Celem artykułu jest weryfikacja hipotezy, że zachowania gospodarstw domowych w Polsce w zakresie korzystania z usług żywieniowych wykazują znaczne zróżnicowanie w stosunku do gospodarstw krajów Unii Europejskiej. Wykorzystano dane z lat 1995-2000 publikowane przez GUS w postaci opracowań Budżety gospodarstw domowych i Warunki życia ludności, a także dane Eurostatu.
EN
The paper presents the problem of a differentiation at the level of the use of catering vices by Polish and EU households. The empirical basis for the analysis was data concerning households' expenditures on this purpose, especially the share of these expenditures in a general structure of expenditures. It was pointed in the paper that EU households also reveal a differentiation in this matter, but their general model of consumption is of more serviced character. In Polish households the share of expenditures on restaurants in the structure of the total expenditures is the highest in households of employees in non-manual labour posi-tion and self-employed. The level of providing satisfaction of food needs in restaurants depends mainly on factors of economic and cultural character. The general conclusion is that in the nineties Polish households did not copy the western model of food consumption in terms of expenditures in restaurants. It was caused by a lower level of economic standard and traditions of food consumption in Poland. (original abstract)