Topic 1:

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

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 charts above illustrates the expenditure percentage wise on restaurant meals, comparing
with home cooking, of the average family over 30 years of time, i.e., from 1970 to 2000. The
general trend was towards an increase, given the numbers growing considerably through
sample years. In 1970, there was only 10% of food budget spent on restaurant meals. After 10
years, the percentage increased by 5% before reaching a high point of 35% in 1990. This ended
with the same pattern repeated, which made five times the percentage in 2000 than in 1970,
say, 50% compared to merely 10%.

The graph shows the figures in meals eaten in fast food restaurants in comparison with those in
sit-down ones. As a whole, the trend for the former was decidedly upwards, with number of
meals eaten in fast food restaurants per year experiencing a steady rise from 20 during the
Seventies to just 25 in 1980. This is in sharp contrast to the last 20 years of the time invested,
when the number of meals eaten leapt, first to 55 in 1990 and then to a peak of roughly 90 in
2000. Meals consumed in sit-down restaurants, by comparison, were at a much slower pace. In
the first 10 years, more meals were taken in sit-down restaurants than in fast food ones. During
1980s, however, the number of meals inclined to a slighter upward trend, only to increase to 45
in 1990. Numbers in sit-down restaurants, despite the rise, ended the year 2000 not much
above the level of the previous 10 years.