Individual choices? Bioscience, culture and society as approaches to genes, eating and health

This paper presents the background and a plan for an interdisciplinary study that aims at examining the practices of eating as an entanglement of biology, culture and society all together. Our interest is on genes not only as a biological fact but also as a scientific discovery that increasingly shapes our understanding of the interconnections between genotype, eating patterns and health. Genetics is assumed to bear a growing role in the self-understanding and eating practices of future consumers. In this paper, we first highlight the basic assumptions on the role of the social and the individual in theory of practices, food-relating taste psychogenomics, and cultural studies

Taking a stand through food choices? : Characteristics of political food consumption and consumers in Finland

This study looks at food as a realm of political consumption by examining buycotting and boycotting of foods for ethical, political or environmental reasons in Finland. The results of an Internet-based survey (N = 1021) showed that around half of the respondents often or occasionally both buycotted and boycotted foods. Multinomial regression models indicated that women, the highly educated, the political left, those who donated for charity, those whose food choices were motivated by domestic origin and ethical food production, and those who trusted that consumption choices, institutional actors and the media can advance ethical food production and consumption, were most likely to be active in buycotting and boycotting. Buycotters/boycotters were very active in buying local food but less eager, for instance, to buy organic or Fair Trade products or to reduce the use of meat or milk. The article concludes by critically assessing the complex relationship between buycotting/boycotting and sustainable practices and suggesting that consumers may be more willing to transform their eating patterns if other societal actors, too, make an effort to influence ethical food consumption.Peer reviewe

Towards more environmentally sustainable diets? Changes in the consumption of beef and plant- and insect-based protein products in consumer groups in Finland

Julkais on avoimesti saatavilla: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2021.108635This study investigated consumers' self-reported past changes and future intentions to change the consumption of beef and alternative, plant- or insect-based protein products. A survey of 18-79-year-old consumers in Finland (N = 1000) was analysed with latent class analysis, and five consumer clusters were identified. The largest cluster (37%) consumed beef, but no alternative protein products; three clusters incorporated alternative protein products in their diets in different ways (in total 55%); and one cluster did not consume beef or alternative proteins (8%). In total 27% of the respondents intended to reduce the consumption of beef in the future, whereas 26% planned to increase the consumption of plant-based and 24% planned to increase the use of insect-based protein products. Multinomial logistic regression indicated that the use of alternative proteins was associated with higher health and sustainability motives, and lower food neophobia. The results suggest that demand for new, more sustainable proteins and protein innovations will grow in the future.Peer reviewe

New Nordic upmarket bistros and the practical configurations of artful dining

This paper analyzes the blurring boundaries between food and art in the West by examining the contemporary field of upmarket dining. The study adopts a practice theoretical view, conceptualizes artful dining as a large-scale cultural formation (?teleoaffective formation?), and explores the configurations of artful dining in the context of New Nordic Upmarket Bistros (NNUBs). Based on blog texts, chef interview and participant observation at a Finnish NNUB, the study demonstrates how the local restaurant enthusiasts adopted and adjusted artful dining in a specific, ?everyday? context of upmarket dining. The study presents dining at NNUBs as one of the many practices that have substantially expanded the art-oriented dining ideals beyond modernist cuisine. It discusses artful dining within the contemporary (gourmet) food culture and encourages further diversification of approaches in studies examining artful dining and the intersection of food and art.Peer reviewe

Citizen views on welfare and rights of farmed animals in food production

The link is to the final published version of the paper, and the file is the accepted manuscript together with a corrigendum. Unfortunately the conference proceedings could not publish the corrigendum after publication.Peer reviewe

Kestävä kulutus on yhteinen asia

Non peer reviewe

Johdatusta ruokasosiologiaan

Introducing the sociology of food & eating / Anne Murcott. London : Bloomsbury Academic, 2019

Haltuunottoa ja kotiuttamista : Näkökulmia ruoan kulutukseen ja terveyttä edistäviin elintarvikkeisiin

