ABSTRACT
Upon entering one’s local multiplex cinema, one might be forgiven for mistaking its primary function. There is a ticket sales area with a relatively inconspicuous listing of the films showing. It is only when one has progressed into the darkness of the auditorium that the main function becomes clear. Before that, in the very spacious and brightly lit foyer, frequently devoid of any cinema-specific paraphernalia, what one is most aware of is food. Ice-cream and pick ’n’ mix sweets and soft drinks, and hot dogs and nachos and, of course, popcorn, lots of popcorn. Indeed lots of everything – all of the food seems to be served in gigantic containers – even the ‘regular Pepsi’. A striking feature of the contemporary landscape is the endless provision of food outlets which supplement the main activity or purpose of a whole raft of commercial premises. Thus the sports stadium and the leisure and health club, the airport, bus or train station, the museum and the art gallery, the bookshop, the supermarket and the shopping mall may all be placed alongside the workplace and the cinema we began with, to give a strong sense of the range of options currently available for eating outside the home.
