How often do you eat out?

Eating out has become part of everyday life, and so has eating takeaway foods.

When I was young going out or getting takeaway was a once in a blue moon treat. It was home cooked food every night, and eating out was considered an extravagance. Throughout history this wasn’t always the case. The Romans famously lived in small houses or apartments with no kitchens because they used to eat out all the time. It made sense as it was impossible for the working people to keep a fire going in their homes all day to cook on. The only people who could afford to do that were the rich who had slaves. So back then home cooked food was a preserve of the wealthy. When I say eat out I don’t just mean going to a sit down restaurant (which was probably the first thing that popped into your head), I’m also talking about those sneaky burgers, that late night kebab, the lazy Sunday fry up and those sandwiches you get for lunch at work. Now when you think of all those items you start to realise that you ‘eat out’ more than you originally thought. It’s no surprise really when you think of all the options there are. Restaurants and new fast food places pop up every 5 minutes, around here the amount of different chicken joints (both Southern fried and Peri-Peri) is astonishing. The range of restaurants out there is amazing too, there are so many to choose from of every type of cuisine imaginable. Right now Peruvian and Vietnamese are both en vogue and there is always room for more exotic food. We are getting a taste for interesting and ‘new’ dishes to try and we want more. My grandfather was brought up so that he wouldn’t touch any food that wasn’t classic British ‘meat and two veg’, I mean seriously he wouldn’t even taste a little bit! Oh how times have changed… Eating out has become cheap and convenient and we have all embraced it. I mean we don’t all eat out at Michelin star restaurants every night, but most of us do eat out often…very often. I eat out quite a lot from restaurants to fast food, and maybe I do feel guilty that I should be cooking more. But really we are all just joining in and living with the food culture of the times. When in Rome... How often do you eat out? Remember to share in the comments below! Michael Robinson