Food, People and Society: A European Perspective of Consumers’ Food Choices

Citation

Goldsmith, E. (2003), "Food, People and Society: A European Perspective of Consumers’ Food Choices", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 175-177. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760310464631

Although this book emphasizes Europe in its title, the content, especially in the first half, is generic enough to fit food consumers anywhere. The 25 chapters, edited by a group of scientists from the UK, Norway, and The Netherlands, address the question “Who eats what and why?”. The audience for a book on food choices according to the publisher’s press release is governments, industry, consumers themselves, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, market researchers and other analysts of contemporary society. I doubt, however, if many consumers would read this book because it is not written for the general public. The style suggests that it is written for policymakers and academics because of its emphasis on theories and research. I would also add to the list of potentially interested parties food scientists, consumer economists, and public health educators.

The book is divided into three parts. Part I is an introduction to foods, including food likes, preferences, beliefs, and sensory and quality perceptions. The first chapter distinguishes between liking (measured by taste tests) and preference (measured by frequency and volume bought). It gives the example of people preferring lobster but buying tuna because of the price difference. An analyst looking strictly at sales figures would assume that the public likes tuna better than lobster. So, the point is made that food choice is complex and needs to be examined from several angles. This section also includes chapters on product packaging and branding.

Part II is titled “People”. Within it are discussions of taste as it affects consumption and of the understanding of psychology and lifestyle as it affects food choices. An interesting term was “food neophobia”, which is defined as a reluctance to eat and/or avoidance of novel foods. It comes from a very basic animal instinctive desire to survive. This desire is counterbalanced in everyday life with variety seeking, including curiosity and escape from boredom. So, when encountering a new food, consumers are torn between safety and risk. What follows is a discussion of risk and personality as it interplays with food choices. When consumers encounter a new food by a familiar brand this diminishes their sense of risk. In Part II there are also chapters on convenience shopping, food intake and the elderly, cancer prevention, and private body consciousness. Regarding this latter subject, there is a Private Body Consciousness Scale which measures such things as sensitivity to internal body tensions, dry mouth, and heart beating. A high level of self‐awareness about one’s own body is linked to the ability to detect differences in sensory properties of food. This subject, then, explores the interchange between physiology and psychology.

Part III is about “Society”. Here there are more specifics on food choice in Europe and cross‐cultural differences as well as a discussion of the economics of food choice.

To say this book is comprehensive would be an understatement. It provides a good overview of the basics of food decision making and issues such as food safety. Can one trust growers and food manufacturers? Environmental issues, labeling, and packaging are discussed. Focus groups and the results of survey research are reported. Several authors discuss the failed five‐a‐day campaign in the UK, that was supposed to encourage citizens to eat five fruits and vegetables a day. Consequently, marketing, and government policy are discussed coming back to the fundamental question of the book which is “Who eats what and why?”. If healthier diets are in the consumers’ (and the nations’) best interest, why don’t consumers eat healthier? As discussed in Part I, the fundamental answer is that fats and sweets taste better than sour and bitter. To go further than that for an answer, the book delves into other factors affecting food choice such as price, availability, and buying habits, as well as demographics such as age, income level, and country of origin. Although Food, People and Society provides an overview of many food topics, the editors chose not to emphasize such topics as eating disorders and food taboos.

One cannot read this book without wondering if there is a country that is clearly the winner in terms of better eating habits. The answer is “no”. It appears that across Europe, as in other areas of the world, consumers have their food weaknesses. Frewer and Risvik point out in Chapter 25 that European countries have so much cultural diversity that within countries there is a great deal of variance in food choice besides between countries. They also say that the demographic trend is towards increased levels of obesity, aging, and restructuring of social and political structures. Does this sound like a happy ending? The book suggests that consumers have a long way to go regarding making wise food choices. It also says more about policy than it does about marketing, but it is obvious that much of the answer to the question “Who eats what and why?” can be addressed by what marketers know about consumer behavior. To bring this point home, Frewer and Risnik say that scientists are confused by the irrationality of food choices. My guess is that marketers are less confused and more likely fascinated by the range of consumer behaviors exhibited when it comes to food choice. The possibilities for future research studies are enormous, and several authors concluded their chapters with recommendations for subjects and starting points.

In closing, the editors and 40 contributors have amassed a generous amount of information on a variety of subjects related to food choice. The subject index at the end makes it easy to look up topics. For example, in the index under “marketing” the subjects covered include models, parameters, practices, research, and strategies. The list of subtopics is much longer under the word “consumer”, which tells you something about the book and where its strength lies. Anyone interested in a highly readable and diverse book would find Food, People, and Society worthwhile.