Hate the sound of people eating when I am not eating.

I think that there is certainly something very positive about taking the time to enjoy such a 'basic' activity as eating... I think it's all very interesting though, as - I've read somewhere anyway - the idea of set meals at set times is a very arbitrary construct, presumably derived from the agricultural revolution and so-on, and only relatively recently 'compressed' due to domestic technology (cookers, fridges, freezers etc.).

That is, meal preparation actually used to take up a good deal of the day for most people, the vast majority, in fact... and this is how the notion of a few set meals a day evolved... prior to that food was consumed on a much more 'ad-hoc' basis, with less elaborate preparation, and less ritual (gathering fruits, berries, nuts and so-on I suppose... together with fire-cooked fish and meat).

Of course this would all concur with the idea that snacking is generally negative, and also potentially detrimental from a health perspective: the reason that sweet things taste so good, for example, is because they used to be so such a rich - and rare - resource of energy in the form of sugar and so-on that the body provided a potent incentive (i.e. the taste) for us to go to lengths to consume it whenever possible, even if it involved going to some lengths.

Now, in our part of the world at-least we have high-streets lined with bakeries, pizza places, burger joints and all other sorts of fast food, shops on every street corner brimming with a whole varied selection of chocolate and other sweets... and then vending machines(full of crisps, chocolate and fizzy drinks in every other place too it seems!

That's not to mention all the extra added salt, sugar and other additives, flavourings and preservatives in so much of the content of any super-market, which you basically have to inspect very closely and carefully to avoid, and pay extra too...  

No wonder diet is a relevant issue, as we've 'progressed' a society (through technology identifiable in only a few hundred years, it seems) which actually somewhat thoughtlessly 'perverts' the natural functions that we've naturally evolved over tens of thousands of them.

I also think that it's interesting to consider the psychology of snacking, turning eating into a constant stream of oral gratification, combined with the psychological 'buzz' of potent stimulants and so on, which definitely provides a 'kick' of some description it seems - again, as it would do, given our natural physiology.

Of course, I haven't really researched anything of what I've just said in much depth, just gathered it from general reading really - so other people might be able to contradict and correct me.

It's also basically totally hypocritical, because I am terrible at basic food preparation, and end-up relying on a 'grazing' process (mostly sandwiches or more often, toast based) - but I think if had my own place, and did my own shopping, I'd change that.

I think that there is certainly something very positive about taking the time to enjoy such a 'basic' activity as eating... I think it's all very interesting though, as - I've read somewhere anyway - the idea of set meals at set times is a very arbitrary construct, presumably derived from the agricultural revolution and so-on, and only relatively recently 'compressed' due to domestic technology (cookers, fridges, freezers etc.).

That is, meal preparation actually used to take up a good deal of the day for most people, the vast majority, in fact... and this is how the notion of a few set meals a day evolved... prior to that food was consumed on a much more 'ad-hoc' basis, with less elaborate preparation, and less ritual (gathering fruits, berries, nuts and so-on I suppose... together with fire-cooked fish and meat).

Of course this would all concur with the idea that snacking is generally negative, and also potentially detrimental from a health perspective: the reason that sweet things taste so good, for example, is because they used to be so such a rich - and rare - resource of energy in the form of sugar and so-on that the body provided a potent incentive (i.e. the taste) for us to go to lengths to consume it whenever possible, even if it involved going to some lengths.

Now, in our part of the world at-least we have high-streets lined with bakeries, pizza places, burger joints and all other sorts of fast food, shops on every street corner brimming with a whole varied selection of chocolate and other sweets... and then vending machines(full of crisps, chocolate and fizzy drinks in every other place too it seems!

That's not to mention all the extra added salt, sugar and other additives, flavourings and preservatives in so much of the content of any super-market, which you basically have to inspect very closely and carefully to avoid, and pay extra too...  

No wonder diet is a relevant issue, as we've 'progressed' a society (through technology identifiable in only a few hundred years, it seems) which actually somewhat thoughtlessly 'perverts' the natural functions that we've naturally evolved over tens of thousands of them.

I also think that it's interesting to consider the psychology of snacking, turning eating into a constant stream of oral gratification, combined with the psychological 'buzz' of potent stimulants and so on, which definitely provides a 'kick' of some description it seems - again, as it would do, given our natural physiology.

Of course, I haven't really researched anything of what I've just said in much depth, just gathered it from general reading really - so other people might be able to contradict and correct me.

It's also basically totally hypocritical, because I am terrible at basic food preparation, and end-up relying on a 'grazing' process (mostly sandwiches or more often, toast based) - but I think if had my own place, and did my own shopping, I'd change that.