A Guide to the Psychology of Eating

Leighann R. Chaffee, Stephanie P. da Silva

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781350125131
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Política y relaciones internacionales
• Subtopic: Política agrícola pública

Why are spicy cuisines characteristic of hot climates? Does our stomach or our brain tell us when it is time to eat? And how do we decide if bugs are food? Employing a learner-centered approach, this introduction to the psychological mechanisms of consumption engages readers with questions and cross-cultural examples to promote critical analysis and evidence-based comprehension. The discipline of psychology provides an important perspective to the study of eating, given the remarkable complexity of our food environments (including society and culture), eating habits, and relationships with food. As everything psychological is simultaneously biological, the role of evolutionary pressures and biopsychological forces are bases to explore complex processes within the book, such as sensation and perception, learning and cognition, and human development. The authors illuminate contemporary eating topics, including the scope and consequences of overnutrition, the aetiology of eating disorders, societal focus on dieting and body image, controversies in food policy, and culture-inspired cuisine. Supplemental resources and exercises are provided in a pedagogically-focused companion website.

Chapter 1 Your Appetizer: An Introduction to the Psychology of Eating

Whet Your Appetite: Food Science

What is the psychology of eating and for whom is it relevant? Brainstorm the topics that are encompassed by the psychology of eating and how these topics may be similar or different than those studied in nutrition. What is the service of applying a scientific approach to the psychology of eating? In this chapter, the scope of the psychology of eating is defined to better understand the goals of the field and this text.

Menu

Amuse-Bouche: Are Bugs Food?

Course 1: Essential Roles of Food and Eating

Focus on Food

Food Studies as an Interdisciplinary Field

Course 2: Contributions of Psychology

Course 3: The Study of Nutrition

Dessert: What Does “Healthy” Mean?

Dining Review

Gochisousama

Glossary

Amuse-Bouche: Are Bugs Food?

Do you consider bugs to be food for yourself and for others? Historically, insects have been classified as nonfoods among European and North American countries, yet entomophagy is common in regions of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Australia. In fact, over 3,000 ethnic groups, or over 2 billion people, worldwide consume insects (Akhtar & Isman, 2018; Ramos-Elorduy, 2009).

Attempts to popularize entomophagy in areas where it is not practiced face barriers rooted in insect-driven disgust, fear of disease, and social norms (Jensen & Lieberoth, 2019). This rejection of a new food demonstrates a psychological barrier, rather than a logical or health concern (Belluco et al., 2013). But the 21st century has brought newfound openness to entomophagy, and consumption of crickets has gained particular traction around the world (Halloran et al., 2016).

The present efforts to encourage insect consumption are based on sustainability of protein sources given global population growth. Imathiu (2020) argues that insects can address the first three of the United Nations (2015) Sustainable Development Goals: No Poverty, Zero Hunger, and Good Health and Well-being given their benefits for food accessibility (Gahukar, 2011) and favorable nutrition profile (Dobermann, Swift, & Field, 2017). Different resources are required to produce various animal proteins, and insects require less water, feed, and land than cattle, swine, and poultry (Dobermann, Swift, & Field, 2017). Crickets are easy to grow, transport, and consume. Roasted and salted, they are reminiscent of sunflower seeds, or they can be ground into a powder to fortify other foods (e.g., adding protein to flours). Although negative connotations remain for some potential consumers, specific education and communication about personal and societal benefits can soften resistance to entomophagy.

Course 1: Essential Roles of Food and Eating

This chapter began with questions about the relevance of studying eating from the perspective of psychological science. It is hoped that by the end of this chapter, and certainly by the end of this text, you agree investigating and understanding eating is a worthy endeavor. In our image-conscience world, a great deal of focus is placed on the weight-related implications of eating habits. Though the topic of weight appears occasionally in this text (e.g., in Chapter 10), the focus is more broadly on experiences with food and eating, and resulting bidirectional relations between consumption and physical and mental well-being. Nearly all humans consume foods and drinks daily, making the experience an essential and core part of being. To understand human nature, we need to understand eating.

Focus on Food

What did you eat for your last meal? And why did you choose that instead of something else? The question of food choice is an overarching theme in the psychology of eating and this text. How many food decisions do you make each day and what drives these choices? Food choices provide a window into our identity and have significant bearing on our health and well-being. Researchers, such as Ogden (2003), describe the meaning of food across dimensions addressed in this text:

Food Classifications. The question of whether or not we eat insects (and other arthropods) demonstrates the most basic classification of an item as a food or nonfood. Insect eating occurs in 130 of the world’s nations, though classification of insects as a nonfood still holds firm among many North Americans and Europeans. A diet, by definition, identifies acceptable and unacceptable foods, and cultural expectations are established regardless of whether we are consciously following a specific diet with rules explicitly stated or implied.

The role of emotion and culture in eating is studied extensively by Paul Rozin, who identified four bases for food rejection as distaste, danger, disgust, and ideation (Rozin & Fallon, 1980). In some cuisines, specific food items are classified by the meals or occasions when consumed. Author Stephanie da Silva, referred to as SS throughout the text, sometimes makes traditional breakfast foods, such as eggs and pancakes, in the evening for her family. The “breakfast for dinner!” announcement is met with enthusiasm when, in reality, it is just dinner. The fundamental aspect of these classifications is in defining food or drinks as appropriate for the occasion.

Food as a Feature of the Self. You have likely heard the common phrase “you are what you eat,” but you may not be familiar with “Good food is the foundation to genuine happiness.” This is a famous quote by Auguste Escoffier (1846–1935), French restauranteur, chef, and writer, credited with elevating both French cuisine and cooking as a career path. This approach demonstrates the pleasure and enjoyment in eating, observable through conflicts around self-control and morality (Ogden, 2003). For example, the understanding that “most people both eat and care about animals” is often observed in guidance around the consumption of animal proteins (Loughnan et al., 2014). Individualized meanings of food are grounded in personal and social identity and influenced by the psychological processes described throughout the text.

Further goals of this text are to explore food as social interaction and food as cultural identity, and this discussion of communication through food is apparent in the later chapters. In psychology, culture is defined as the shared attitudes, behaviors, values, and traditions within a group of people or a community that are passed to subsequent generations. Food can serve as a social marker, as cuisine is a clue to our cultural group and an opportunity for social exchange. Groups often identify themselves by the food they offer; this role of food is noteworthy for immigrant groups, as sharing of food provides an avenue to demonstrate solidarity and simultaneously preserving ethnic identity (Rozin, 1996). Food and drinks are a core aspect of celebrations as well as religious practice and rituals. Culture influences both our context and our food choice, and inclusion of cultural perspectives benefits all types of research in psychology.

Food Studies as an Interdisciplinary Field

The psychology of eating is complemented by evidence from food studies and from the study of consumption. Food Studies as an academic field is interdisciplinary in nature, with the goal to understand the relationships between food and the human experience (Miller & Deutsch, 2009), including perspectives from anthropology, history, economics, social sciences like psychology and sociology, plus nutrition. Multidisciplinary theories and methods are synthesized in food studies scholarship. Food studies scholars investigate not only to learn about the topic of food but also to apply food as a methodological tool, as the foods we eat, produce, and prepare for consumption provide insight into the human experience (Miller & Deutsch).

Food provides a window into identity—interrogation of personal sentiments around ...