Images of foodscapes: Introduction to foodscape studies and their application in the study of healthy eating out-of-home environments

Abstract

The notion of foodscape is increasingly being used within health promotion, public health nutrition and food studies as a tool to describe our food environments and to assess the potential impact on food choice and food behaviour. This paper takes a closer look at the growing number of foodscape studies (FSS) and traces the origin of the idea of foodscapes. It reflects on the different contributions and discusses the applicability within food research. In particular it discusses how the notion can be applied in the growing number of studies that investigate the role that captive eating out-of-home environments (CEOE) in public welfare systems has on the health of the individual and on the sustainability of the environment. The paper concludes that the idea of foodscapes is a convenient tool that has many applications in food research. The foodscape framework offers obvious advantages in that it enables scholars to analyse how food, places and people are interconnected and how they interact. In particular the paper concludes that the foodscape notion is well suited to the study of foodscapes in CEOEs such as schools, kindergartens and institutions. I finally suggest that such foodscapes can be defined as physical, organizational and sociocultural spaces in which clients/guests encounter meals, food and food-related issues including health messages.

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“…But views on food can vary significantly from individual to individual based on their own experiences, family and cultural histories, belief systems, education and socio-economic position. In other words, foodscapes can influence food choices [31,33,35,37,86,87], but food choices can also influence foodscapes [31]. This is mainly achieved by way of economics (customer purchasing power) and to a lesser extent food politics (such as ethical, fair trade, sustainable growing, health messaging and food regulations).…”

“…Foodscapes incorporate elements of community (type and location of food outlets), consumer (availability, price, nutritional information), organization (home, school or workplace) and information (media and advertising) [33,37]. Mikkelsen [33] defines foodscapes as "the physical, organizational and sociocultural space in which clients/guests encounter meals, food and food-related issues, including health messages" (p. 215). The term foodscape aims to incorporate all components of the relationship such as the planning and purchase, the preparation and cooking as well as the consumption of food and health messages.…”

“…The term "foodscapes", originally used in geography, encapsulates these interactions well. Foodscapes are seen to encompass the places and spaces where food is acquired, prepared, talked about, or some form of meaning is gathered from food [31,33,85]. Foodscapes incorporate elements of community (type and location of food outlets), consumer (availability, price, nutritional information), organization (home, school or workplace) and information (media and advertising) [33,37].…”

“…Foodscapes are seen to encompass the places and spaces where food is acquired, prepared, talked about, or some form of meaning is gathered from food [31,33,85]. Foodscapes incorporate elements of community (type and location of food outlets), consumer (availability, price, nutritional information), organization (home, school or workplace) and information (media and advertising) [33,37]. Mikkelsen [33] defines foodscapes as "the physical, organizational and sociocultural space in which clients/guests encounter meals, food and food-related issues, including health messages" (p. 215).…”

“…Food deserts are "those areas of inner cities where cheap, nutritious food is virtually unobtainable and large geographical areas without access to healthy and affordable foods" [33] (p. 213). Food deserts are more prevalent in lower socio-economic areas and result in higher levels of food insecurity [34][35][36][37].…”