Food, ethics and aesthetics

Abstract

The authors test the popular thesis of some of the most influential theorists of contemporary societies about the erosion of the social structuring of consumption choices and their consequent individualisation in westernised societies, using the example of food practices. The analysis is based on data obtained from a random sample of the Slovenian population within a research project entitled ‘Lifestyles in a Mediated Society.’ The aims of the analysis were: (a) to explore the role of socio-demographic variables in food practices, and (b) to discover the inherent logic that motivates each particular set of food practices and which makes them meaningful for the individual, by studying an association of respondents' food practices with their worldview and cultural consumption. A cluster analysis revealed six food cultures ( Male traditionalists, Yes-sayers, Male modernists, Weight-watchers, Carefree hedonists, and Health-conscious hedonists) lying along a continuum where traditionalism occupies one end and post-traditionalism the other. The authors conclude that although two out of six food cultures crosscut socio-demographic affiliations and transform food consumption into a constituent part of a lifestyle as an identity project, there is still a significant influence of socio-demographic characteristics (particularly gender and formal education) on food practices in contemporary Slovenia. Furthermore, significant associations exist between food practices, on the one hand, and the respondent's worldview and cultural consumption, on the other.