The Crazy Reason Why Couples Are Starting to Eat Separately
· Vice
There was a time when feeding two people meant making dinner. Maybe somebody hated mushrooms or picked the onions out, but the basic premise held. Now one person is on a GLP-1, the other is tracking protein, dairy is a problem, carbs are off limits, and dinner for two can require two separate meals. That’s food divorce for you.
Americans have gotten much pickier, or at least much more specific, about what goes on the plate. In 2018, 36% said they followed a dedicated diet or eating plan. By 2025, that number had climbed to 57%, according to the International Food Information Council. Then came the GLP-1 boom. A March 2026 KFF poll found 12% of U.S. adults were taking medications like Ozempic or Wegovy, and the CDC says 6.7% of people have a food allergy. Two people can share a kitchen and still have completely different ideas about what to eat for dinner.
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The thing is, eating together is actually good for us. A 2026 study published in Appetite followed more than 12,000 couples in Germany and found that couples who shared meals regularly reported greater relationship satisfaction, fewer depressive symptoms, and better overall health. Meanwhile, Americans are doing increasingly little of it. The 2025 World Happiness Report found about 1 in 4 Americans eats every meal alone on any given day, a 53% increase since 2003.
What Is a ‘Food Divorce’? The Relationship Trend Splitting Up Dinner.
Food has also become heavily loaded with identity. Julie Menanno, a marriage and family therapist and author of Secure Love, told Bustle that the pressure around food has become pervasive. “There is enormous pressure to get food right, exercise right, health right, body right,” she said. “And nobody really has the answers.”
GLP-1 medications also bring this into laser focus at home. Dr. Leila Fathi, a Research Fellow at the Centre for Food Policy at City St George’s University of London, told Metro that side effects including nausea and reduced appetite can “reshape individuals’ relationships with food,” creating associations that leave couples preparing and eating meals separately.
A food divorce—the term Metro has coined for couples who shop, cook, and eat independently—is the name for an arrangement that’s already emerging across households. The logic is clear: if the shared meal has become a source of friction, eating separately removes one argument from the rotation. What’s less clear is whether removing the friction also removes the ritual.
Maybe the family dinner was always given too much credit. Plenty of miserable couples have eaten lasagna together. Still, when two people start shopping separately, cooking separately, and eating separately, it’s fair to wonder what else gets divided up along the way.
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