Online food delivery technology and family food traditions: A sociocultural perspective

Abstract

Good food isn’t just about the taste. It’s about where and with whom you eat -Natsumi Ando. This case explores the impact of online food delivery app technology on socializing commensality, communicative expectations, symbolic, moral, and sentimental meanings of food and eating. Ethnographic evidence shows how foods prepared at home and consumed are rooted in practices and ideologies of local communities and cultures. The case examines how the unfettered proliferation of on-demand services such as online food delivery platforms has affected an essential household activity namely home cooking and dining behavior in a country like India. In addition, the study examines how the continuous practice of evading cooking at home impacts food, life, culture, and society on a social and cultural level.

Introduction

Mrs Malini and Mrs Banumathi have been colleagues in the same office for a decade and are good friends. The conversations in the office cab on the way home usually revolve around office and evening dinner matters and family matters. They also discuss upcoming festivals, holidays, food recipes, different varieties of menus, likes and preferences of family members, challenges in the kitchen, food habits of children, etc.

Banumathi views cooking to be a strain at the end of the day, so she doesn’t put much effort into it and doesn’t take food seriously. As a result, the majority of the time, she orders food online to be delivered to her home at least 4 days a week. Malini, on the other hand, makes it a point to prepare food for the family every day. She does so by picking up some fresh vegetables and greens from markets and street vendors on the way. Each day, she plans her menu based on the vegetables available in the refrigerator. She wants to prepare something that is loved by her children, her parents, and her grandparents.

Even though Malini is exhausted at the end of the day from office work, she plans something new every day. This starts with deciding what to cook and then preparing the ingredients. This is followed by cutting the vegetables, grinding, mixing, sorting, frying, boiling, arranging the table, etc. It’s imperative to feed everyone in the family before she retires to bed for the day. Physically, she becomes extremely tired. Ducombe and Marsden (1993) claim that women perform triple shifts in terms of emotional work, and invest a significant amount of time in the psychological wellbeing of other members.

Banumathi often convinces Malini to order online food delivery for evening dinner as it works out to be amazingly cheap and saves time and energy. Banumathi also suggests that getting food delivered to your doorstep through online food delivery is very convenient. This saves at least 2 h per day working in the kitchen. The family can enjoy a variety of dishes that are not possible to prepare at home. The convenience of online food delivery right to your door is a convenient way to get food after a long day at work. The kids can select their own meals too. Many online food platforms offer attractive discounts for regularizing dishes and cleaning the kitchen could be avoided. Sometimes, when we are held up in the office for some urgent reasons, we can just place an order and the food will be delivered on time to our homes.

Banumathi’s view is true and helpful. There is no second opinion or point of contention with her ideas and statements. Malini also wanted to try out for a week ordering food online every day. Her colleague’s advice worked out for her.

She did not feel tired at all in the evenings; she did not worry about planning dinner; she did not want to have the energy to stand in the kitchen; standing in front of the gas oven, she did not have to clean the kitchen cabinets post dinner.

She had plenty of time in the evening to order different varieties of dishes from different restaurants. Her husband and the children need not wait in hunger until the food is prepared. Within a few minutes of placing the order, the food is delivered, or we can even decide when we want it to be delivered. She got some time in front of the television in the evenings. She could help her children with their homework, studies, and education. Malini was overwhelmed by the benefits of online food delivery technology. Mobile food delivery apps are such a technology boon. Thanks to the growth of information technology, it is a great idea that we no longer have to drive to restaurants, but restaurants are brought to our doorstep. She felt excited. She is familiar with the business model of online food delivery, the employment it generates, more business for restaurant owners, and consumer behavior change. However, all comments are on a larger scale. As an individual, she has benefited from technology. She started ordering food through an online food delivery app. She continued for the whole week and the next week and the following week.

