An eating pattern is the daily rhythm of eating — when meals happen and how much is eaten at each — the temporal architecture of the diet. Three square meals, grazing through the day, skipping breakfast, late-night eating, shift-work schedules: each pattern distributes the same nutrients across different rhythms, and the rhythm itself affects health. Research links regular meal timing with better metabolic control, while erratic patterns, night eating, and breakfast skipping associate with weight gain and poorer glycaemic control — though causation is still debated. Nutrition surveys map eating patterns alongside food choices, because when people eat shapes what they eat: the skipped lunch becomes the vending-machine afternoon. Dietary guidelines increasingly address pattern as well as content — regularity, mindful pacing, and not eating through the night.