The Why Behind the Food Buy

Auteur

is a full time Associate Professor of Sociology of Cultural and Communicative Processes at the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo. Her research activities are primarily focused on the analysis of food as factor of cultural identification and social differentiation and as a possible driver of cultural integration and social inclusion. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between participatory media, social networks, and changing patterns of taste, food-related practices, with reference to the sphere of eating out and restaurant reviews.

Texte du rabat

In times of great social change and uncertainty, we are less inclined to experiment and take risks, especially in our consumer behavior. The book emphasizes the importance of insights and causal explanations for the contradictory attitudes of consumers toward food in our time. This issue goes beyond the realm of marketing or consumption and becomes a matter of sociological, cultural, and even political interest. The book offers a systematic reflection on the evolving patterns and contradictory values behind the increasing importance that consumers attach to food in times of transition. In particular, it focuses on the paradoxical factors influencing consumers' growing (real or apparent) concern for the environment. The emerging ambivalent axiology evident in the evolving culinary ethos raises a pressing question: At a time when emergencies manifest as " shocks," to what extent can the urgent imperatives of creating a more sustainable food system be reconciled with the immediate concerns of the crisis agenda, at least in the minds of consumers? The question is daunting. The book reflects on the social dynamics in food consumption in the ever changing world.