This research is about a relationship between people and a modern food environment. The approached used in this research was quantitative-qualitative with a questionnaire as the instrument distributed to 500 families in Yogyakarta, in 2019. This approach aimed to understand the decision making process made when the families decided to eat out or to eat at the restaurants. This study aimed to gain deeper understanding on why do people choose to eat out, how do people make use of the restaurants, and what are the roles of the restaurants in the society. The results show that in Yogyakarta, there is a change in the eating culture. Some families, especially those from the middle and upper class, are now more likely to choose restaurants or places that serve foods. However, there are only few researches studying on the psychosocial needs and the recreation motive happening in the eating out phenomenon. This research shows that the recreation motive behind eating out is a “self identity”. There are some reasons causing families to eat out in a specific days including to seek new impressive experiences, to build togetherness among family members, and to get away from the daily routines.