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Final 500 words.

In some households mealtimes take priorities over all daily activities. Some households do it for the many benefits including having a healthy family. Reasons such as these are more specific to countries like the UK and America. An example to support healthy eating at mealtimes includes a study done in 2007, families who ate dinner together every day consumed an average of 0.8 more servings of fruits and vegetables compared to families who didn’t eat dinner together as a family (Rockett, 2007). [1] I have sourced this from an American website which references studies made by Florida state university, this supports my previous point which is that the dietary importance of family mealtimes is common and advertised more strongly in America than the importance of family communication at mealtimes. I’ve found a website supporting the points I’d found in my previous source however this one also states the extra benefits. These benefits include things such as less tension or stress between the family, better achievement as well as fewer behaviour problems. This shows that by recognizing the importance of these family mealtimes and by applying them and including them in our daily routines that it can actually improve family relations and other important/ helpful benefits. This may encourage parents to have family mealtimes. This can relate to the Johari window as parents of children with bad behaviour may be trying to improve it as they see that the child has bad behaviour, whereas the child doesn’t and this is a subtle way to try and improve it. As well as these seemingly fantastic benefits many first world countries have family mealtimes for nothing more than traditional reasons, e.g. how they had when they were children and just to discuss how everybody’s day has been and to communicate/ come together as a family. Seemingly, family mealtimes are more important in third and second world countries. It can be argued that this is due to things such as technology being less distracting as it’s less common. It can also be argued that these families are more likely to spend family mealtimes together as they are more grateful for what they have. Plus, in countries such as India their culture encourages families to be large/ very close. This is supported by their religious belief. An example of the importance of Indian mealtimes was illustrated in an English soap; Coronation Street which showed all the family sat around the dining table eating traditional and cultural Indian food. Perhaps she shows a relation between the parenting ego state, which can be somewhat applied in the mothers position as she is trying to control the family by stressing that they must have family mealtimes and the importance of them. Personally, as I grew up, I believe that my parent’s encouraged family mealtimes to help my understanding of acting differently in certain situations and to use table etiquette. Because of learning this as a child I now know how to act when going out for meals etc. However, I have found an article on the daily mail online which states; ‘Many children are left to eat alone in front of the TV, with only 20 per cent of families eating together at least once a week’, this figure staggers me as I feel as that through the use of other sources I found a lot of information which led towards the importance of family mealtimes.

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This is a pole I found on the daily mail regarding if people sit down with their family everyday to eat their dinner.

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Youtube 'families'.

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Real life social aspects of being youtube famous.

When you're socially famous such as being youtube famous you get many opportunities to meet other large accounts and meet other owners of youtube famous channels. 

Examples of this include the big meet ups which are held when these youtube celebrities are invited to places and events such as Vidcon and Digifest.

What is Vidcon?

Vidcon is a multi-genre online video convention which is annually held in Southern California since 2010. It is where the owners of some of these famous channels attend a convention and make speeches on what its like to own channels like theirs and give others information about youtube.

What is Digifest?

Digifest is classed as a festival which celebrates digital creativity. A large proportion of those who go to it and take part of it are famous you tubers and some of their adoring fans. This is somewhat similar to Vidcon as some of these celebrities perform and talk about their channels.

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P.O. BOX - Zoella, C/O Gleam Futures, 96-98 Leonard Street, London, EC2A 4RH

Zoe Sugg's youtube channel; Zoella.

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'Can social media make me famous?'

Social media use has rapidly increased over the past years as most of the population now possess at least 1 device which can connect to the internet and many people feel an inclination to join and have a look at what social media is all about.

Some people may see this as a bad thing but social media can really change your life.

Social media such as youtube has had many 'success' stories. One of these success stories has been featured in an advert, this is Zoe Sugg's youtube account; Zoella. Accounts like these gain millions of followers who are dedicated to watching her weekly postings, people like Zoella have gained so much thanks to youtube and therefore they've been able to create their own branded merchandise sold at big retailers such as boots and have gained fame thanks to this life-changing website. 

'INSTAFAMOUS'

TUMBLRFAMOUS'

'YOUTUBEFAMOUS'

'FACEBOOKFAMOUS'

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Why some families feel that family mealtimes are important and how this differs in different cultures.

