Eating up the crisis: Cultural change seen through the lens of food (CrisisCultureFood)

With a prospective qualitative research design, this project will explore transitions in food culture and create deep knowledge about the connection between individual stories and societal crises.

Food consumption lies at the junction of societal and cultural change. It is a site where the economy, political regulation, social norms, cultural trends, societal agendas, and symbolic distinctions meet individual needs, resources, taste and the social practices of everyday life.

Along with long term trends such as class differentiated tastes, and individualized pre-occupations with healthiness, two ongoing global crises stir food practices and food culture. Inflation have already challenged food habits, especially among low income groups, and the climate crisis is reflected in radical culinary shifts, new moral boundaries and food-focused subcultures.

These changes will be explored in this project, and a qualitative panel will be established to follow changes in food culture in the future.