Food at home production and consumption: implications for nutrition quality and policy

The production and consumption of food at home is one of the most frequent and ubiquitous of all human activities and yet little is known about some of the basic economic constructs of this activity. Increasing our knowledge of food at home economics is important for improving the nutritional quality of diets and nutritional policies of the United States. This paper reviews the empirical literature on food at home production and consumption and food away from home consumption, demonstrates how the effectiveness of some nutrition policies depends on the magnitudes of a few key parameters, and identifies numerous areas in need of further research.