Husbands want to eat meat while wives only like a light vegetable meal. One person finishes work at 6 pm, the other has already had dinner beforehand. Instead of trying to harmonize each other's tastes and schedules, some American couples are choosing a simpler solution: each person takes care of their own meals.
A new lifestyle called "food divorce" is attracting attention in the US.
Relationship consultant Erin Pash - founder of Caveman to Casanova - explains that "divorce over eating" is when two people living together no longer plan, cook and eat together, but each person decides what to eat and how to eat according to their own schedule.
According to Pash, this does not necessarily mean emotional separation. In some cases, separating eating from common life can help reduce a source of repeated conflict.
When meals become a source of stress
Differences in taste, working hours, diet, or meal preparation responsibilities can become a source of conflict when repeated every day.
Pash argues that the question "What to eat today?" is sometimes not really related to food. Behind it may be the dissatisfaction of the person who secretly planned, bought food and prepared the meal, while the other person only gave an opinion or rejected the final choice.
The COVID-19 pandemic further exposed these contradictions. When couples had to stay home and eat all three meals together, the difference in eating habits became more pronounced. After the pandemic, irregular work schedules, fatigue from preparing food and different diets continued to make eating together difficult.
The use of GLP-1 drugs (which are used in the treatment of diabetes, weight management...) such as Wegovy and Ozempic also creates further differences in dietary needs between couples in the US. According to statistics, 11% of adults in the US are using GLP-1 drugs, while 57% follow a specific diet or diet method.
In fact, the trend of "eating alone" is also increasing in the US. The World Happiness Report 2025 shows that about 1/4 of Americans said they had eaten all meals the day before alone, an increase of 53% compared to 2003. The data does not directly reflect the rate of couples eating separate meals, but shows that the habit of eating alone is becoming more common.
Eating separately but not living separately
Divorce over eating" also poses a risk of reducing couples' interaction. For those who consider cooking and sharing meals as a way to express affection, separating meals can create a feeling that care is also being withdrawn.
Some studies show that couples who regularly eat together tend to have fewer symptoms of depression and are more satisfied with the relationship.
Therefore, Pash believes that the important thing is not whether two people eat the same dish or not, but whether they maintain time for each other or not.
If there is no longer a common dinner, couples can have coffee together in the morning, take a walk in the evening, or chat for 10 minutes after their children go to bed. Pash also recommends that couples should maintain at least one common meal each week.
According to experts, a simple test to recognize whether the problem lies in eating or in the relationship itself is to ask the question: When no one has to cook, do two people still want to be in the same room? If the answer is yes, eating separately may just be a way to resolve differences in schedule and needs. If the answer is no, the reason may not be eating.
