September is National Family Meals Month™ – the time when supermarkets across the nation unite to urge their shoppers to commit to having more family meal together each week than they have currently. According to our 2019 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends report, 97% of families with kids consider eating meals at home with family to be important.

<p>By Leslie Sarasin, President and CEO, Food Marketing Institute<br /> <img src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/photos-for-staff-use/meal-kit-preparation---cooking/20171129-fmi-home-shoot-0493_ed.tmb-large-350-.jpg?sfvrsn=e933786e_2" data-displaymode="Thumbnail" alt="20171129-FMI-Home Shoot-0493_ed" title="20171129-FMI-Home Shoot-0493_ed" style="float: right; margin: 10px;" /></p> <p>When asked how he created such magnificent sculptures, Michelangelo responded, &ldquo;I saw the angel in the&nbsp;marble,&nbsp;and I carved until I set him free.&rdquo; True to his words,&nbsp;Michelangelo&rsquo;s&nbsp;series of unfinished works&nbsp;are affectionately&nbsp;known as&nbsp;<em>the&nbsp;Captives</em>&nbsp;because they&nbsp;do&nbsp;appear as&nbsp;bodies trapped in stone,&nbsp;straining to be liberated from their rock enclosure.&nbsp;In&nbsp;a tangible journey through the stages of artistic development, the&nbsp;roughhewn&nbsp;<em>Captives</em>&nbsp;collection&nbsp;lines both sides of&nbsp;the&nbsp;long&nbsp;hallway leading&nbsp;to his&nbsp;polished&nbsp;masterpiece,&nbsp;<em>The David.&nbsp;</em></p> <p>This imaginative&nbsp;staging elicits&nbsp;a number of&nbsp;feelings -- the lost potential for the unfinished&nbsp;<em>Captives</em>, but also curiosity about what&nbsp;earlier stages of the&nbsp;<em>David&nbsp;</em>must have looked like.&nbsp;Hold on to that thought because I will return to it.&nbsp;</p> <p>September is <a href="https://www.fmi.org/family-meals">National Family Meals Month&trade;</a> &ndash; the time when supermarkets across the nation unite to urge their shoppers to commit to having more family meal together&nbsp;each week&nbsp;than they have currently. According to our 2019&nbsp;<em><a href="https://www.fmi.org/our-research/research-reports/u-s-grocery-shopper-trends">U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends report</a></em>:</p> <ul> <li>97% of families with kids&nbsp;consider eating meals at home with family&nbsp;to be&nbsp;important.</li> <li>84% report&nbsp;wanting to eat more&nbsp;or prepare more&nbsp;meals at home together. </li> <li>Relatedly,&nbsp;90% of consumers consider meals eaten at home to be healthier.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p>Those numbers are startling. In addition to&nbsp;their&nbsp;affirmed&nbsp;value in terms of physical health, I suspect&nbsp;that the&nbsp;near universal&nbsp;aspiration to have more family meals together stems from the&nbsp;deep&nbsp;recognition of their social,&nbsp;emotional and mental value.</p> <p>If you're like me, when I try to remember&nbsp;family meals,&nbsp;they all start&nbsp;to run together. Very few of them truly stand out&nbsp;on their own as being formative, but&nbsp;I know the true value&nbsp;of the family meal&nbsp;is not recognized in its singularity, but in its&nbsp;cumulative effect. I believe each family meal&nbsp;is&nbsp;like a&nbsp;single chisel strike&nbsp;from&nbsp;Michelangelo. Every&nbsp;family meal shapes us in imperceptible ways and&nbsp;bit by bit, each gathering around the family dinner table&nbsp;knocks&nbsp;off&nbsp;some of&nbsp;our&nbsp;rough edges&nbsp;and lets our better angels emerge.&nbsp;Although we&nbsp;don't recognize it as such at the time, each meal&nbsp;is a step toward&nbsp;liberating the&nbsp;work of art&nbsp;wrestling within us, seeking to be liberated.&nbsp;</p> <p>I trust your stores are participating in <a href="https://www.fmi.org/family-meals">National Family Meals Month</a>,&nbsp;using innovative means to&nbsp;encourage and assist&nbsp;your shoppers&nbsp;to do what they&nbsp;truly&nbsp;aspire to do &ndash; have&nbsp;more meals together and realize the health and social benefits they contain.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fmi.org/family-meals">The FMI Foundation has resources available at&nbsp;to&nbsp;assist and&nbsp;guide&nbsp;you in this endeavor</a>.</p> <p>Beyond helping your customers with their family meals&nbsp;aspirations, I&nbsp;also hope you personally are making a family meal&nbsp;pledge&nbsp;in September. In whatever form or configuration your definition of family currently takes, I urge you to&nbsp;commit to&nbsp;having more mealtime with those who&nbsp;understand you are a work-in-progress but&nbsp;have a vision of&nbsp;the&nbsp;grounded masterpiece&nbsp;you&nbsp;are capable of becoming.&nbsp;</p> <p>Join the <a href="https://www.fmi.org/family-meals">family meals movement</a> and enjoy the artistry of becoming a better you.</p>

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