Eudaimonia Around the Kitchen: A Hermeneutic Approach to Understanding Food Well-Being in Consumers’ Lived Experiences

Abstract

This article focuses on food well-being (FWB) in consumers' lived experiences. Adopting a consumer-centric and interpretive approach, the authors combine phenomenological interviews, photo elicitation, and personal diaries to develop a better understanding of FWB. The present research findings lead to a proposed conceptual model of the FWB experience. These elements reflect the eudaimonic approach to well-being, which is related to individual fulfillment and personal growth and helps define FWB not only as a positive relationship with food but also as a eudaimonic experience that includes various processes, meanings, contextual conditions, and resulting moods and emotions. The authors' findings may help consumers, public authorities, and activist networks reinvest meanings and values into individuals' relationship with food.

Expanding the Lens of Food Well-Being: An Examination of Contemporary Marketing, Policy, and Practice with an Eye on the Future

“…Mugel, Gurviez, and Decrop (2019) use a qualitative approach to capture consumers’ lived experiences related to food well-being. Here, the authors examine food sharing through the lens of not only eating with others but also socializing others by sharing past experiences with food, cooking for others, giving food-related advice, and giving food as a gift or donation.…”

“…Here, the authors examine food sharing through the lens of not only eating with others but also socializing others by sharing past experiences with food, cooking for others, giving food-related advice, and giving food as a gift or donation. Thus, Mugel, Gurviez, and Decrop (2019) also explore the theme of food as a social vehicle to convey generosity.…”

“…While this work carries important implications for individual well-being, the articles included here also expand our understanding about consumers’ holistic relationship with food. Each article focuses on well-being—and, more specifically, on one or more of the key drivers of food well-being: food socialization (Mugel, Gurviez, and Decrop 2019; Parker, Umashankar, and Schleicher 2019), food literacy (André, Chandon, and Haws 2019; Zheng, Bolton, and Alba 2019), food marketing (Cooremans and Geuens 2019; Leonard, Campbell, and Manning 2019), food availability (Bublitz et al 2019), and food policy (Berry et al 2019; Pham and Mandel 2019).…”

On the Way to Food Well-Being. A Critical Analysis of the Food Well-Being Concept and the Possibilities of Its Empirical Verification

“…Another study on the FWB concept focuses on FWB in consumers' experiences and is based on the eudaimonic approach to well-being (Mugel et al, 2019). The conceptual model of FWB presented in the text includes various processes, meanings, contextual conditions and resulting moods and emotions.…”

“…Vol. 32, Special Issue, 2020, pp [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]. …”