Please cite this article in press as: Lhuissier, A., et al. Meal times and synchronization: A cross-metropolitan comparison between Santiago (Chile) and Paris (France). The Social Science Journal (2019), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2019.02.007 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model SOCSCI 1585 1–11 The Social Science Journal xxx (2019) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect The Social Science Journal journa l h om epa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/soscij Meal times and synchronization: A cross-metropolitan comparison between Santiago (Chile) and Paris (France) Anne Lhuissier a,* , Claudia Giacoman b , Coline Ferrant c , Denisse Devilat b , Daniella Leal b , Pamela Ayala b , Giselle Torres b , Pierre Chauvin d a CMH, INRA, CNRS, ENS, EHESS, 48 Boulevard Jourdan, Paris 75014, France Q1 Q2 b Instituto de Sociología Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile — Avenida Vicu˜ na Mackenna 4860, Casilla 306, Correo 22, Macul, Santiago, Chile c Northwestern University & Sciences Po (Center for Studies in Social Change) OSC — Sciences Po/CNRS, 27, rue Saint-Guillaume, 75337 Paris Cedex 07, France d Institut Pierre Louis d’Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique, INSERM & Sorbonne Université, UMRS 1136, 27 rue de Chaligny, 75571 Paris Cedex 12, France a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 25 October 2018 Received in revised form 22 February 2019 Accepted 23 February 2019 Available online xxx Keywords: Meal schedules Cross-metropolitan comparison Everyday life Economic organizations Food and eating norms Time synchronization a b s t r a c t This paper investigates the temporal dimension of meals. Specifically, it compares meal schedules and their social determinants in two metropolises, Santiago (Chile) and Paris (France). Our empirical material is drawn from two comparable data sources: Encuesta de Comensalidad en Adultos de la Región Metropolitana (Santiago, Chile) and Santé, Inégalités, Ruptures Sociales (Paris, France). Our research highlights cross-metropolitan similarities and disparities between Santiago and Paris regarding meal times and synchronization. Both metropolises share a similar and marked three-meal pattern. Three major peaks dis- tributed throughout the day correspond to breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Both in Santiago and Paris, lunch is more synchronized than dinner, for reasons pertaining to professional and school rhythms. Dinner, however, demonstrates an important coordination effort towards the synchronization of social time within the family. However, this comparison also high- lights important disparities between the two metropolises regarding meal schedules, the amplitude of synchronization, and sociodemographic patterns that express a different relationship to food and eating norms: negotiated in Santiago and rigid in Paris. These dif- ferences not only refer to nutritional requirements (content, frequency, pace of the meals, place and commensality) but also to familial and educational purposes. They express cul- tural norms regarding food and eating according to economic organizations and level of development. © 2019 Western Social Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: anne.lhuissier@inra.fr (A. Lhuissier), cgiacoma@uc.cl (C. Giacoman), colineferrant2018@u.northwestern.edu (C. Ferrant), dbdevila@uc.cl (D. Devilat), daleal@uc.cl (D. Leal), pbayala@uc.cl (P. Ayala), giselletorres13@gmail.com (G. Torres), pierre.chauvin@iplesp.upmc.fr (P. Chauvin). 1. Introduction The sociology of food and eating has long demonstrated how, beyond the biological necessity – eating to satisfy hunger – human eating is socially regulated (Fischler, 1993) and reflects cultural and social values. Satisfying body energetic needs follows rules other than physiological. As such, food and eating are “elements of a veritable collec- tive imagination showing the outlines of a certain mental https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2019.02.007 0362-3319/© 2019 Western Social Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36