It’s interesting that Italy, France and Turkey - all countries who are thought of as having generally fattening and rich cuisine - have low obesity rates and long eating times. The US and UK who spend little time eating but have high rates definitely speaks to the idea of living in a fast food culture.
Note where Japan and Korea are and then look at the position of the US.
Catherine Rampell over at the NYT Economix blog, created this graph of the average time spent eating in various countries, measured against the country’s obesity rate. She noticed originally that the French seemed to have a low obesity rate, despite the fact that they spent a lot of time eating. I’ve always been a horrendously slow eater, but I actually think, for whatever reason, it’s been good for my health. Something about eating slow limits the amount of food you eat, and makes you savor what you do eat.