Although Malini was extremely comfortable, she gradually felt she was missing out on something at home in the evenings because she was avoiding doing the cooking for the family. Having returned home from work, she realized that cooking served as a stress buster for her. She became creative while shopping for vegetables and fruits and planning a delicious menu every day. She was relieved of all worries and tensions, and could concentrate only on her work in the kitchen. Everyone’s appetites are sparked by the whistle of the cooker. They are sparked by the sounds of cutlery in the kitchen, and the aroma of dhal sambhar, fish curry, or reheated leftover chicken and layered parathas. Even before dinner, everyone in the family runs to the kitchen to taste unfinished food.

The husband also sometimes took part in the cutting, grating, and grinding. As part of their contribution, the children prepared the dining table by setting the plates, filling the water jars, and performing other small chores. This created a kind of bonding and happiness among family members. It also created a sense of responsibility for the children and made them understand the effort that it takes to prepare meals. In addition, they understood that they should not attempt to waste food on plates. When cooked food was delivered right to the doorstep, this was missing.

The contemplation

Malini understands that food cooked at home does not have to be presented professionally and dressed well like food purchased away from home. Rather, it should be prepared in a healthy and hygienic way. Food prepared at home need not have a lot of varieties on the plate. Instead, it is served with taste and love for the little ones in the family. The food cooked at home by the mother is not professionally the most delicious, but it is cooked according to the tastes of the family. Her children are young and can’t handle spicy food, so she prepares the same food less spicy. A portion of rice is overboil for the grandparents, who are too old to chew chewy rice. A few crispy fried items are always a part of the menu, which are children’s favorites.

Home cooking is a necessary ingredient for healthy living and promoting physical health (Condrasky and Hegler, 2010). The home environment is likely to provide positive connotations regarding food preparation and eating meals together (Flukerson et al., 2009).

The happiness that Malini feels when she looks at the face of her husband and children as they enjoy their meal is spellbound. The satisfaction she gets from this is absent when food is purchased. This is because upon arrival, people tend to take their own portion. They eat it in their respective rooms, on their desks, or in front of the TV. The children lose the opportunity to learn the habit of sharing food and socializing with members of the family.

When food arrives from outside, family members stop gathering together for food at the same time and at the same place. The need to assemble and come together is lost in the family when food is delivered online. There is a limited menu that is shared by all family members when food is cooked at home. Whereas when we order food each member of the family has his/her own preference. By providing online food delivery, the sense of adjusting with family members is being reduced. More so, when guests drop into our homes, the pleasure of serving home cooked snacks and dishes is slowly vanishing these days with the advent of technology. Food delivery online comes in handy, as we can place an order online and get it delivered hot and ready for serving immediately. However, the sense of satisfaction of sharing and happiness from preparing something for guests is gradually disappearing.

In addition, there is always a doubt about the health and cleanliness of food purchased from outside. The food that is delivered may have unwholesome ingredients added to enhance its taste, substandard products, or unclean handling methods that may be hidden from sight. There have been instances where delivery personnel ate some food, carried it for delivery, repacked it, and delivered it to customers.

Advantages of online food delivery app

However, the advent of apps and technology has surely increased our convenience with online food delivery. It is a boon to the country. In all technical, economical, and sociological aspects, it has always been advantageous. It has generated employment in the form of delivery personnel and the proliferation of the aggregator business model. The online food delivery industry has developed, helping the restaurant business to find more customers. Innovative small business models such as kitchens, ghost kitchens, virtual kitchens, etc., have been made possible thanks to this technology. From a broader perspective, online food delivery is a major contributor to the gig economy.

Online food delivery comes in handy for bachelors who are away from family on the job. The availability of online food delivery services helps some individuals who live alone and do not know how to cook. It is very convenient for students who are staying in hostels, who study until the wee hours of the morning; food could even be delivered at 2.00 a.m. during the night. Those who wish to host a party at home or who have unexpected guests at home can rely on online food delivery.

