Browsing by Author "Mehto, Outi"

Objectives: Eating together, commensalism, has lately been a common subject in a public conversation. There are concerns about the disappearance of the habit of eating together. The discussion about disappearing includes also a longing for the past. The phenomenon of eating together has strong meaning nowadays: it was one of the main themes while Finland was celebrating 100 years in 2017. There are only few previous studies about the history of eating together in Finland. The main aim of this study is to find out, how of eating together is changed from the past to nowa- days and how it is seen in present day. Research questions are: · What kind of eating together is has been in Finland´s 100 years of independence? · What kind of experiences older people have about eating together? · How eating together is seen in Finland in the 2010s? Methods: The first dataset was collected through qualitative group interviews from six pen- sioners and the second dataset was collected from newspaper articles. The interviews were audiorecorded and transcribed into written form. The journal data were collected from Helsingin Sanomat between 1.1.2010-31.12.2016. The both datasets, the inter- views and written journal data, were analyzed with the qualitative content analysis. Results and conclusions: Interviewees had only a few memories about eating together in their childhood. Family ate together because it was practical. When interviewers lived family life with their own children they were appreciated family meals and tried to eat together with family. However, work and hobbies challenged the possibilities of eating together. Nowa- days, in older age, interviewees long for eating together. The data from newspaper articles reveals that eating together is comprehended as important, but endangered. Besides the wor- ries, there are new viewpoints, such as relaxing and getting people together to share the common meals. The results followed earlier studies about Finnish eating. Results showed finns appreciate eating together but at the same time they worried about losing it.