Data Sets
" "  
Search ERS

 
Publications

Print this page Print | E-mail this link E-mail | Bookmark & Share Bookmark/share | Translate this page Translate | Text only Text only | resize text smallresize text mediumresize text large

Let's Eat Out: Americans Weigh Taste, Convenience, and Nutrition

Cover Image

By Hayden Stewart, Noel Blisard, and Dean Jolliffe

Economic Information Bulletin No. (EIB-19) 16 pp, October 2006

Whether eating out or buying carry-out, Americans are consuming more and more of their calories from full-service and fast-food restaurant fare. The share of daily caloric intake from food purchased and/or eaten away from home increased from 18 percent to 32 percent between the late 1970s and the middle 1990s, and the away-from-home market grew to account for about half of total food expenditures in 2004, up from 34 percent in 1974. Analysis of a survey of U.S. consumers indicates that respondents want convenience and an enjoyable dining experience, but the desire for health also plays a role as does diet-health knowledge.

Keywords: Consumer preferences, diet-health knowledge, eating out, food away from home, imperfect information, restaurant foods, rules of thumb, ERS, USDA

In this report ...

Chapters are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

Order this report (stock #EIB-19)

Updated date: October 17, 2006

For more information, contact: webadmin@ers.usda.gov

Web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov