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Section 4
Meals and Foods

The preceding section has given a picture of the total output in terms of hours up, hours worked, hours travelled, and the intensity of the work performed. The following section is intended to give a complementary account of the intake of foods in qualitative terms. It is realised that this is not as satisfactory as a quantitative study but whilst this method may not show how much of a certain food is taken it does show where none has been eaten.

It should be mentioned that the interviews not only cover a number of industries and regions but also every working day of the week and should thus be a representative sample.

In the administration of the questionnaire the meals asked for were those of “yesterday” not “the last 24 hours” as printed on the questionnaire; this was found to be more practicable. In interviews made on Monday, Saturday’s meals were asked for.

It is an interesting commentary on the so called “qualitative” or “intuitive” non-statistical type of social enquiry to note that the impression gained in interviews by both our editorial and field staff about the feeding of these young workers was an entirely different one to that revealed by the analysis which follows. In one or two cases where it was possible to track the source of error it was found that the impression given by an interview with a child who had had say three “Bread and Spread” meals swamped the impression of the rest of the interviews of the day and even those of the following day.

The plan of the section is that the question of whether or not children take breakfast is first dealt with, then follows a summary of the principal facts about the day’s meals. Detailed tables of the day's meals are given, analysed by main categories: Sex, Age, Hours Up, Hours worked, Industry etc. The intake of the most important foodstuffs is then analysed and the section ends with details of the supplements such as pies, chocolate and ice cream taken.

The taking of Breakfast

In the preliminary enquiries that were made for this survey many reports were made which suggested that large numbers of young people, particularly girls, were going without breakfast. It was decided, therefore, to investigate this fully.

Three separate questions were asked about this problem, they were, Question 4, “Did you have breakfast this morning?”, Question 5, “Do you ever miss breakfast on shift?” and Question 6 “Do you ever miss breakfast on early shift?”.

Breakfast on the morning of interview

The most striking result of this enquiry is the marked sex difference. In all 6.5% of the sample stated that they had had no breakfast on the morning 2.9% and that of girls 10.1% (Table 23)

An analysis by industry suggests that the missing of breakfast is closely related to the time of commencing work. The proportions are lowest in Business Clerical, 1.2%, and Distributive 5.6% where most of the sample is female and highest in Textiles - taken together - 8.8% and Light Engineering 11.2%. If however, account is taken of the sex composition of the Light Engineering sample, it is clear that at least 22% of the girls in Light Engineering missed their breakfast on the morning of the interview (this is on the extreme assumption that all those in other industries who missed their breakfast were girls). The difference between the proportions in Light Engineering and in Business Clerical is, therefore, very great. (Table 24)

From the answers given to the later question “What did you have for breakfast yesterday morning”, where details were noted of the composition of the meal, the proportion saying they had none is less than that given above, 4.7%. If, however, those who had a drink only (excluding milk or cocoa made with milk) the proportion is 7% which corresponds closely with the figure obtained for question 4, 6.5%.

Breakfast on Ordinary Shift

The answers to Question 5, “Do you ever miss breakfast on ordinary shift” show the same difference between the sexes as those to Question 4. It is interesting to note that 6.2% of the sample of girls stated that they always went without breakfast. (Table 25)

Breakfast on Early Shift

There were 189 children who worked on early shifts, 154 boys and 35 girls. Of the 154 boys 89.6% never missed their breakfast on early shift whilst 10.4% missed it occasionally (once a week).

Meals

The children were asked to describe in detail the meals they had on the day before the interview. (On Monday, Saturday’s meals were taken). These meals were then grouped for analysis into categories suggested by the Ministry of Health. A list of these categories is given below.

Drink only : Tea, Coffee, etc.

Drink only : Milk

Drink and Eat : for lunch

Drink milk and Eat : for lunch

Bread and Spread : toast, scones, bread butter, jam, paste

Cereal and Porridge (for Breakfast)

Cooked meal - hot or cold: Meat and vegetables, cooked Breakfast, egg, bacon, fish and chips.

Sandwiches : bread and cheese, cold meat, tomatoes etc.

Cooked Meal and Pudding : meat, vegetables, etc., cake etc.

Cakes : buns, biscuits

Pie Meal : Meat pies without vegetables. Soup; chips; salad.

The abbreviated description underlined are used in the tables.

The following examples show how the actual details recorded in the questionnaire are classified on this list.

Example 1 .

Female, Clerical, Age 16.

Example 2.

Female, Textile, Age 17.

Example 3.

Male, Light Engineering, Age 19.

The General Picture

Before giving the detailed analyses of each meal in relation to such categories as Age, Sex, Hours worked etc., an attempt will be made to summarise the whole position in a number of tables dealing with the mean categories of “poor” and “good” meals.

It should be noted that because Sunday was omitted from our survey our results slightly under estimate the whole position - Sunday in many cases is the day when the family has its best cooked meal.

Bread and Spread Meals

An analysis was made to show how many children had four or more Bread and Spread meals, three, two, one and no such meals in the day, as we had been informed that a great number of children were living almost exclusively on “bread and marg”.

The results of this analysis showed that the number of children having four Bread and Spread meals in the day was 4 and the number having three was 30.

The number having two such meals was 231, 10.1% of the sample and the number having one bread and spread was 840 or 37.0%. (Tables 26 and 27)

In contrast the number of children having no bread and spread meal was 1,184, 52% of the total. (Table 28)

Cooked Meals

This analysis is designed to show how many children have at least one “substantial” meal in the day.

In the first sorting all children receiving two or more cooked meals, or cooked meals with pudding were extracted, they were 1,113 or 49% of the sample. Those receiving one cooked meal or cooked meals and pudding were then, counted and their number was found to be 1,048 or 46.1% of the sample.

Thus the number having at least one cooked meal or cooked meal and pudding during the day was 2,261 or 95.1% of the sample.

A further analysis was made of those receiving one cooked meal to find out how many of them had in addition either a pie meal or a sandwich meal. There were 834 in this category or 80% of the group.

There appear to be no very important age or sex differences in this aspect of feeding. (Tables 29, 30 and 31)

As a final check the number of children not receiving either a cooked meal, cooked meal and pudding, sandwiches or a pie meal in the day was counted; they were 7.

The Analysis of Meals

The meals taken in the day have been taken singly and broken down into groups according to the following categories:-

In order not to over weight the body of the report with a large number of tables in which there are often but few salient points, this set of 25 tables is placed at the end of the report for reference. The following gives a brief account of the meals and the main points of the analysis by Sex and Age etc.

The Meals

Breakfast

The main types of meal eaten by the children for breakfast were, the cooked meal, bacon, egg, tomato, fried bread, sausage etc. which was had by 37.0%, Bread and Spread which was had by 28.6% and the Cereal and Porridge type had 18.2%. No breakfast was had by 4.7% and a drink of tea or coffee only was had by 2.3%.

Lunch

No mid-morning lunch was had by 37.5% of young workers, 35 6% had a drink, usually tea and something to eat, usually bread and spread. Only 53 children had either milk or milk and something to eat.

Dinner

Four main types of meal comprise over 95% of all dinner, they are Cooked Meal, 26.3%; Sandwiches 26.3%; Cooked Meal and pudding 32.2%, and pie meal 10.8%. It should be noted that in a great many cases where sandwiches were eaten at midday a cooked meal was had at tea time.

Tea

A quite considerable proportion, 9.4% of children had no tea and a further 6.2% had only tea to drink. The most important other categories were Cakes, bread and butter etc. 21.6%, Cooked Meal 20.7%, Cooked Meal and pudding 12.8%, Bread and Spread 11.4% and Sandwiches 10.2%.

Supper

Supper was the meal missed by the largest number of children, 298 or 13.0% of the sample, a further 191 or 8.5% had a drink of tea or coffee only. Some 17.9% had a cooked meal - in many cases fish and chips whilst, cakes, bread and butter, bread and spread and sandwiches were had by 14.3%, 12.9% and 12.9% respectively.

