Ninth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

The prevalence of obesity in the adult Malaysian adult population is rising rapidly, and the Malaysian eating pattern is characterized by very pronounced outside of home food consumption. Drawing upon a sociological approach, this paper aims at 1) questioning the common assumption that a high frequency of eating out leads to increase of the Body Mass Index (BMI), and 2) deciphering eating out implications on eating patterns. Data analysed in this paper have been collected from a nationally representative sample by a survey focusing on the social and cultural determinants of food habits - the Malaysian Food Barometer. The overall contribution of this paper is three-fold. First, it contributes to clear the conceptual and methodological blur related to eating out. Then, it demonstrates a negative relationship between the proportion of intakes eaten out of home and BMI as well as a moderating effect of gender. Finally, some interpretations of this and recommendations for future research based on a sociological perspective of eating out as a public eating setting are suggested.