From a Public Opinion Survey on Diet (3)
November 2006
As a part of analysis on “Public Opinion Survey on Diet” conducted in March 2006, the author studied the results of table manners and home disciplines regarding food such as “Don’t be picky about food” and “Don’t place your elbows on the table.” Younger generations tend to mention fewer rules regarding food they were told to follow in childhood than older generations, revealing that people are becoming lax about table manners.
When asked to choose multiple items among ten manners they were told to observe in childhood, 67% of the respondents chose “Don’t leave food on your plate” and “Don’t place your elbows on the table,” respectively, followed by “Don’t be picky about food (65%),” “Use chopsticks properly (58%),” and “Say a word for starting and ending the meal (50%).”
The survey results show gender and age gaps. For example, among older generations (60 years old and over) 79% of male respondents and 73% of female respondents chose “Don’t leave food on your plate”, while 62% of both male and female respondents among younger generations (from 16 to 29 years old) did so. 39% of male respondents and 42% of female respondents among older generations chose “Don’t make noise while eating” but only 11% of both male and female respondents among younger generations did so, showing a big generation gap. Older generations chose more items than younger generations did, with men choosing 5.1 items and women 5.3 items on average in older generation, while men in younger generations chose 4.4 items and women 4.6. The result indicates older people had to observe more rules than younger ones when they were children.
When examining gender gaps, women picked up more items than men did regardless of age group. There is also a gender gap in rules they have to observe. “Don’t leave food on your plate” and “Don’t be picky about food” were chosen by a large number of respondents among men, while many women picked up the following five rules: “Don’t place your elbows on the table,” “Say a word for starting and ending the meal” “Don’t do anything else during the meal,” “Don’t make noise while eating” and “Don’t leave the table during the meal.” It suggests that parents tend to want their daughters to cultivate good manners.