Nordic Food Culture(s) - Thoughts and perspectives by way of introduction

The interest for the cultures of food in Nordic countries has become visible in culinary settings, in journalistic milieus, and through scientific studies over the last twenty years. The aim of this special issue of Anthropology of Food is to explore, to discuss, and to better understand the concept and the framework of Nordic Food Culture(s). This issue is based on two exploratory workshops initiated by the Joint Committee for the Nordic Research Councils for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS). The workshops, held in Copenhagen and Oslo in 2010, had a multidisciplinary approach and gathered expertise on eating patterns, food ethnography, food history, food geography, food sociology, food anthropology, restaurants studies, nutrition and cultural studies in order to explore the developments and changes of the place of food and the culture of food in the Nordic countries. (The full program from the two workshops, with titles for papers and participants, can be found in the dessert menu of this issue.

BookMark Vol.113 2018ネン6ガツゴウ

巻頭言 現代政策学部 准教授 ベルタラニチュ・ボシティア

European food quality schemes in everyday food consumption: An exploration of sayings and doings through pragmatic regimes of engagement

While European consumers generally support the principles underpinning Food Quality Schemes (FQS) sales of certified products remain modest. This phenomenon is known as ‘attitude-behaviour gap’ and considerable scholarly and policy efforts have been geared towards ‘filling’ or ‘bridging’ the gap. This study aims at casting new light on this ‘discrepancy’ between consumers’ sayings and doings through a study of everyday food practices connected to FQS. We used a qualitative, multi-method research design comprising extensive ethnographic fieldwork data, gathered from 41 households across seven European countries, including interviews, walk-along tours, and food diaries, in order to understand consumers’ perceptions of FQS in relation to their everyday food consumption practices. Building on convention theory and Th´evenot’s work, we showed that food practices can be understood through different ‘regimes of engagement’, namely different ways of thinking and behaving, following different logics corresponding to varying levels of knowledge and interest. We thus argue that the ‘attitude-behaviour gap’ should be reconceptualised as the co-existence of multiple regimes of engagement, namely a dynamic and always evolving process of adjustment through which consumers understand and engage with FQS in everyday food practices

FOOD2GATHER: What is migrants’ food all about in Europe? A media discourse analysis through the lens of controversies

This report is part of the HERANET funded project FOOD2GATHER. The project aims at understanding the question of integration/exclusion of migrants through foodscapes. An important step in this direction is to analyse the contextual framework within which food-related practices, norms and values are embedded in European societies. Food controversies that have raised and have been reported in the media since the “2015 migrants’ crisis” across Europe can reveal important aspects related to such norms and values and indicate possible tensions and compromises. This report presents and discusses relevant food controversies that occurred in the six countries participating in the study (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, and the Netherlands). This will generate a contextual overview of the integration/exclusion of migrants through foodscapes. Controversy has been used as a tool and a scanner. Each of the six FOOD2GATHER teams provided two relevant controversies that have reached media attention in the last ten years. One of the two had to be related to halal food. The analysis of the controversies has been conducted by identifying issues they tackled, agents they involved, (public) spaces and situations in which controversies took place and what they produced. A comparative analysis of relevant variables related to migrations, such as the geopolitical position of the countries, organization of reception and food provision, has been conducted as well. The six countries included in the study have different traditions related to migration and have been exposed to the “migrants’ crisis” in different ways. These differences are reflected in the proposed controversies. However, some common traits tend to emerge and reveal power relationships within societies that are different or shared by the countries involved in the project. We show that these power relationships particularly deal with the right to food, citizens’ commitment, identity, the place of religion, animal welfare and political issues. Our study indicates that analysing controversies adds an important dimension to the study of foodscapes. Food controversies that reach the media attention are seldom something migrants have brought up themselves. The migrants’ representation in the media based on food controversies indicated that migrants are given little opportunity to negotiating values and practices, as norms about “the right” quantity and quality of food tend to reproduce the food model of the country they migrate to, also when there is a “positive” focus on ethnic business. To better understand these dynamics, we propose the concept of “food encounters” and illustrate how the type of food encounters can play a role in how foodscapes could evolve or even emerge.Consumption Research Norway (SIFO), OsloMe

Jean Pierre Poulain, Manger Aujourd’hui, Attitudes, normes et pratiques

Le titre en soi révèle une connaissance approfondie de la recherche sur la consommation, puisque cette différence entre attitudes, normes et pratique est le point commun de la recherche occidentale sur les consommateurs. Après une mise en question des données et de leur interprétation complexe, l’auteur souligne que « L’acte alimentaire pour l’individu est beaucoup plus que le support de la fonction biologique de nutrition » (p. 16) « C’est un acte humain total à travers lequel se retrouvent ..

Om matkultur...

Det har i 1999 foregått et omfattende arbeid i regi av Statens Landbruksbank/SND for å utvikle en handlingsplan for norsk matkultur. Takket være en betydelig kompetanse om matkultur og matvaner, har SIFO fått anledning til å gi sitt bidrag til kapittel 3 og 4 i handlingsplanen[1]. Oppdraget om utarbeiding av tekstdel til handlingsplanen for matkultur var spennende og lærerikt. SIFOSs bidrag ble både integrert i teksten, og trykt som vedlegg. Etter at handlingsplanen var ferdig trykt ba SIFO om tillatelse til å publisere bidraget sitt, som kan vurderes som en innføring i dagens norske matkultur. Notatet er dermed en kopi av teksten som ble levert til Statens Landbruksbank/SND i april 2000

Nordic food culture – A historical perspective

Henry Notaker is a well- known Norwegian historian, specialist of books and articles about food, culture and history. He has got awards for journalism on food history, he was responsible for TV series about food and history in the 1990’s, and he is currently teaching in food history at the universities in Bergen and Agder and at Akershus University College (courses on food culture). Henry Notaker is a member of the editorial board of the scientific journal Food & History. He has published alm..