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Caroline Strong just bought a new refrigerator she keeps stocked with everything from vegetables to cans of juice. A Sub-Zero addition for her kitchen? No, a 10-pound portable model -- for her car. "It makes my life a whole lot simpler," says the Michigan account manager who often snacks behind the wheel.
With more people than ever having breakfast in their cars, the appliance industry is pushing a whole new generation of appliances and gadgets to lure people away from the kitchen table. From blenders that mix in to-go cups to coffee mugs that plug into the dash, makers say the new products could be one of their fastest-growing categories this year. "The portable refrigerators are flying out of here," says Kevin Bart, of Mobilegear.com, where sells to-go dining products.
But while the new gizmos may be a bright spot for the struggling small-kitchen-appliance industry, which saw sales fall 6% in the second half of last year, everyone from sociologists to car detailers say they're a bad idea. These days "you're more likely to find french fries in the car than a penny," says Harry Balzer, vice president of NPD Group, which tracks consumer eating habits. Also unhappy: safety experts. "Everybody should focus entirely on driving," says Jane Stutts of the University of North Carolina's Highway Safety Research Center. Indeed, a new study ranks mobile eating just behind cellphone use as a cause of distracted-driving accidents.
But parents, especially, say the new gadgets can make life easier. Jane Voltz likes to make home-cooked waffles for her three children's breakfast, but they often don't have time to sit and eat. So the Virginia stay-at-home mother recently picked up a cooker that turns out waffle sticks for the road. Now she just throws a batch into a bag and lets everyone have their morning meal in her minivan. "It's just like eating at home," she says -- though she admits it's undermining her lessons on table manners. "They just eat them with their fingers," says Mrs. Voltz.
(Agencies)
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卡羅琳·斯特朗新買了一臺冰箱，她在里面塞了一大堆食物，從蔬菜到罐裝果汁應有盡有。這是為廚房購置的嗎？不，這臺10磅的便攜式冰箱是為她的汽車準備的。這位密歇根州的客戶經理不得不經常在車上填飽肚子，她覺得："（車上有了冰箱），生活更輕松了。"
目前，越來越多的人們在車上解決他們的早餐，生產商們也開發了一系列的新產品來吸引人們離開傳統的廚房餐桌。從車用榨汁機到能插入儀表盤充電的咖啡杯，開發商表示這些新產品的銷量增長很有可能是今年之最。凱文·巴特在專門銷售車用廚具的網 站Mobilegear.com工作，他說："我們這兒的車載冰箱幾乎是一臺接一臺飛出去的。"
對于去年下半年銷售額下降了6%的廚房小用具行業來說，這些新發明也許是件好事。然而，除此以外，從社會學家到汽車銷售，幾乎所有人都認為這個主意很糟糕。美國著名市場調查NPD副總裁哈里·鮑爾澤說："如今，人們汽車角落里的薯條比硬幣還多。"這正是消費者新的飲食習慣的體現。同樣為此感到擔憂的還有安全專家。北卡羅萊納大學公路安全研究中心的簡·斯塔茨指出："開車時，每個人都應該全神貫注。"事實上，一份新的調查顯示，開車時進食造成交通事故的危險性僅次于駕車時打電話。
但是對于父母們來說，這樣的新發明的確可以令生活更輕松些。簡·沃爾茲喜歡自己作些華夫餅干給她的三個孩子當早餐，但他們往往來不及坐在餐桌邊吃完。所以這位弗吉尼亞的家庭主婦剛花20美元買了一臺車載華夫餅干機。現在她只要把原料扔進去，孩子們就可以在她們家的小型貨車上吃完自己的早餐了。她說："這跟在家里吃早飯沒什么兩樣。"--不過她也承認，這和她對孩子們關于餐桌禮儀的教育是相違背的，"孩子們都是用手抓著吃的。"
（中國日報網站譯）
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Updated: 2003-04-16 01:00
