Convenience foods will become increasingly
prevalent and eventually replace traditional method of food preparation.
To what extend do you agree or disagree
with this opinion?
My essay:
One of the most
significant advances of civilization is the development of modern methods of
food production and preparation. Convenience foods have now become the norm in
many societies. Although some people idealize traditional cooking practices and
believe they will prevail indefinitely, demographic trends suggest that this is
unlikely to be the case. In fact, there are a number of reasons for believing
that convenience foods are unlikely to grow in popularity.
The first reason is
the decline in family size and the increase in single-adult households. In more
traditional societies, where families tended to be large, it made economic
sense for one person to devote him/herself to time-consuming domestic tasks
such as growing and preparing foods. Nowadays, people tend to live in ever
smaller families units. If each family were to spend large amounts of time
growing and processing food, this would be a poor use of society’s human
resource.
Another reason
convenience foods are likely to become more popular is the increase in the
number of adults, especially women with children, who work in full-time
employment. In the UK, for example, working mothers significantly outnumber
stay-at-home mothers. There is evidence that consumption of convenience foods
rises with numbers of hours worked. As modern life increasingly demands that
people are economically active, this trend is likely to continue.
Although many people
still value traditional foods and methods of cooking, the trend towards smaller,
dual-income households suggests that convenience foods are likely to continue
to grow in popularity and may very well eventually replace traditional methods
of food production and preparation.
Sample IELTS writing #5