London, UK (May 16, 2023) – Mars Food UK releases its latest Mealtimes Matter Report to mark Mental Health Awareness Week (May 15 - 21, 2023), featuring a foreword from Dr. Nicki Cooper, Clinical Director at Place2Be, a leading children’s mental health charity, on the positive psychological and physical impact of shared mealtimes.
The report is part of Mars Food’s ongoing commitment to building its evidence base and ensuring that their work to make mealtimes matter is grounded in science and research. It aims to identify the correlations and causations of the benefits of shared mealtimes, and ensure that these can be widely communicated, understood, and ultimately benefit more people.
The report includes an overview of the various actions Mars Food has taken, including the commissioning of a PhD on the subject and collaboration with Kiddy Cook, a leading school cooking program, to lead a ten-week cooking program in a primary school near our offices in Paddington.
This new report builds on the recommendations from their Dinnertime Matters: The Benefits of Shared Family Mealtimes(Opens a new window) report, launched in November 2021. This was a wide-ranging report, looking at the physical and mental health benefits of shared mealtimes, the impact it has on children’s development and societal and community cohesion, as well as the nutritional benefits of sharing a meal. There were however many barriers, such as a lack of resources, or time, conflicting work schedules, lack of cooking skills, or confidence in the kitchen that limit people coming together to share a meal.
With all of the above findings in mind, Mars Food has further extended its efforts to foster a culture where Associates can “Switch Off For Dinner”, providing regular dinnertime recipes and conversation inspiration and sharing a Switch Off For Dinner message that Associates can use on their out of office. The business also has infrastructure in place to allow its Associates to take home products from Switch off for Dinner bays, to help facilitate a shared mealtime on those occasions that they most need it.
In addition, Mars Food is now in its fourth year of partnership with the Trussell Trust, standing against hunger and supporting their network of food banks. One of the aims of the partnership is to ensure shared mealtimes can be enjoyed by all.
Dave Dusangh, Regional General Manager, Mars Food Europe said, “I am really proud of the work we’ve done to further the understanding and recognition of the benefits of shared mealtimes in the past year. This report shows that it is up to all of us, whether that be businesses, charities, policymakers or wider civil society, to facilitate shared mealtimes and ensure that everyone who wants to enjoy them, can.”
