The way we eat today would be virtually unrecognizable to someone from even just a few decades ago. Back then, your grandparents grew up with clear meal times with the family while enjoying a home-cooked meal. Today’s eating landscape involves convenience and customizations unknown to them. They would find some of these crazy, while others are something they’d like to try out. Here are the 10 eating habits that would completely baffle your grandparents.
10. Dining While Staring at Phones
The sight of restaurant tables full of people silently scrolling through their phones while eating would disturb your grandparents. Back then, they viewed meals as a time to socialize and engage in conversations. The modern phenomenon of “dining alone together” would seem rude and disrespectful to those who grew up with meals being an affair with the family.
9. Extreme Dietary Restrictions as Lifestyle Choices
Modern diets go far beyond medical restrictions to lifestyle choices. Ask them about keto, raw vegan, paleo, and other eating philosophies, and they would be baffled. They knew that meals were something that you must consume to gain energy and stay healthy. If you turn down food that they make due to your dietary restriction, it would look rude to them, as you should never say no to food.
8. $20 Smoothies and Juice Cleanses
The modern wellness industry’s approach towards beverages will be a mystery to your grandparents. They viewed juice as something you either squeeze out or mic. However, smoothie shops charge $15-20 for a blended drink. These drinks feature different superfoods like spirulina and bee pollen. They would also be scared of people doing a juice cleanse, where they would only drink expensive, cold-pressed, healthy juices for days.
7. Subscription Boxes for Single Ingredients
Today, the industry of modern subscription boxes has also created a set for artisanal salts, olive oil, hot sauce, and even water. They’re believed to contain health benefits. Your grandparents, who bought basic ingredients in bulk, may view this as unnecessary. They won’t get the concept of paying more than $30 a month just to receive different types of salts from around the world.
6. Ordering Groceries From Your Phone
The concept of grocery shopping without leaving your house has got to be one of the most convenient things on earth. Different apps allow you to add items to your virtual pushcart while you fill it with your necessities. This concept won’t fly past your grandparents, as they could never imagine letting strangers pick out their groceries for them.
5. Intermittent Fasting
Your grandparents may have lived through times when missing meals wasn’t a choice. The idea of people skipping meals would seem like a crazy idea to a generation that prioritized three meals a day. Modern intermittent fasting means eating within specific time windows or fasting for days. With the goal of weight loss or metabolic health, people would gladly go through the process.
4. Food as Social Media Content
The habit of taking pictures of every meal would be completely alien to your grandparents. For them, food is fuel and not a performative art. Your grandmother, who probably taught you not to play with your food, would be horrified by people spending minutes styling their meals for photos. Well, it’s safe to say that they were living in a different time back then.
3. Meal Replacement Powders
The concept of replacing entire meals with powder drinks seems like a dystopia to your grandparents. Usually, they come in the form of shakes or drinks made to make you feel full and avoid eating. Our grandmother, who probably viewed cooking and eating as expressions of love and culture, would be heartbroken that people choose to avoid meals.
2. Paying Extra to Cook Your Own Food
The concept of Korean BBQ and hot pot (which is way pricier) might confuse your grandparents. They view eating out as paying a restaurant to cook for you. The idea that you’d pay restaurant prices to essentially use someone else’s kitchen would seem backwards to someone who cooked at home to save money and went to restaurants for the service and convenience.
1. Lab-Grown Meat
The concept of growing animal meat without harming any animals might sound like science fiction to your grandparents. Companies like Memphis Meats and Just are developing actual animal meat like chicken, beef, and fish through animal cells in bioreactors. Your grandfather, who knew that meat production involves raising animals and feeding them before processing, would be baffled by the idea of growing meat in petri dishes.