Food-related Research Research Articles

Voices and visuals from the Canadian foodscape

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Canadian Food Studies/La Revue canadienne des études sur l’alimentation, the open-access, online journal of the Canadian Association for Food Studies/l’Association canadienne des études sur l’alimentation (CAFS/ACÉA). Our journal arrives on the scene in the context of a well-established organization that has, for the past decade, promoted multidisciplinary interaction, debate, and research about food in Canada. The prolific and diverse nature of this food-related research was hailed earlier by Power & Koç (2008) in a guest-edited collection of articles by Canadian scholars to celebrate the founding of CAFS. Indeed, every year since 2006, the CAFS meeting at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences has served as a communal table, laden with a smorgasbord of collaborative and transformational ideas. The feast continues, not just among academic faculty and students, but shared with health professionals, artists, teachers, farmers, fishers, environmentalists, chefs, and colleagues from NGOs, food networks and policy councils. Collectively, these actors form the voices and visuals of the Canadian foodscape. The purpose of our journal is to offer a professional, academic forum for the astonishing breadth and depth of material that they can produce.

Was There a Recent Update to the FDA Food Code?

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), released the 2013 Food Code (8th edition) this past fall. The FDA issues new editions of the Food Code every 4 years and supplements are released every 2 years as guidelines are revised to reflect the latest food-related research. The revisions contained in this edition reflect changes, additions, deletions, and format modifications listed in the Supplement to the 2009 FDA Food Code and recommendations developed during the 2012 biennial meeting of the Conference for Food Protection.

Religious food as a tourism attraction: the roles of Buddhist temple food in Western tourist experience

Recently, the needs and interests in local food-related tourism research are growing as the local food plays an important role in overall tourist experience and destination branding. However, research on the religious food as a culinary heritage has received relatively little attention and particularly an understanding of tourists' religious food consumption in a tourist destination has been little discussed in the literature of tourism research. Given the scarcity of research on the religious food as a tourist attraction, this study attempts to explore the roles of the Buddhist temple food in Western tourists' experience. To identify the objective of this study, travel blogs written in English were applied. As a result of content analysis, a total of six themes in their travel dining experiences were identified. They were classified under the following six categories: as a means for novelty-seeking, as a means for sensory pleasure, as a peak tourist experience, as a symbol of authenticity, as a symbol of prestige and as a medium for cultural exploration. The study also found that Buddhist temple cuisine, as a cultural resource, can be a good example of an experience-based tourist attraction.

Culinary Science in Denmark: Molecular Gastronomy and Beyond

Noting that Denmark is traditionally an agricultural country and that a large part of the gross national product derives from the export of meat and processed food products, this article points out the paradox that only during the last decade has some Danish food-related research been genuinely driven by gastronomy and gastronomic innovation, and only recently have research activities and academic educational programs that include aspects of molecular gastronomy and other culinary sciences been initiated. At the same time, Denmark has placed itself on the international map due to innovative chefs winning top international awards and celebrated positions on lists of the best restaurants worldwide. Moreover, the New Nordic Cuisine movement has released novel driving forces and instigated new types of collaborations between chefs and scientists. Danish scientists of different orientations are being stimulated by the empirical world of gastronomy and cooking and are maturing molecular gastronomy as a science, and others have become proliferate writers and communicators of gastronomically inspired science; for example, within gastrophysics.

Flavours of Thought: Towards A Phenomenology of Food-Related Experiences

Phenomenology, as the study of structures of subjective experiences and consciousness, finds itself in the persistent struggle to claim its rightful place in contemporary research. Accordingly, this article will point out the relevance of first person reports for interdisciplinary investigations of the brain and mind. This is done by exploring the multidisciplinary field of food studies as a novel platform for discussion. The phenomenological inquiry is thus proposed as the vehicle and method to access food-related experience. By highlighting the important surplus, essential to grasping the process of pristine inner experience we adjoin a new perspective to the common focus on the content of experience. Consequently, this will extend the current insights pertinent to food-related research and moreover, give vital implications to our overall construction of concepts in science.

Preface: Challenges and opportunities for enhancing food security in Kenya

Achieving sustainable food security in Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the main challenges facing African governments and the international community. The 2007–2008 food crisis and ongoing chronic hunger problems clearly demonstrate that millions of people on the continent, including in relatively stable countries such as Kenya, are dangerously vulnerable to economic, political and climatic shocks that threaten food availability and accessibility. At the heart of the strategies to build resilience and tackle food insecurity is the need for effective institutional and policy frameworks that can support local innovations while taking into account the biophysical, social and economic constraints within which rural livelihoods operate. The papers included in this Special Issue of Food Security support the view that for food security initiatives in Kenya to be effective, they must embrace solutions that are equitable, generalizable and ecologically sound to ensure sustainability. Ultimately, to improve innovation and technology adoption, a systems approach that allows women and men, wealthy and poor farmers to engage with scientific and political elites in the design and implementation of food-related research and development initiatives must be embraced. There is also the need to develop tools and approaches that can assist smallholder farmers, researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders to share a better understanding of the multiple factors driving food insecurity and hindering the implementation of effective policies and institutions.

