Capturing diversity and cultural drivers of food choice in eastern India

Unraveling heterogeneity of consumers’ food choice: Implications for nutrition interventions in eastern India

“… Cuevas et al (2021) developed a toolkit to capture diversity and drivers of food choice of a target population and identify entry points for nutrition interventions through a three-stage mixed methods approach: Stage 1—capturing diversity and cultural drivers of food choice; Stage 2—understanding consumer perceptions and drivers of food choice; and Stage 3—nudging behavioral change through interventions. Diversity and cultural drivers of food choice of our target population (Stage 1) were captured by Samaddar et al (2020) ; here we focus on Stage 2 and validate and quantify the qualitative findings in Stage 1 through a consumer survey. Our consumer survey was succeeded by a behavioral experiment (Stage 3) to test the impact of a nutrition intervention on households’ food choice planning ( Demont et al, 2019 ).…”

“…good health and well-being) but also a means to achieve several outcomes ( Development Initiatives, 2017 ). However, the success of nutrition interventions ultimately hinges on people—consumers’ behavior as influenced by their physiological and nutritional needs, their socio-demographic contexts, their hedonic motivations, and their attitude and beliefs towards food ( Cuevas et al, 2021 ; Haddad, 2020 ; Jain et al, 2014 ; Samaddar et al, 2020 ; Sheikh and Mohan, 2015 ; Shepherd, 1999 ). Instead of developing a blanket approach to nutrition intervention, policy makers and nutritionists need to be informed about the heterogeneity of the food choices the target population faces and makes such that targeted and segmented nutrition interventions can be planned, designed and implemented.…”

“…Consumers' food choice features five sources of heterogeneity, which can be captured through 5 Ws in the “gastronomic system” ( Fig. 1 ; Cuevas et al, 2017 ; 2021 ; Samaddar et al, 2020 ). First, the gastronomic system is shaped by (i) the culture and socioeconomic context of a heterogeneous population of consumers ( who ); and (ii) a heterogeneous set of food environments where consumers access and consume food ( where ).…”

“…1 The five sources of heterogeneity (5 Ws) in the gastronomic system. Source : adapted from Cuevas et al (2017 ; 2021) and Samaddar et al (2020) . …”

“…To illustrate the importance of taking into account heterogeneity of consumers' food choice, it is useful to focus on India, a large country featuring a rich cultural heritage and diversity of food choice ( Samaddar et al, 2020 ). Similarly to the rest of South Asia, India has benefitted from the gains of the Green Revolution with significant improvement in staple cereal production since the 1970s ( Pingali, 2015 ).…”