Most previous epidemiologic research investigating the relation between television viewing and dietary intake has relied on separate reports of daily television viewing practices and dietary intake. Data on what children actually eat during television viewing are lacking. Therefore, during 24-h dietary recalls, we collected data on the activities that children participated in while they ate each meal or snack. We used these data to describe the amount and types of foods consumed during television viewing, to examine the association between these types of foods and children’s BMI, and to compare the types of foods that children consumed when the television was on with the types of foods that they consumed when the television was off