A report released for National Marriage Week in mid-May showed that only a third of British couples eat together all or most of the time and around a quarter of couples eat together rarely or not at all. However, couples who do make the decision to eat together consistently reported a higher enjoyment of their meal and may even have happier relationships.
67% of married couples who ate together were very happy with their relationship, compared to 58% of those who ate apart. This links in with previous research which showed that occasional ‘date nights’ – intentionally setting time aside to spend together – considerably reduces the risk of divorce for couples.
The United Kingdom Time Use Survey 2014-15 looked at eating habits on one weekday and one weekend day among more than 7,600 people in over 4,000 households. It found that 35% of married couples and 28% of cohabiting couples ate together often (more than 80% of the time), while 22% of married couples and 27% of cohabiting couples ate together rarely (less than 40% of the time). The survey also found that only 12% of parents with children aged 0-7 ate with their children.
