Band 6+: The charts below show the percentage of their food budget the average family spent on restaurant meals in different years. The graph shows the number of meals eaten in fast food restaurants and sit-down restaurants. You should write at least 150 words. Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

The pie charts presented delineate the proportion of income spent on restaurant and home cooked meals in four different years, while the line graph illustrates the number of fast food and sitdown meals people had in the same years.

Overall, it is readily apparent that the percentage of money spent on the food joints rose dramatically over the period. While the sitdown restaurants gained popularity in the initial decade, the number of meals citizens had in the fast food chains surged in the last decade.

In 1970, a significant proportion of budget was spent on home cooked food, that is 90%, whereas only 10% was spared for outside meals. Moreover, the budget for the hotel food increased considerably to 15%, 35%, and 50%, in the years 1980, 1990, and 2000, the amount spent on in-house meals dropped and divided equally in the year 2000.

Turning to the graph, in 1970, 20 meals per year was consumed in both dine-out places and fast-food chains. The figures for sitdown joints rose to approximately to 35 meals per year; a marginal increase of 10 meals per year was observed for the fast food meals, reaching 30 meals per year. Nevertheless, the number of fast-food meals spiked to 90 meals in 2000, before reaching 60 meals per year in 1990. The dine-out food preference increased gradually to 45 and 50 meals per year, from 1990 to 2000.