Sociocultural Influences on Food Choices and Implications for Sustainable Healthy Diets

Background: The global policy discourse on sustainability and health has called for dietary transformations that require diverse, concerted actions from governments and institutions. In this article, we highlight the need to examine sociocultural influences on food practices as precursors to food po...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Food and nutrition bulletin 2020-12, Vol.41 (2_suppl), p.59S-73S
Main Authors: Monterrosa, Eva C., Frongillo, Edward A., Drewnowski, Adam, de Pee, Saskia, Vandevijvere, Stefanie
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Background: The global policy discourse on sustainability and health has called for dietary transformations that require diverse, concerted actions from governments and institutions. In this article, we highlight the need to examine sociocultural influences on food practices as precursors to food policy decisions. Discussion: Sociocultural food practices relate to ideas and materials that give rise to food choices and food patterns of a group. We begin with a discussion of how individuals experience, interpret, negotiate, and symbolize the food world around them. We examine primarily the ideational pathways, such as identity, gender, religion, and cultural prohibitions, and their influence on food practices. We then provide guiding questions, frameworks, and a brief overview of food choice values to support policy planning and design. Lastly, we explore how sociocultural change for sustainable or healthy diets is already happening through food movements, food lifestyles, and traditional diets.
ISSN:0379-5721
1564-8265
DOI:10.1177/0379572120975874