eating at the edge

According to Jamie Horwitz, the author of "Eating at the Edge", the eating habit of contemporary people has changed a lot. The author came up with a phrase "eating at the edge" at the beginning of the article, which means "occasions when food is an additive to a situation, such as a cigarette would be, rather than being definitive"(42). The author also mentioned a term "task-oriented world". In my opinion, "task-oriented world" means with the development of the society and acceleration of pace of life, the burden of work has becoming more and more heavy, eating is not a vital part of people's life anymore. Meanwhile, people start a new eating pattern which is strongly impacted by the "task-oriented world", and the old eating customs are gradually disappearing. For example, people were willing to gather together and spend lots of time eating and chatting in the past; nowadays, most people prefer to eat alone for quick and convenience. I think, because the eating does not refer to the process of sharing any more for most people, it just the most common thing they have to do every day that providing energy for them. So, under this new situation, portable food became more and more popular, such as fast food and TV dinner. As the author mentioned in this article, she was not surprised when she saw a student wolfing a sandwich in class. 

In fact, I have same feeling with author according to my own experience. When I was little, I never missed any meal each day, and I always took each meal on time. However, due to my tight class schedule, I usually only take lunch in dinning hall and just grab some bread or portable sushi in convenience stores for my breakfast and dinner.