Changing consumer behavior

Once upon a time, during festival seasons, sweets and savories used to be prepared at home and shared among friends and relatives in Indian culture. Although it was a custom, it was a time of sharing happiness and sweets. There was a lot of discussion about the recipes, ingredients, process of preparation, iconic dishes for each festival, and finally the sense of fulfillment from the outcome. This included their taste, shape, consistency, appearance, and color. There was happiness in its imperfection. The compliments and comments received are the source of motivation and pleasure.

The model of festival celebration in our society is changing. Today, sweets and other food items are ordered from outside. It gets delivered in packets. Purchasing sweets does not bring the same joy as sharing them, unlike sweets prepared at home. For example, there is no need for comments or compliments, and purchasing sweets has lost the joy of preparing and enjoying them with family, friends, and relatives.

Socialization into commensality

Mealtime and cooking in families is a common occasion. It is because members engage not only in feeding and eating activities, but also establish relationships that reinforce social order. There is a need to gather to share food when it is cooked at home. This promotes socialization among children and family members, as well as communication and casual sharing.

Commensality is the practice of sharing food and eating in a social place, such as family at the same time. Commensality is what defines the success of the family as a social unit (Dreyer and Dreyer, 1973; Murcott, 1982; Ochs et al., 1996). Commensality is a vanishing ideal for many families in the context of busy working schedules and food not being cooked at home in the recent times.

Food is deeply symbolic and infused with sentimental, moral, religious, and health associations. Therefore, it is natural that parents share their positive childhood memories of dishes and the way they were prepared by their parents and grandparents. This is at the dinner table with their children. In this way, food items not only commemorate positive sentiments, but also link generations and bring ancestors into members’ awareness. It is noteworthy how not only during feasts and rituals, but also everyday family meals reaffirm moral values in the family and community as well.

Mealtime is often the moment of the day when family members reunite after work and school and a cultural site for recounting incidents that have transpired during the day. This creates and promotes an egalitarian ideology. Meals can be regarded as arenas for fostering sociality, morality, and understanding. It acts as vehicles for and end points of culture. Mealtimes not only engage in feeding and eating but also establish relationships that reinforce or modify the established order. Furthermore, it facilitates the social construction of knowledge and moral perspectives that characterize occasions. A meal is an occasion that varies within and across social groups and cultures in terms of food setting, duration, menu items, meal sequences, and significance. (Cole and Cole, 1996; LeVine, 1999, Mead, 1934; Rogoff, 1990).

In ancient Greece, Okios (family) was defined as “those who feed together” (Lacey, 1968). On the Micronesian island of Fais, the family roles of father and mother are rooted in the mealtime function of preparing meals (Rubinstein, 1979). Children are socialized to the importance of food sharing while having food prepared in the family. Food from a mother reminds you of her and the effort she puts into it. She puts her heart and love into it. In the end, it is not the amount of time and energy spent, but rather the food consumed during childhood. This always brings back nostalgia and brings great joy to anyone.

Family is the basic building block of any society as it performs the fundamental functions of primary socialization thus helping social order and economic stability. (Goode, 1963; Parsons, 1959). Durkheim (1893) claimed that people do not simply exist in a society. They are bonded by what he called social solidarity.

Concerns of online food delivery

This trend is being driven by the increasing convenience and affordability of online platforms, which are prompting the replacement of home cooking with food sourced from elsewhere. (Cunningham- Sabo and Simons, 2012). These online platforms are substituting home cooked meals with convenient hot deliveries. This change is worrisome as it would raise the specter of a concerning impact on population health. The annual industry reports from Uber Eats (The 2020 Uber Eats Craving Report/Uber Newsroom) suggest the most frequently ordered food items on these platforms are indulgent items, indulgent items, high calorie food (Stephens et al., 2020). Moreover beyond the mere nutritional value of cooking (Wolfson and Bleich, 2015) meal preparation is also seen as a social activity of maintaining it to maintain family cohesiveness (Ekstrom and Jonsson, 2006) constitutes a matter of concern for the society and the country at large in the long run.

