Better than words: expressing feelings with foods in Mass Observation wartime diaries

This paper, based on the examination of selected wartime diaries from the Mass Observation Archive, tackles the expression of intimate feelings through food practices. Exploring personal testimonies, it presents how, during a time of scarcity and shortage, food becomes a precious accessory to express personal feelings and a supportive medium to demonstrate love or friendship to friends or loved ones, whomever and wherever they could be. The result of this exploration, supported by various studies and reports on wartime emotions and human behaviours, shows how personal feelings were expressed by something better than words: valuable food. It also demonstrates to what extent the smallest emotional boundary can become vital when facing hard times through some examples of quite peculiar behaviours reported by the diarists. From the gift of a piece of cheese to the sacrifice of the meat ration, this paper suggests that food practices can become a valuable indicator of personal feelings such as love and friendship, but also loneliness and anxiety

Food for Healthful Living

PDF pages: 2

Spartan Daily, October 17, 2013

Volume 141, Issue 22https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/1441/thumbnail.jp

Food choice and health across the life course: A qualitative study examining food choice in older Irish adults

Ireland has experienced much economic and social change in recent times along with rising levels of overweight. Two-thirds of adults are now overweight or obese. Excess weight is a major risk for chronic disease for all ages which heralds a great societal burden and presents challenges and opportunities for the food industry. Individual food choice is an important and complex factor to be understood in order for food manufacturers to enable healthy choices. It can be understood as a process in which patterns arise and change over time, influenced by a range of personal factors and environmental influences. This study aimed to gain insight into the key contextual influences on food choice patterns in older Irish adults of varied health status who have lived through much socioeconomic change. In-depth semi-structured interviews on food choice across the life course were conducted with 32 adults aged 61-79. Data was thematically analysed using content analysis. Patterns of eating within the changing food environment and dietary choices in the face of ageing and illness were influenced by accumulated life experiences. Findings can contribute to health and nutrition policies and to the design of tailored interventions and products to facilitate the adoption of healthful diets.food, health, food life experiences, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Spartan Daily December 1, 2010

Volume 135, Issue 48https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/1211/thumbnail.jp