Analysis by Sex

Breakfast

The boys in our sample had as a whole more substantial breakfasts than girls. Those having none or a drink only were but 3.8% compared with 10.3% of the girls. On the other hand 42.5% of boys had a cooked meal compared with 31.5% of girls.

Lunch

In contrast to Breakfast a greater proportion of boys had no lunch; 46.0% of boys having none compared with 28.9% of girls.

Dinner

There were no very great differences in the meals boys and girls had for dinner. The girls had a greater proportion getting a cooked meal or cooked meal and pudding; 62% compared with 54.5% of boys. The latter having more sandwiches and pie meals.

Tea

More girls than boys went without tea, 12.9% compared with 6.0% In contrast to dinner more boys than girls had a cooked meal, the proportions being 23.3% and 18.1%. This appears to be because more boys than girls eat their midday meal at work and have their main meal at tea time.

Supper

No very great differences appear in the analysis of this meal. If the proportions of boys and girls getting a cooked meal, 19.1% and 16.0% respectively are added to those getting a cooked meal and pudding 3.8% and 9.8%, there is a small balance in favour of girls. Boys on the other hand get more pie meals, 13.8% against 8.4% of girls.

Analysis by Age

In the main categories of meals there is almost identical distribution in the different age groups. There are some small differences in the proportions having cooked meals and cooked meals and pudding for dinner and tea.

Analysis by Hours Up

There are no very great differences between the main three groups, those of 14, 15 and 16 hours. The 14 hours group have a greater proportion of cooked meals and cooked meals and pudding for dinner than the 16 hours group, but have a greater proportion of these meals for tea. These differences are most likely, however, because the 14 hours group contain more girls and the 16 hours group more boys.

The 13 hours group shows an interesting feature in as much as it has the greatest proportion of children having no breakfast no lunch and no supper 10.9%, 69.2% and 21.8%. It should be noted however, that the sample in this group is only 55.

Analysis by Hours Worked

Two points of interest emerge from this analysis; the first is that of the children working 7 hours, 25.0% have a cereal breakfast compared with 14.1% of those working 9 hours, the second is the distribution of the cooked meals categories amongst the largest groups, those working 7, 8 and 9 hours.

It will be seen that the proportion having cooked meals or cooked meals and pudding in the day is about the same, e.g. 15.7%, 14.5% and 19.3% and the proportion having them for dinner is also about the same, e.g. 59%, 58.2% and 59.1%. The distribution of the balance between tea and supper is, however, very different, children working 7 hours having a greater proportion at supper time and children working 9 hours having a greater proportion at tea time. This appears to be related to the time of ending work and getting home, children getting home comparatively late would find it more convenient to have their own meal immediately for tea rather than a light tea and a heavy supper. (Table 32).

Analysis by intensity of Work

Although a greater proportion of those doing light work had a cooked meal or cooked meal and pudding for dinner than those doing heavy work, 59.9% compared with 49.3%, this was made up for by the greater proportion of the heavy workers who had these meals for tea and supper. More than one fifth of heavy workers had a pie meal for supper compared with less than one tenth of those doing medium and light work.

Foods

The questions on foods No. 33 onwards; Did you have any “Milk or Cocoa made with milk”, “Cheese”, “Eggs”, “Potatoes”, “Meat”, “Bacon”, “Green Vegetables” or “Fish” yesterday; served two purposes. They provided a positive check on the intake of the most important food stuffs and also served to supplement the descriptions of meals by reminding the subject of omissions.

The answers to these questions were analysed in the first place by sex and age and then by industry.

Analysis by Sex and Age

In the analysis by age, there was no significant difference between the age groups, the tables have therefore been typed in summary form to show sex differences and totals only.

