Determinants in the modern choice of food

Abstract

This paper is the first attempt to integrate contemporary discussions on the choice, role and significance of food in people's everyday lives. It goes beyond the purely economic‐quantitative dimensions of food and relates them to the income factor. It is a revised version of a paper which first appeared in Finnish in Discussion Papers No. 33 published by the Labour Institute for Economic Research, Helsinki.

Studying food tastes among young adults using Bourdieu's theory

“…Previous research has also shown this phenomenon: healthy food is favoured among the highest educated groups. 9,23 The results may reflect the fact that people who are not rich in cultural capital are not very eager to develop a healthy lifestyle, and that they have a more relaxed attitude towards their bodies than people with more cultural capital. This may also demonstrate that people possessing little cultural capital do not participate in the symbolic struggles to the same extent as those higher up in the sociocultural hierarchy.…”

“…It has previously been found that in the area of new foodstuffs men are more negative towards innovations than women are, 28 and that new and exotic food is more popular among women than among men. 17,23 The reason that women are more interested in exotic food may be that, in most families, women are responsible for cooking. 1,17 Women may thus feel the need for variation in the diet.…”

“…It has been observed that people who introduce novelties into food culture are usually highly educated people. 23 Their strong interest for both exotic and healthy food may be seen as a way of distinguishing themselves from groups below them in the social hierarchy. Treating foods as symbols may indicate highly educated people try to | distinguish themselves from poorly educated people in their food tastes in that they rated more interest for both healthy and exotic food.…”

Rational choice of food: on the domain of the premises of the consumer choice theory

“…Cultural factors related to, say, symbolic aspects in social relations are likely to increase their influence on food consumption decisions. 32 It is obvious that along with the development of international trade, the importance of biological and ecological constraints in the choice of food has diminished, and the impact of cultural code has grown. As time goes on the domain of the rational choice theory seems to narrow.…”