America's Changing Eating Habits

Your Mouth May Water Over Fine Food, But Your Next Meal's More Likely A Ham Sandwich

(CBS)  Whether it's Thanksgiving Day or any day, once we're seated at the table we just can't wait for those welcome words ...LET'S EAT! Now more than ever, there's a menu for every taste and budget, so tracking the ever-changing American diet is becoming a full-time job and then some. Our Cover Story is reported by Seth Doane:

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Food! What's your current craving? Did you try those buttery king crab legs? Or … how about that delicious tuna sushi? … Oooooh, or that juicy steak …

Never in our history has there been a richer selection of food available. We love talking about it, reading about it, watching it prepared on TV …

But chances are, your last meal didn't look like a mouth-watering spread out of a cookbook, but was more likely a sandwich, or burger or pizza.

Going out to an upscale restaurant, which you do about one out of 100 visits, is not about the fuel. It's about the art of food. It's about the newness. It's about the experience. And we have that in all of our dining. But what feeds you is what you do on a daily basis. That's where the money is in America: how you eat.

Harry Balzer knows how you eat. His company, the Chicago-based NPD Group, studies the culinary habits of thousands of Americans every day.

"My job for the last 30 years has been to watch how Americans eat," Balzer told Doane. "Not what they say they do, but to watch their actual behavior."

And regardless of how adventuresome we think we are, our actual behavior is remarkably ordinary.

In fact, in 2007 our top five restaurant choices were:

1. Hamburgers (last year Americans ate 13 billion of them)
   
2. French Fries
   
3. Pizza (We eat 23 pounds a year, per person)
   
4. Mexican Food, and
   
5. Chicken sandwiches

Is it all about convenience?

"It is," Balzer said. "More than anything else it's about, if you want me to change - if you don't offer me one of these two things - then I'm not going to change. Did you make my life easier? Did you make my food cost less? It's one of those two things."

Those two things, cost and convenience - so essential in today's tough economy - were at the core of McDonald's business when it opened its first franchise back in 1955.

Today there are more than 300 restaurant chains to choose from, and with 2,000 locations worldwide. At the top of the casual-dining heap is Applebee's, which serves at leasdt two million customers a day, according to Julia Stewart. As CEO of both Applebee's and IHOP, she is an expert on what Americans really want &30151; for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

"It's still the basics,' she said, "but the desire for some increased bold flavor is certainly out here. Whether it's pumpkin on the pancakes, chipotle on the burger [or] that secret mustard sauce."

"Your job is to, in some ways, predict the future - predict what people are going to want," Doane said. "What do you see?"

"I think they do want flavor profiles that are somewhat unique, but not too far 'out there.'" She said. "So what's too far 'out there'? I don't think you're gonna see wasabi mashed potatoes tomorrow."

Perhaps the most dramatic change in our eating habits isn't what we eat but where we're eating it.

"All the growth of the restaurant industry has been about takeouts," Balzer said, "using it for a takeout place, because it's doing something for you. It's making your life easier to eat at the place where you really want to eat anyhow, which is your home."

What's old … is new again: more people want to eat at home these days. (They just don't want to do the cooking.)

In 1984, 72% of our dinners were home-made. In 2007, just 57% were.

Which is where retailers like Costco comes in. One of the hottest segments of the big-box store industry is prepared-meals-to-go.

Doane perused the items on sale at a Yonkers, N.Y. store: "Salmon Milano, you've got boneless baby back ribs, Chicken Alfredo, meatballs and penne, flank steak - sounds like a gourmet restaurant."

"Yeah it is," said store manager Anthony Fontana (left, with Doane.). "These are great items for us. They do very well. And they're ready to go. You take them home, cook them and you're ready to serve your family."

This Costco sells hundreds of ready-to-serve rotisserie chickens every day.

Doane asked one woman why she wouldn’t cook the chicken herself. "Because it's just so easy to come right here and get it," she replied.

And the bakery makes Thanksgiving prep a little easier, too. Manager Zak Davisson says bakeries will sell about 10,000 pumpkin pies in three days around Thanksgiving - and for just $5.99 each. Today it's all about value and options, so in this troubled economy, who's winning?

How about Subway's "Five-dollar foot-long"?

"This country's number one entrée served in American homes is going to be a sandwich tonight," said Balzer. "It's easy. It can be made to your specifications. You can customize and make it the way that you like it. And I think it's an inexpensive meal."

So dream on about your braised lamb shanks and grilled salmon. But chances are you'll be dreaming about them while you're in line for a ham sandwich.

[apoxy]

In France - country of good food - people have a way of life which begin to become near the american one with more and more burgers, sandwiches, etc....and less good french meals. But some people began to realize it''s bad for health and begin to change theirs habits : they watch less TV so they have more time to cook.

[guest173]

one more point, you can still make fattening food homemade too, just because you make it at home doesn''t mean its healthy. My grandma soaked a lot of her foods in tons of butter, my dad lathers his stuff at home in junk too. my grandma wasn''t thin either, she was like a lot of old white ladies, pretty chubby.

[guest173]

oh yeah, I admit, I hate to cook and I am pretty bad at it, I burn a lot of it and things just end up tasting terrible even when I follow the recipes. I have to throw out so much of my own cooking that I feel I am wasting money and might as well pay for something I know will taste better than what I can make, I can make sandwiches and rice and not much else, my family gets tired of that after a while.

[guest173]

I go to McDonalds all the time, but I never went this much until after I had a kid. McDonalds have some great play places with even arts and crafts activities (the ones with NICE workers really make the experience worth going). I do love healthy food but going to Subway all the time gets too expensive, and they don''t have a fun play area for the kids to hang out. you still have to watch your kids there though, I have seen some get taken away on a stretcher because of chaotic kids. for having a dollar menu, McDonalds does have some of the nicest dining areas, Jack in the Box by my house has lots of bugs that I''ve seen.

[jackmeoffii]

The Heart Attack Grille was featured today. Been there, done that Tempe.
Believe it or not, they will NOT serve you a RARE burger because of Health Dept regs!!!!
Die by High Cholesterol but not E Coli!
DO have lite beer but NO Diet Coke!!!
***? Over!

[whitemale08]

Don''t you just love how the media tries to ''talk us through'' this global financial crisis by saying it''s ''trendy to starve to death''?

It is amazing how you can feel if you give up "Process Foods". The Standard American Diet is killing those that eat it.

It is amazing how you can feel if you give up "Process Foods". The Standard American Diet is killing those that eat it.

It is amazing how you can feel if you give up "Process Foods". The Standard American Diet is killing those that eat it.

[stick1772]

As many fat a55es as i see everywhere i''m having a hard time thinking people are having a problem paying for food.