Eating out - The experience of eating in public for the ''overweight'' woman

This article focuses on the experience of eating in public for the ''overweight'' woman. It is concerned with the problems and anxieties associated with the prospect of eating in public for many ''overweight'' women. Public eating refers to eating in both formal and informal settings. Formal settings take the form of settings such as weddings and eating in restaurants, while informal settings include eating at work, with friends, and at home. Both are considered as they constitute ''public eating'' in that the women are not alone when they eat. The article is the result of ongoing research that involved correspondence and interviews with approximately 195 women who consider themselves to have ''weight problems.'' Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd