
|---|---|
| Under 11 d. | 35 |
| 11d. - 1/1d. | 45 |
| 1/2d. - 1/4d. | 15 |
| More than 1/5d. | 2 |
| N.A. | 3 |
| All those for whom canteen meals were available 2758 | |
In 80% of all cases the meal did not cost more than 1/1d. In most cases another penny was spent on a cup of tea. Though canteen facilities were available for 61%, not all could have obtained dinners, as the serving capacity was insufficient; this will be seen from the following table:-
Table 15
Service facilities at canteens
| % | |
|---|---|
| Up to half of the employees. | 54 |
| 1/2 - ¾ of the employees | 18 |
| 3/4 - whole of the employees | 21 |
| N.A. | 7 |
| All who had canteen facilities | 2758 |
More than half of those who had canteens at their work said that there was serving capacity for less than half of the employees. This fact indicates that not all (61%) of those who had canteens at their works could have had their dinner there, even if they had wanted to. In fact, 21% ate their dinner at a canteen on the day to which the interview referred. As it is the policy of the Ministry of Food to increase the number of meals taken at canteens, it seemed worth while to find out why people who could eat at a canteen did not do so. People who had a canteen at their works and did not use it were asked what their objections to canteen meals were:
Table 16
If works has a canteen and meals are not taken there - why not? *
More than a third gave as the main reason for not going to the canteen; that they prefer to go home: their wives do not like them to stay, and it is easy to go home because they live near, etc. The argument that the wife wishes them to come home is particularly frequent, and from conversation with housewives it would seem that quite a number are afraid that if a wife does not cook her husband’s main meal she loses an important function in his life.
Dislike of the food served at the canteen is the next most important reason for not eating the main meal there. It is difficult to come to a definite decision as to the cause of the dislike. It is true that in some canteens the food is not satisfactory, but there are other canteens where the standard of cooking is apparently good and yet certain people say they dislike the food. One reason might be that mass cooking is probably always inferior to individual cooking. On the other hand a number of housewives are not very good cooks, yet husbands put up with their efforts; this may be due to habit.
The force of habit in feeding behaviour is also shown in the relatively large number who bring packed meals instead of going to the canteen, in spite of the fact that (as is shown in a number of inquiries) housewives complain about the shortage of fat, spreads and sandwich fillings.
Other reasons for not going to the canteen are:
(a) The wish to have a break and to be away from the factory for a while;
(b) The need to shop during the lunch hour;
(c) Shyness; a certain number of people do not like to go to the canteen because they are too shy to eat in front of other people. Interviewers came across people who had hardly eaten out in their life; the “pub” was the only social meeting-place they visited, and they never went to cafes or restaurants. They ate their packed meals in solitude behind their machines.
(d) Expense; a small number of people think canteen meals are too expensive. An analysis of the prices charged at their canteens shows that the prices are no higher than the average.
Women and men do not differ very much in their reasons for not using canteens.
It is interesting that in all these cases the need or wish to supplement rations is not strong enough to overcome these difficulties in using canteens, which are more psychological than objective.
Packed Meals
19% of the sample bring packed meals from home to eat at midday; 30% and 16% bring something to eat at mid-morning and mid-afternoon (Table 11). People who want to eat something at the mid-morning and mid-afternoon break have to bring a cake or a sandwich from home, if, as in many cases, nothing is supplied by the works catering department. However, there are people who bring packed meals at midday, even though canteen meals are available. Some of the reasons for this are the same as those given by people for not using canteens; even so, it was thought worth while to ask those who brought packed meals why they did so.
Table 17
Reasons for taking packed meals
Nearly a third bring packed meals because canteen meals are not available. Among those who bring packed meals, when canteens are available, the reason most often given is that bringing sandwiches is an old habit, and there is no incentive strong enough to change this habit. As already stated, in some individuals custom is a very decisive factor in feeding behaviour.
The following table shows what food items are taken for packed meals at midday.
Table 18
Constituents of packed meals taken at midday
With the exception of the few who bring cooked meals and warn them up, packed meals at midday consist mainly of sandwiches and tea. Cheese is the sandwich filling most often used.
Satisfaction with canteen
So far, only the opinions of those who do not use canteens have been shown. The next table shows what the people who actually use them think.
Table 19
Are those who take meals at their works canteen: satisfied or dissatisfied? *
The majority say they feel satisfied with their canteen. Of those who complain, the main trouble is quality or quantity of the food.
Comparison of results 1942- 1943
Again, the results of this section for the two inquiries are not quite comparable, but they show the same frequency figures for canteens, British Restaurants, and also (more or less) those who bring packed meals.
It was also found that, wherever they are comparable, the reasons for bringing packed meals and for not using canteens are of similar frequency.