The questionnaire survey also asked my respondents to state their favourite choice if they could have whatever they liked for their evening meal at home. It was intended that this question would allow some impression to be gained of how far respondents would practise ‘healthy’
eating (as defined by their responses to previous questions) when given a free choice of food for an evening meal. This question was also designed to gauge how far the shiftworkers’ meals of choice would reflect the type of meal described by Murcott (1982, 1983) as the ‘proper’ meal, that is, a cooked dinner of meat, potatoes and vegetables, with gravy.
When I coded the questionnaire responses, as table 6.7 shows, I found that the most popular choice among my respondents was a meat-based dish. 39.2% of the 118 respondents to this question chose a roast or ‘Sunday’ dinner, or other ‘English’ meat-based meal. A further 34.2%
chose a ‘minority ethnic’ meat meal. Other ‘minority ethnic’ meal choices, however, were vegetarian dishes, such as vegetable curry, and these were coded as such. 10% of respondents chose a vegetarian meal, and a further 10% fish or seafood. Responses to this question highlighted the need to be sensitive to assumptions commonly made about food.
Curry, for example, is often assumed in Britain to include meat, whereas in India curry dishes would more often be vegetarian.
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Table 6.7: If you were at home and could have whatever you liked for your evening meal at home, what would you
choose?
Frequency Valid Percent
Valid Roast or 'Sunday' dinner 11 9.2
Other 'English' meat meal 36 30.0
'Minority ethnic' meal
meal 41 34.2
Fish or seafood meal 12 10.0
Vegetarian meal 12 10.0
Salad 3 2.5
Other 3 2.5
Total 118 100.0
N=118, 2 missing cases
Note: ‘Other ‘English’ meat meal, e.g. steak and chips, lamb stew.
‘Minority ethnic’ meat meal’, e.g. beef curry, lasagne, spaghetti with meatballs.
Vegetarian meal, e.g. baked potato and cheese.
These findings suggested that meat meals tended to be given priority within British culture and were seen as particularly appropriate for evening meals. My respondents’ choices were also reminiscent of the ‘proper’ meal or ‘cooked dinner’ identified by Murcott (1982,1983). It was interesting that many favoured meat meals despite health education messages urging reduction in the consumption of red meat. The limited references to the ‘healthy’ eating practices mentioned above, such as eating less fatty food, suggested the desire to follow current ‘healthy’
eating recommendations might not have been a major factor in respondents’ choices. The inclusion of some ‘gourmet’ meals (such as duck a I’orange, or steak tartare), such as might be served in a restaurant, suggested that perhaps few considered that they would be cooking the meal themselves.
6.2.vi. Foods avoided
In considering shiftworkers’ eating patterns, I considered it important to ascertain if respondents had particular reasons for avoiding certain foods as this would potentially influence their eating patterns. Respondents were asked if they were on a slimming diet and also if there were any foods which they always avoided eating and if so, for what reasons.
Table 6.8 shows that 79.6% of my 118 respondents were not on a slimming diet at the time of the survey. Of the 24 who indicated they were on a slimming diet, 18 were female and 6 male, suggesting that, of the shiftworkers studied, women were three times as likely to be on a slimming diet as men.
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Table 6.8: Are you on a slimming diet now?
Frequency Valid Percent
Valid No 94 79.6
Yes 24 20.3
Total 118 100.0
N= 118, 2 missing cases
This finding was interesting as a description of my sample, and might have been related to cultural expectations that women in western societies should be slim; however, it seemed some male respondents were also concerned to reduce their body size and weight. It was possible that some respondents who were ambulance workers and nurses thought that as ‘health’
workers they should themselves appear slim and healthy.
Respondents were also asked in the questionnaire if they generally avoided eating any types of food, and if so, which.
Table 6.9: Which foods do you generally avoid eating?
Frequency Valid Percent
Valid All meat 6 8.3
Red meat 4 5.5
Offal 9 12.5
Dairy foods 2 2.7
Fried / fatty food 22 30.5
Spicy food 7 9.7
Other 22 30.5
Total 72 100.0
N= 72, 48 missing cases
When I coded the responses, as table 6.9 shows, I found that almost one third (30.5%) of the 72 respondents who answered this question avoided fatty or fried food, possibly because they were following a slimming diet, or because they wished to eat a ‘healthy’ diet. 6 respondents indicated that they were vegetarians and avoided all meat, and 4 others indicated that they avoided red meat. 9 respondents indicated that they avoided offal (where specific types of offal were mentioned by respondents, liver and kidney were mentioned most frequently).
Some respondents indicated that they avoided certain foods because of perceived risks to health and some avoided red meat because they thought it contained high levels of cholesterol which some considered a risk to health. My research was also conducted at the time of the BSE outbreak in Britain and health warnings against the consumption of beef and offal may have influenced responses. No respondent gave a religious or cultural reason for avoiding any foods,
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and none indicated that they avoided any foods because they were thought to make sleeping or working difficult.
A further 22 respondents to this question indicated that they avoided a wide range of other foods, including beetroot, eggs, semolina, garlic and ‘spicy’ foods. Where a reason was given for avoidance of a particular food, some indicated that it was because they disliked the taste, but some also avoided foods because of the perceived after-effects, such as ‘bad breath after eating garlic’.
The high percentage of respondents who indicated that they avoided certain foods was interesting and perhaps indicated that shiftworkers were more likely to experience digestive problems than other groups. It may also have been that workers in close personal contact with others, such as nurses, were more aware of possible anti-social after-effects of eating some foods and avoided eating them for this reason.
6.3 SUMMARY
The majority of shiftworkers in my sample enjoyed food, and thought eating important. Whilst health and nutrition were the most common reasons given as to why food was important, the social side of eating was important to some. Most respondents regarded their diet as ‘healthy’.
Around 20% of respondents indicated they were on a slimming diet, and around one third indicated they avoided some types of foods, particularly fatty and fried foods.
Meat-based meals were the most popular evening meal choices, such as the ‘Sunday dinner’, steak and chips, beef curry, lamb stew and lasagne. This suggested a preference for substantial, ‘proper’ meals even though the range of meals regarded as ‘proper’ meals seemed to have been extended from the traditional ‘English’ ‘proper’ meal of ‘meat and two veg’ to include ‘minority ethnic’ meat based meals, such as curry.
This chapter has given an overview of shiftworkers' attitudes to food and eating as a prelude to the more detailed examination of the quantitative evidence on patterns of eating presented in chapters 7 and 8.
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CHAPTER 7: EATING PATTERNS AND SHIFTWORK