This paper will explore the concept of consumption work applied to the study of food preparation. Food preparation work is moving in the opposite direction from any other kinds of consumption work, from household to market, and from unpaid domestic labour to work undertaken by paid employees, whether in factories or restaurants. The decompartmentalising of the traditionally-binary approaches of paid and unpaid work, market and non-market, formal and informal sectors encouraged an overhaul of the usually circumscribed questions about foodwork in the sociology of food and eating in the domestic framework, and suggested envisaging them instead in a chain of interdependence that went beyond this simple framework, or redefined it beyond its habitual boundaries. France presents a 3rd configuration that can contribute several additional elements when considering the model proposed by Miriam. Identifying the characteristics of consumption work makes it possible to define the outlines of national eating models.