Integrating the Totality of Food and Nutrition Evidence for Public Health Decision Making and Communication

The interpretation and integration of epidemiological studies detecting weak associations (RR <2) with data from other study designs (e.g., animal models and human intervention trials) is both challenging and vital for making science-based dietary recommendations in the nutrition and food safety communities. The 2008 ILSI North America “Decision-Making for Recommendations and Communication Based on Totality of Food-Related Research” workshop provided an overview of epidemiological methods, and case-study examples of how weak associations have been incorporated into decision making for nutritional recommendations. Based on the workshop presentations and dialogue among the participants, three clear strategies were provided for the use of weak associations in informing nutritional recommendations for optimal health. First, enable more effective integration of data from all sources through the use of genetic and nutritional biomarkers; second, minimize the risk of bias and confounding through the adoption of rigorous quality-control standards, greater emphasis on the replication of study results, and better integration of results from independent studies, perhaps using adaptive study designs and Bayesian meta-analysis methods; and third, emphasize more effective and truthful communication to the public about the evolving understanding of the often complex relationship between nutrition, lifestyle, and optimal health.

Decision-Making for Recommendations and Communication Based on Totality of Food-Related Research, an ILSI North America-sponsored Workshop at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC, December 15, 2008

INTRODUCTION The extended abstracts in this report are based on presentations from the Workshop on Decision-Making for Dietary Recommendations and Communication Based on Totality of Food-Related Research, which was organized and sponsored by the Technical Committees on Food and Chemical Safety, Lipids, and Carbohydrates of the North American Branch of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI North America) and partially supported by the American Meat Institute Foundation. The workshop was held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC, on December 15, 2008. The aims of this workshop were to educate the nutrition and food safety communities about current practices in the field of epidemiology regarding the interpretation of weak associations and to stimulate a dialogue around improving the transparency and approaches to the use of epidemiological data in combination with other types of data for the development of public health recommendations. The workshop provided an overview of epidemiological methods, provided case-study examples of applications, and reviewed appropriate interpretation and application of epidemiological data and decision making for recommendations.

Research for Impact

I have read Dennis Lettenmaier’s disturbing editorial on dropping the ball on water resources research Lettenmaier 2008 and reflect here on how we might address the problem of water resources research sliding into “oblivion.” What is desperately needed is a stronger connection between our research and policy—to demonstrate the importance of our research. I suggest here an approach that we have found effective in the context of water and food research in the developing world. The Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food CPWF . www.waterandfood.org has an ambitious goal—to do waterand food-related research that contributes to increasing food security and poverty alleviation in developing countries while protecting associated ecosystems. The immensity of the problem cannot be overstated: 75% of the poor in developing countries live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and ecosystems for their livelihoods, and 900 million people are living on less than $1/day FAO 2006 . While the CPWF is a small player in the arena of poverty alleviation, this program is making steady progress in achieving impact and influence that goes far beyond the researchers and their associated peer-reviewed journal articles. The CPWF uses an approach called participatory impact pathway analysis PIPA . PIPA was developed to enhance the developmental impact of the program’s more than 60 projects, involving over 200 organizations globally. PIPA is based on concepts related to program theory drawn from the fields of evaluation, organizational learning, and social network analysis Douthwaite et al. 2007 . While the original intent of PIPA was to improve the assessment of impact, it has proven to change the content and approach researchers take to achieve impact. The PIPA approach makes explicit a project or program theory of how research can have impact by developing impact pathways. The first Part of specifying impact pathways is the development of a problem tree. Problem trees begin with the identification of problems the project could potentially address and end with problems that the project will directly address. We’ve found them very accessible and understandable to both researchers and stakeholders. The second component—network maps—explores how stakeholders are linked to and influence each other, and how the project aims to change and influence the existing network to achieve impact. The nature of the change the CPWF and I believe the water resources research community hopes to achieve requires a social process of communication and negotiation. The network maps are crucial; they complement the “harder” mechanistic description of the problem tree with the “softer” behavioral and relational dimensions of a project. In the context of the example given in this

User-oriented innovation in the food sector: relevant streams of research and an agenda for future work

The aim of this paper was to give an overview of relevant streams of research that can form a basis for research on user-oriented innovation in the food sector. We define user-oriented innovation as a process towards the development of a new product or service in which an integrated analysis and understanding of the users' wants, needs and preference formation play a key role. We distinguish three relevant streams of research that may provide a basis for research on user-oriented innovation in the food sector: research on the formation of user preferences, research on innovation management, and research on interactive innovation. We show that the relevance of these three streams of research for the food sector depends on which type of innovation we are dealing with, and we propose a distinction of three types of food innovations depending on which actors in the food chain are involved in the innovation process. We conclude that while much relevant material exists, little has been specifically developed for or applied to the food sector, and we present five topic areas where food-related research is urgently needed.

