What is eating well? Capability approach and empirical exploration with the population in Japan

Abstract

‘Eating well’ or ‘food-related well-being’ have attracted scientific attention since the 1990s in the public health, psychology, sociology and, to a lesser degree, economics fields. A large number of empirical studies have been conducted on the content, determinants and measurements of eating well. However, what is missing is a theoretical framework that delineates the structure of well-being and highlights both the problem of one's mental ‘adaptation’ to straitened circumstances and the importance of one's agency and democratic practices. In this regard, Amartya Sen's capability approach shows promise. The objective of this study was to apply the capability approach to understand what eating well means to the population in Japan and to articulate its theoretical implications. The perspective of Japanese participants was elicited by conducting a web-based questionnaire survey (n = 973). The seven categories of eating well that were identified in Japan included two objectives (health and pleasure) and five strategies (regularity, required intake, moderation, balance and quality) to achieve them. Through additional analysis of their ‘actual’ eating practices, it was elucidated that their satisfaction was relatively high despite their actual failure to achieve such eating well, which implies the critical importance of plural (both subjective and objective) perspectives for ethically evaluating the level of eating well.