「爸爸回家吃晚飯」運動是在1981年發起，曾引起社會廣泛迴響，呼籲父親們準時下班回家用餐享受家庭時光。但時至今日，爸爸即使晚餐時間回家，也未必有晚飯可吃，全家共同或各自外食經常可見。究竟自1980年代至今，台灣社會晚餐的用餐型態發生哪些改變？由哪些因素造成？不同的晚餐烹飪與用餐選擇反映出何種家庭關係的變化？此三者為本文試圖回答的主要問題。本文一方面運用多種政府與學術機構大型調查結果及其他文獻資料，探究近三十年晚餐用餐與烹飪型態的轉變；另一方面藉由深度訪談、焦點團體法，分析有哪些社會結構因素影響了前述轉變。研究發現，廉價而易取得的外食、長工時、烹飪技能傳遞機會減少、女性就業增加、性別意識形態改變，是造成晚餐型態改變的重要原因：女性就業增加、長工時與工作型態改變讓家庭晚餐機會減少，亦同時降低烹飪技能傳遞的機會，這些構成人們「家庭晚餐轉趨外食」的推力；廉價而易取得的外食，則構成將人們「拉近」商業化晚餐的拉力，一推一拉之下，加上性別意識形態改變，年輕一代女性有意識地抗拒承擔傳統賦予女性的烹飪工作，促成家庭晚餐轉移到外食或由高齡女性繼續承擔，也造成烹飪勞動的商品化。從家庭中不同的晚餐型態，可一窺其中的代間關係、家庭結構、性別角色等面向。

This article examines the transformation of family dinners in Taiwanese society, including the types of preparation, meal content, and the main cook of family dinner. It aims to answer three questions: (1) What changes had happened during the three decades since the 1980s? (2) Why and how these changes were resulted? (3) What were the transformations of Taiwanese society and families reflected in these changes in family dinner? Through studying official and academic statistics data and in-depth interviews, this article suggests that dining-out or buying-in have increasingly become a significant dining choice, particularly in the younger generations. Long working hours, changing gender role, and cheap dining-out choices are the important reasons resulting in the transformation of family dinner. Along with the lack of cooking skills and variety of convenient dining, cooking has been transformed from housework to ＂labor commodity＂ with economic value. Different ways of dinner preparation also reveal the changing family structure and the relationship between generations.