Americans Weigh in on Everything From Who's to Blame for Obesity to What Region Has the Best Cooking Skills

Fast food restaurants to blame for childhood and adult obesity? Not so says more than half of Americans. In fact, respondents to the 2006 Allrecipes.com & USA WEEKEND Magazine America's Kitchen Survey overwhelmingly (77 percent) believe parents are to blame for childhood obesity and more than 85 percent believe that each individual adult is responsible for his or her weight. Commissioned by Allrecipes.com and USA WEEKEND in August 2006, and issued by Insight Express, the survey measured how America's ever changing lifestyle trends affect how we live, cook and eat.

Questions in the 2006 survey ran the gamut from what food you would name your baby after to what holds us back from achieving a healthy lifestyle. The survey's more than 1,600 respondents hailed from across the nation and ranged in age from 25 to 54. Full results are now available at Allrecipes.com ( http://allrecipes.com/howto/americas-kitchen/detail.aspx ) and an article highlighting the findings, which included the following insights, appeared in the October 27-29 issue of USA WEEKEND Magazine.

• What Really Stands Between Americans and a Healthy Diet? Well, according to America's Kitchen respondents, nothing. More than 40 percent of Americans feel there is absolutely nothing holding them back from achieving a healthy lifestyle. People without children in the house, who eat at home five or more times a week and are between the ages of 45 and 54 with a normal weight were significantly more likely to echo that belief.

• Show Me the Green! When asked if they would consider eating their least favorite food for the rest of their life in order to create instant peace worldwide, become a million dollars richer or achieve their ideal weight, more than half of Americans said world peace and/or a cool million would be motivation enough. Younger Americans (25-34 years old) are significantly more likely to say they would comply for peace and cash. Coincidently, respondents who believe themselves to be overweight are more likely to be motivated by achieving their ideal weight, confirming that the issues that are most important to us provide inspiration for change.

• What's Lurking in the Back of Your Refrigerator? Surprisingly, nearly half (45 percent) of respondents reported that their refrigerator is fully and freshly stocked -- nothing funky emerging from the depths. Americans with kids at home, those who are of normal weight and who eat at home at least five times a week are most likely to have a stocked icebox.

• Who Represents in the Kitchen? One thing we're not shy about is giving ourselves props on our culinary abilities. More than 85 percent of Americans feel they are "great," "above average" or "average" cooks. Not surprisingly, it seems that age and frequency play a role in boosting confidence. Women aged between 45 and 54 years old who have kids at home and eat dinner at home at least five times a week are most likely to consider themselves to be a "great" cook.

• Living Dangerously - Further proving that we love to "have our cake and eat it too," respondents overwhelmingly (95 percent) believe that eating while driving is dangerous. So how many of us still chow down while cruising from time-to-time? Four-out-of-five.

"Once again the results of America's Kitchen have been extremely interesting and allow us to really see how even little events and influences affect our daily lives," said Jerry Gully, editor-in-chief, Allrecipes.com. "By understanding how we eat and live we're better able to serve the needs of American home cooks and determine how to help everyday cooks achieve the lifestyles they desire."

About Allrecipes.com & USA WEEKEND Magazine America's Kitchen Survey

The 2006 Allrecipes.com & USA WEEKEND Magazine America's Kitchen Survey is the second annual poll commissioned by these organizations to measure food trends, attitudes and lifestyle behaviors in America. For this survey, Insight Express polled more than 1,600 Americans between the ages of 25 and 54 in August 2006. The survey sample has representative proportions of adults by state, age bracket and presence of children under the age of 18 in the household.

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