In some households mealtimes take priorities over all daily activities. Some households do it for the many benefits, which include having a healthy family. Reasons such as these are more specific to countries such as the UK and America as family relations seem less common/important here. An example for healthy eating at mealtimes includes a study done in 2007, families who ate dinner together every day consumed an average of 0.8 more servings of fruits and vegetables compared to families who didn’t eat dinner together as a family (Rockett, 2007). [1] I have sourced this from an American website which references/reflects studies done by Florida state university, this supports my previous point which is that the dietary importance of family mealtimes is common and advertised more strongly in America than the importance of family communication at mealtimes.

I have found another resource at www.familymeals.com, this website also supports the points I have found at my previous source however this one also states the extra benefits. These benefits include things such as less tension or stress between the family, better achievement as well as fewer behavior problems.  This shows that by recognizing the importance of these family mealtimes and by applying them and including them in our daily routines that it can actually improve family relations and other important and helpful benefits. This may encourage parents to have family mealtimes. This can relate to the Johari window as parents of children with bad behaviour may be trying to improve it as they see that the child has bad behaviour, whereas the child doesn’t and this is a subtle way to try and improve it. As well as these seemingly fantastic benefits many first world countries have family mealtimes for nothing more than traditional reasons, such as how they had when the parents were children and to just discuss how everybody’s day has been and to communicate with others and come together as a family.

Seemingly, family mealtimes are more important in third and second world countries. It can be argued that this is because things such as technology cannot get in the way or distract as it is less common compared to in first world countries. It can also be argued that these families are more likely to spend family mealtimes together as they are more grateful for what they have. Also in countries such as India their culture causes and encourages families to be large and very close knit. This is supported by their religious belief. An example of the importance of Indian mealtimes was illustrated in an English soap called Coronation Street which showed all the family sat around the dining table eating traditional and cultural Indian food and the importance of all the family being there was very stressed by the mother of the family.  Perhaps she shows a relation between the parenting ego state, which can be somewhat applied in the mothers position as she is trying to control the family by stressing that they must have family mealtimes and the importance of them.

Personally, as I grew up, I believe that my parents encouraged family mealtimes to help my understanding of acting differently in certain situations.  Such as when we had family mealtimes at the table I was encouraged to have a certain amount of table etiquette such as closing my mouth when eating, using cutely, waiting for everybody to start and asking to be excused from the table. Because of doing/ learning this as a child I now also carry a certain amount of table etiquette with me.  I believe that the information I found in source 2 also influenced me, as my family is quite relaxed and unstressed.

However, i have found an article on the daily mail online which states; 'Many children are left to eat alone in front of the TV, with only 20 per cent of families eating together at least once a week', this figure staggers me as i feel as that through the use of other sources I found a lot of information which led towards the importance of family mealtimes however this information and percentage is trying to suede me the other way. 

Refrences include:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fy1195

www.familymeals.com

To read more of the article on the daily mail:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1201315/A-knife-heart-family-meal-times.html#ixzz3GK6eoEKn 

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Table étiqueté and rules.

Is this important? Does the importance depend on culture?

In simple terms table etiquete means table manners.

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Sweet or savoury?

Are you sweet or savoury?

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The role comfort eating plays

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The roles take-aways have on how we link food and countries.

Take-aways give impressions on the type of food that countries culturally eat.

Such as an Indian take-away gives the impression that all they eat in India is curries such as Tikka etc. This doesn't really give the correct impression of their cultural food. It blocks our sights on developing further investigation  into their cultural foods.

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Chinese websites including Baidu and Sina Weibo are blocking searches for "tear gas"

Recently China has also banned another social media site/app; Instagram. Is this to hide news and information from the public or is it a safety measure? 

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This is an example of some websites which are banned in China. Among them are some social media sites such as Youtube and Facebook. Does this show that social media is used out of impulse or that it should be banned worldwide? Does this prove that social media is dangerous or could be thought of as bad? Its important to understand why China has banned their citizens from these sites.

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Family mealtimes.

Family mealtimes have an important role in the culture of food. Some families eat together, at separate times and some eat out and don't have family meals regularly. In some countries mealtimes are a very important time as this is family time, however, in houses like my own, we see less of an importance of sitting round the table and spending meal times together. Does this come down to family closeness? Respect? Or is it just more convenient to spend mealtimes apart?

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These food flags show an example of the type of food which relates to each country. For example, Great Britain is renowned and know for 'English'/ 'afternoon tea' which contains foods such as cream, jam and scones. This is what the flag is made up of and therefore reflects the type of cuisine which is associated with the individual country.

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Ideas for food.

- Association of food with certain countries

- Origin of their foods

- Why they eat those specific foods