Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec 13;19(24):16734.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph192416734.

Digital Forms of Commensality in the 21st Century: A Scoping Review

Maína Ribeiro Pereira-Castro  1   2 , Adriano Gomes Pinto  2 , Tamila Raposo Caixeta  3 , Renata Alves Monteiro  4 , Ximena Pamela Díaz Bermúdez  1 , Ana Valéria Machado Mendonça  1
Affiliations

Digital Forms of Commensality in the 21st Century: A Scoping Review

Maína Ribeiro Pereira-Castro et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The social act of eating together has been influenced and mediated by technologies in recent decades. This phenomenon has been investigated in different academic fields, but the topic is still in an incipient dimension, and there is a lack of consensus regarding terminology and definitions. The study aimed to characterize the main scientific findings regarding digital forms of commensality in the 21st century and to identify possible relationships between these practices and public health. A scoping review was conducted to identify papers published in different languages between 2001 and 2021. A total of 104 publications that combined commensality and technology in all contexts were included. Most studies were qualitative; from the Design and Technology field; used social media and video platforms or prototypes/augmented reality gadgets; and used different terms to refer to digital forms of commensality, allowing the analysis of the construction of field definitions over time. The intersections with health were observed from impacts on family/community engagement, culinary skills development, and mental health and eating habits. These practices also structured specific social interactions, such as virtual food communities and commensality, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper indicates the consistent growth of these practices and recommends the development of future research for theoretically and longitudinally deeper evaluations of the impacts of these new ways of eating together, especially regarding their effects on human health.

Keywords: digital commensality; eating together; food practices; food studies; social dining; technology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study selection flow diagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Publications on the topic around the world.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Number of studies published by year (n = 104).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Distribution of the analyzed publications by area of knowledge.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Timeline of the conceptualization of new forms of commensality.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Moreira S.A. Alimentação e comensalidade: Aspectos históricos e antropológicos [Food and Commensality: Historical and Anthropological Aspects] Cienc. Cult. 2010;62:23–26.
    1. Simmel G. Simmel on Culture: Selected Writings; Part III. Sage Publications; London, UK: 1997. pp. 130–136.
    1. Zuin P., Zuin L. Tradição e Alimentação [Tradition and Food] Ideias e Letras; Aparecida, SP, Brazil: 2009.
    1. Flandrin J.L., Montanari M. História da Alimentação [History of Diet] Estação Liberdade; São Paulo, Brazil: 1998. pp. 667–688.
    1. Poulain J. Sociologias da Alimentação [Sociologies of Food] UFSC; Florianópolis, Brazil: 2004.

Publication types