By Abdallah Mbajja

Food and visual entertainment go hand in hand.

Imagine walking into a cinema hall empty-handed. You need a packet of popcorn and a drink, at a minimum. That mindset is not unique to cinemas. Many people waste precious minutes at lunchtime because they can’t start eating until they find something suitable to watch. By the time they select a fitting YouTube video, their food has gone cold.

I keep a substantial number of videos on my YouTube ‘Watch Later’ playlist for that very reason. But where does that habit come from? One article quoted a clinical psychologist (Dr Sophie Mort) who blamed the quick dopamine hit that comes from eating food while watching TV (or your phone). Dopamine is the so-called pleasure chemical.

Mort also blamed childhood patterns. If you grew up eating dinner in a casual setting (sitting in a room while watching movies as a family), you may attempt to replicate the experience as an adult. However, she admitted that children who ate food in the absence of a
TV were just as likely to combine food and movies in adulthood.

I think we have overthought the concept. Guess what? Eating is fun, or at least it should be. If you use breakfast, lunch, and dinner to indulge in your favourite meals, then eating probably ranks among the most enjoyable activities in your life. Do you know what else is fun? Watching TV.

Asking why people blend food and movies is comparable to questioning why anyone would combine ice cream and cookies. What happens when you put two great things together? You get twice the fun. Admittedly, there is some merit to psychologists who blame short attention spans. Some people can’t just sit there and eat because they get bored.

Others are lonely. Charles Spence (Oxford University Professor) mentioned in an article that family meals are rare in modern society. Additionally, more people are living alone than ever before. For these individuals, a phone, TV, or laptop is the only companion they can afford during mealtimes.

But what if you are neither lonely nor bored? Is there anything wrong with eating your meals while watching TV? Surprisingly, yes. Consider one 2015 Polish study (Effect of Television on Obesity) that attempted to identify the link between television and obesity. You have three primary challenges. First, people eat more food while watching TV.

Because you are distracted, you are less likely to listen to signals your body transmits when your stomach is full. One 2024 BBC article also found that people who eat while watching TV can forget what they ate. This may compel them to eat more food down the line.

Secondly, you eat for longer periods while watching TV. That should not come as a surprise. Many people snack for the full duration of whatever they are watching. I have seen people leave the cinema to buy more food because the movie is still going.

Third, you are more likely to snack afterward because you don’t taste food the same way while watching TV. You are too distracted. As such, you don’t get the same satisfaction.

Using the cinema as an example again, some people eat full meals at a restaurant after snacking heavily in the cinema hall. Does that mean movies and food are a bad combination? Well, I’m not a doctor, and I have no intention of removing entertainment from my mealtimes. Talk to your local nutritionist. See what they have to say.

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