A little over one third of the sample had milk the day before the interview, but the proportion of girls taking it was higher than that of boys: 45.2% compared with 30.1% In the case of cheese there was a small difference in favour of boys; the proportion of children taking cheese was a third. Nearly 16% of children had an egg or eggs on the day before the interview, would average about 1⅛ eggs each per week, showing that the children were getting considerably more than their own ration of eggs. Nine tenths of all children had potatoes during the day; there is no significant sex difference. Over 80% of the children had meat including sausage and offal (which were in good supply and unrationed). In the case of bacon there was a slightly greater proportion of boys having it than girls, 39.7% compared with 32.1% There was no sex difference in the proportions of children having green vegetables, the proportions being Boys 45.4% and 46.8%, There was on the other hand a small difference in the proportions having other vegetables, 38.3% Boys compared with 43.6% of Girls. The proportion of children receiving 13.6%; there was no sex difference. (Table 33).

The data was then further analysed into three main groups, Milk, Cheese and Eggs; Meat, Bacon and Fish; Green and other Vegetables and the proportions of children not receiving any of these groups was extracted.

The first group, Milk, Cheese and Eggs was not had by 34.5% of our sample on the day previous to interview. Meat, Bacon and Fish was not had by 8.4% and no Green or other Vegetables was had by 28.4% of the children. In no case was there any significant age or sex difference.

Analysis by Industry

This analysis has been divided into two parts. The first part dealing with Cheese, Eggs, Potatoes, Meat, Bacon, Green Vegetables and Other Vegetables and the second dealing first with Milk and with Milk, Cheese and Eggs.

The first analysis shows that there is no important difference in the proportions in each industry group having eggs, there were however some differences in the case of the other foods. The proportions having cheese was highest in Light Engineering, the proportion having potatoes was highest in both the Mining groups. The proportion having cheese was highest in Light Engineering, the proportion having potatoes was highest in Hosiery and lowest among surface workers in Mining. The proportion having meat was low in both the Mining groups. The proportions having bacon were high in both Engineering groups. In the green vegetable and other vegetable categories the proportions are very high for both amongst the workers in Hosiery. Light Engineering and Woollen textile workers have a high proportion having green vegetables, and Cotton Operatives a high proportion having other vegetables. The proportion having fish is highest in the Heavy Engineering and Woollen Textile groups. (Table 34).

The analysis of Milk by industry shows very considerable differences.

Clerical Industrial, Clerical Business, and Distributive workers all had a high proportion receiving milk on the day before interview; 71.1% ± 12.6%, 54.9% ± 5.6% and 54.8% ± 5.8% respectively. At the other end of the scale Heavy Engineering and Mining Underground and Surface had a low proportion 25.6% ± 1.4%, 5.7% ± 8% and 9.0% ± 4.8% respectively. (Table 35)

The analysis by industry of those not receiving either Milk, Cheese or Eggs shows a similar trend. The workers in Mining Surface had the largest proportion 64.8% ± 7.9% followed by Underground workers and those in Heavy Industry, whereas workers in Industrial Clerical, Business Clerical and Distributive had the smallest proportions, 15.4% ± 9.9% 26.0% ± 4.9 and 25.8% ± 5.2% respectively, (Table 36).

Milk at Place of Work

An enquiry was made to discover how far milk was available at places of work and what proportion of children took it. It was found that milk was available to 24% of children and 11.7% of children took it; there was no very great difference between boys and girls. (Table 37)

An analysis by industry shows that milk is available to more Engineering workers, particularly in light Engineering 28.8%, than to workers in Offices and Shops 8.0% and 8.8%.

The results for Mining and Textiles should not be taken as representative as they are based on workers from a small number of firms. (Table 38)

Supplements

In order to find out what additional foods were taken outside regular meal times, children were asked if they had had any sweets, chocolates, pies etc., on the day before the interview.

Except sweets and chocolates very few children were found to have had such supplements. In the case of chocolates 18.8% of all children had them, 22.6% of girls and 15.0% of boys; in the case of sweets the proportions were 14.3% of all children, 18.8% of girls and 9.8% of boys. (Table 39)