Elämme maailmassa, jossa on yhä vaikeampi välttyä terveellisyyttä koskevilta ohjeilta ja keskustelulta mediassa ja arjessa. Vaikka ravitsemusvalistuksen perussanoma on pysynyt jo vuosikymmeniä suhteellisen vakaana, on kuluttajien arjessa näkyvä terveystieto yhä pirstaleisempaa ja yksityiskohtaisempaa. Terveyden korostuminen näkyy paitsi yksityisissä ja julkisissa tulkinnoissa ruoasta myös konkreettisesti ruoan valikoimissa markkinoilla. Perinteisesti terveellisiksi tiedettyjen käsittelemättömien rinnalle ovat tulleet ensin "kevyinä" mainostetut tuotteet ja sitten yhä täsmällisemmin terveyteen kohdistetut terveysvaikutteisiksi tai funktionaalisiksi kutsutut elintarvikkeet. Ruoan terveellisyyttä koskevat keskustelut ja kuluttajien arvostukset kertovat niistä sosiaalisista ja kulttuurisista merkityksistä, joita terveydelle yhteiskunnassa annetaan. Tässä artikkelissa lähestytään kuluttajien tapoja tulkita, ymmärtää ja käyttää terveysvaikutteisia elintarvikkeita haltuunoton käsitteen avulla. Haltuunotto on kulutussosiologiassa ja teknologian tutkimuksessa käytetty termi, jonka avulla pyritään ymmärtämään objektien omaksumista ja "omaksi tekemisen" prosessia. Haltuunoton käsitteen avulla pyritään pääsemään eroon näkemyksestä kuluttajista passiivisina vastaanottajina ja ymmärtämään heidät aktiivisina toimijoina, jotka omalla toiminnallaan ja suhteillaan objekteihin paitsi tekevät arjestaan ymmärrettävää myös vaikuttavat siihen, millaisiksi hyödykemaailman ja yhteiskunnan suhteet muodostuvat. Ihmiset ja heidän luomansa objektit ovat väistämättä dynaamisessa suhteessa toisiinsa. Artikkeli tarkastelee aluksi sitä, kuinka kulutussosiologiassa ja yleisemmin kulutustutkimuksessa on käsitteellistetty haltuunottoa ja millaisiin tutkimusteemoihin se on liitetty. Tämän jälkeen paneudutaan teknologian tutkimuksen näkökulmiin ja siihen, kuinka haltuunoton ja teknologian tutkimuksessa useammin käytetyn kotiuttamisen käsitteen välistä suhdetta on jäsennetty. Lisäksi pohditaan haltuunoton kahta ulottuvuutta, sen käsitteellistä ja käytännöllistä puolta. Seuraavaksi analysoidaan ruoan ja elintarvikkeiden erityispiirteitä haltuun otettavina kulutusobjekteina sekä funktionaalisten elintarvikkeiden haltuunottoa esitettyjen teoreettisten näkökulmien ja empiiristen havaintojen valossa. Lopuksi pohditaan funktionaalisten elintarvikkeiden omaksumisen tulevaisuutta

The emergence of the Finnish edible insect arena : The dynamics of an ‘Active Obstacle’

https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0016718519303148?token=80EA642832BB09888559F75CAF0575341032ACE19ABD370D1F5ADB51E57A51F3235D6640AFF497520E856DD4A16D936FIn the current debates on sustainability of food edible insects have been suggested as one alternative source of protein that could respond to the urgent need to decrease global meat consumption. However, in many countries rearing of insects for human food has been restrained by regulatory measures, such as the EU Novel Foods Regulation. This paper analyses the emergence of the edible insect arena in Finland. In spite of the official compliance to the existing EU regulations, a lively startup scene has grown around edible insect production since 2014. The analysis is based on interviews of the central actors of the insect scene and media data. The performances of actors, such as producers, retailers, authorities, researchers, newspaper articles, insects, regulations, and technologies, constituted a network connecting different geographical locations on a common arena of development. The emergence of an innovative arena is shown to be a result of conflicts and negotiations, resumed in three strategies used by the network-builders in order to normalize a forbidden product: media promotion, trials, and consumption. These strategies gathered actors and networks around an ‘active obstacle’, formed by the authorities’ interpretation of the EU law, which, as we argue, has influenced the dynamics of the arena in its formative stage. Implications for the debates concerning technological transitions are discussed.Peer reviewe