I think this has more to do with the breakdown of family. My family growing up (and now as the parent) ensure we sit down and eat together for breakfast and dinner. Home cooked from scratch 3-4 times a week fresh and left overs the other nights. I eat totally different foods than my parents cooked, but the community is key. My Wife and I got really good at making a few dishes from various cultures (Greek, Mexican, Irish, French). It wasn’t our culture matters, it’s the idea of making and sharing a meal.
More broadly I point to the disappearing stay at home parent. It turns out young kids need to be in bed between 7:30-8:00 for enough sleep. Good luck cooking from scratch when neither parent is home before 6:00. (Ask me how I know)
Yeah, I agree. My wife and I stay home, switching who watches the kids at home every other day.
Before when we both worked out of the house we lived close to work (did so intentionally, gave up better opportunities).
We tend to use a crock pot, put it in before work in the morning. We also will prepare the food the night before and put it in the oven at 4pm so we can eat at 5pm. It’s a lot of work and you have to give stuff up, but we think its worth it.
Afaik multiple countries with "food culture" have higher divorce rates then USA. It is no only factor how you measure "breakdown of family" of course, but it strongly suggest the reason will be different.
If I had to guess, I would relate it more to "culture of working long hours or multiple jobs and culture of traveling a far away for work every day" might be more of the cause.
Blaming "the breakdown of family" is a rather privileged view.
Consider that in the US, wages for lower income families haven't kept up with inflation for decades. That means even when a family consists of two parents, there often isn't enough money to make ends meet, and one or both parents often end up working a second (or third) job. When you have both parents working more than 40 hours a week, are you really surprised that they don't have the energy to cook from scratch?
Even in the case of "broken" families, a mother and her children that escape domestic violence are probably still better off overall, even though it's harder for them to make ends meet. I'm sure you wouldn't advocate that they stay in a harmful environment just to maintain the family structure?
Finally, and perhaps most important, many people live in food deserts. --They don't have easy access to reasonably priced raw ingredients. In some neighborhoods, the corner store is only place for them to buy stuff, and processed foods are often cheaper than the meager selection of raw goods.
> Even in the case of "broken" families, a mother and her children that escape domestic violence are probably still better off overall, even though it's harder for them to make ends meet. I'm sure you wouldn't advocate that they stay in a harmful environment just to maintain the family structure?
I think you're reading into GP's comment a lot that isn't there. I didn't even see a value judgment in their comment, let alone a suggestion that a mother and child subject to domestic violence should stay in that environment purely for maintaining the family structure.
I don't know anybody's advocating for people to stay in abusive relationships. Maintaining the family structure means keeping a close bond with the people you love as much as possible. If they don't respect you enough, and you can't work it out, leave, and find someone who does respect you. And build a family bond there.