Online food delivery business model

Restaurant-to-consumer distribution or platform-to-consumer delivery operations are both efficient and scalable. Crowdsourcing logistics is a low-cost alternative to food delivery. Delivery personnel on private contracts could be paid on a commission basis, which would be hugely successful. This is a global phenomenon with every country having In recent years, online food delivery business industries have developed new opportunities, customers, and eating preferences. Platforms such as online food delivery encourage consumers to eat online and use their services rather than spend time and energy cooking meals themselves.

The impact of the digitization of daily activities on lifestyle changes (Belavina et al., 2017; Hitsch et al., 2010) and socio-economic issues (Ozer et al., 2020; Wang and Overby, 2017; Zhang and Li, 2019) and public health (Chan and Ghoce, 2014; Greenwood and Wattd, 2017) is recorded.

The culture of cooking food at home

Food is a symbol of communal identity over time, as well as a way to affirm or diminish affection and social bonds. Several studies have reviewed the symbolic significance of food and eating among different social groups (Bourdieu, 1984; Douglas, 1975; Farb and Armelagos, 1980; Goody, 1982; Mintz and DuBios, 2002).

Cooking at home has a wide range of social and emotional dimensions. Food conditions in many developed countries have changed in recent years so that cooking has become a choice rather than a necessity (E(Engler,010). Home cooking was also highly valued and seen as an extremely valuable social activity that was closely tied to cultural identity and traditions and relationships with family and friends. Home cooking is often associated with positive memories, happiness and overall wellbeing.

Scheduling a cooking activity with the family means, we get to spend quality time with them. A lot of positive things happen in a few hours when we are in the kitchen—laughter, stories, feelings, a break from gadgets, understanding each other better. Children feel more secure and feel a sense of belonging when the family cooks and eats together. There is pleasure in cooking a meal for others and a sense of satisfaction in creating a dish from basic ingredients. Home cooking fosters strong and loving personal connections.

Cooking is like meditation. Something is created by creation. Unlike the rest of the day, we are away from screens. It gives you a mental break. It becomes a time to ruminate about different things in life.

Cooking gives a sensory experience. The smells, the sights, and the sounds. The family sits down together to eat and share love. Cooking becomes the act of love. Families always need their own space, time, and energy.

Are we not losing out on the individual’s happiness diluting the strong culture of family as a unit, sending wrong messages to the children by just ordering food from outside every day?

Is it not the responsibility of every parent to build the family bond?

Communication, self-confidence, and understanding are the basic elements of everything that happens over food at the dinner table. It is not just manners but values, virtues, life and customs that are all learned and inherited through food. This is when food is cooked and eaten together among family members.

Is the culture about to be diluted and dismantled overall, because of the advent of the mobile app and online food delivery?

Is the country going to face a disaster in its family structure, which is the backbone of any successful, healthy society?

Are we building a healthier population for tomorrow?

Women’s kingdom

Malini feels and realizes her views and thoughts. A woman becomes the queen of her kitchen. The kitchen is my place of my own. They are my ideas that are put into action. It is my creation that I live by every day. It is my recipe, my menu and my decision. I allow others into my kitchen only if I wish, including my husband and children.

I play my own playlist, I sing, I pray, and I relax. It is my meditation. It is my source of energy, my place of creation.

“I cannot afford to lose this happiness,” she adds. A serious consideration of online food delivery technology will definitely benefit families. Putting some serious thought into it is beneficial for both the family and society.

Is the country only concerned about the growing economy increasing employment and evolving business models?

Questions for discussion

1. What is the social impact of the online food delivery model?

2. What is the economic impact of the online food delivery model?

3. How does online delivery affect the culture of the next generation?

4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of online food delivery technology for a single social unit like a family?

5. Write a note on the changing consumer behavior on food habits.