A State-of-the-Art Analysis of Food Consumption Studies

Abstract

A review of empirical food consumption studies is offered in this paper. A large number of recent food consumption studies from the areas of food and nutritional science, psychology, social psychology, sociology, anthropology, and consumer research are brought together. Twelve research themes are identified from the literature review and key findings and their implications are discussed. A heuristic and evaluative classification is developed to get a systematic understanding of the research issues covered by current food consumption research. A few suggestions for future food consumption research are mentioned on the basis of research gaps identified by the classification. To conclude, the theoretical prospects of studying food-related value conflicts and cross-cultural differences in emotional eating are spelled out in detail.