The Future of Food and Beverage Management Research

This article offers an overview of the current state of food and beverage management research and some recommendations for the future development of the field. It begins from the premise that establishing such an overview requires an appreciation of the condition and consequences of hospitality research more generally for food and beverage research. A second premise is that understanding of food and beverage research is inseparable from comprehending the nature and role of food and beverage education more generally within the hospitality field. The central theme developed from this is that food and beverage management research is a Cinderella subject even within the hospitality field, where the latter has more generally largely failed to establish credibility within the academy. The irony of this situation lies in the fact that food and beverage management is one of the central subjects that potentially defines hospitality management. The near-utopian prescriptions for the future of food and beverage management research centre on building connections to other food-related research and hence to hospitality, eschewing much of what currently passes for hospitality management research in an effort to rebuild the subject field around the industry's core concerns.

Proteomic methods in nutrition

Proteomics, the comprehensive analysis of a protein complement in a cell, tissue or biological fluid at a given time, is a key player in the family of -omic disciplines, which encompass genomics (gene analysis), transcriptomics (gene expression analysis) and metabolomics (metabolite profiling). This review summarizes the state of the art of proteomics technology and puts it into perspective for food-related research. Learning from proteomic experiences in the pharmaceutical context, this article may help to translate proteomics into nutrition and health. Mass spectrometric technology has progressed enormously with regard to mass accuracy, resolution and peptide sequencing power. Likewise, upstream separation, depletion and enrichment techniques now allow us to deal with the large complexity and wide dynamic range of proteomic samples more efficiently. Consequently, proteomic studies now provide a broader, but still far from complete, coverage of a given proteome. Proteomics adapted and applied to the context of nutrition and health has the potential to deliver biomarkers for health and comfort, reveal early indicators of disease disposition, assist in differentiating dietary responders from non-responders, and, last but not least, discover bioactive, beneficial food components.

Seven Eating Styles Linked to Overeating, Overweight, and Obesity

To broaden the perspective on the causes of overeating, overweight, and obesity and provide cross-cultural, comprehensive treatment approaches. Through food-related research into the world's wisdom traditions, cultural traditions, Eastern healing systems, and Western nutritional science, the authors present recurrent themes derived from ways in which cultures regarded, experienced, prepared, and shared food for millennia. An 80-item questionnaire, designed to measure food, nutrition, and eating themes was administered to 5,256 participants who registered for a Web-based integrative nutrition e-course. When the 80-items were factor analyzed separately in two randomly split halves of the sample as well as within age and sex categories, seven coherent and consistent factors or eating styles emerged. These eating styles were entered into a multiple regression analysis to predict overeating frequency and body mass index (BMI). Each of the newly identified eating styles was independently related to self-reports of overeating frequency; five of the seven were significantly related to overweight and obesity. The eating styles include the following: (1) "Emotional Eating" (eating to manage feelings); (2) "Fresh Food, Fast Food" (eating mostly processed, high-calorie food; less fresh food); (3) "Food Fretting" (judgmental thoughts and overconcern about food); (4) "Task Snacking" (eating while doing other activities); (5) "Sensory, Spiritual Nourishment" ("flavoring" food with meaning); (6) "Eating Atmosphere" (dining aesthetics and surroundings); (7) "Social Fare" (eating alone vs with others). Further research is needed to assess the degree to which practicing and implementing these eating styles integratively will decrease overeating, overweight, and obesity.

Non-sensory factors in sensory science research

Decisions about what food to buy, eat and serve for one’s family and friends are complex and influenced by many factors other than sensory quality. It is widely agreed that while taste and other sensory qualities are very important, they only partially account for consumers’ food related behaviours. This paper considers the role of several other factors: convenience, price, production technology, personal health, branding, and societal issues. As opposed to an in-depth review of each of the selected factors, the complex nature of food choice and behaviour and the influence that non-sensory factors can exert are considered. A methodology for researching these complex topics emerges from the examples presented. It builds on three premises: (i) multi-method and interdisciplinary approaches are needed to research peoples’ relationships with food; (ii) using tools and techniques that are tailored to food-related research; and (iii) not taking account of context threatens the validity of food-related research.

Progress in Food-related Research Focussing on Bacillus cereus

Bacillus cereus is a gram-positive, rod-shaped, endospore-forming bacterium that occurs ubiquitously and is frequently isolated from soil and food products. When B. cereus is present in foods, it can cause spoilage and poisoning. The work of our group is focussed on several properties of B. cereus that are of key importance in the food-industry, e. g. sporulation, spore properties, biofilm formation and stress response. This review describes our progress and current research with B. cereus isolates from natural and industrial sources that will utilize the fully sequenced and annotated genome of the model strain, B. cereus ATCC 14579.