Eating food we dislike? Situations and reasons for eating distasteful food against personal preferences

Peer-reviewed | Manuscript received: December 4, 2014 | Revision accepted: May 5, 2015

Hosting homo cooperativus at your table

Introduction

Media and nutrition experts tend to draw a picture of a consumer with primarily one intention to eat, which is the enhancement and maximization of pleasure. Not much academic interest has been paid yet to the question of how consumers deal with foods which explicitly do not appeal to their taste preference. From an academic point of view, it is not proven which influence the eating situation has on an individual’s decision to eat against its personal taste preferences. There are no studies on individual justifications for this particular behavior. In light of a trend to compulsive, almost enforced pleasure in public depiction, the Dr. Rainer Wild Foundation has conducted a survey in 2013 in search for answers to why individuals choose to eat food contrary to their personal preferences.

From a sociologic point of view, it is neither novel nor surprising to acknowledge that individuals occasionally consume foods albeit flavor being the prime trigger. Bourdieu‘s concept of symbolic consumption [1, 2] invites to interpret eating behavior beyond scientific theories of sensory preference and nutritional physiology, and provides profound explanation. According to Bourdieu, foods are not only consumed for flavor and sensory experience. Food choice and consumption also follow symbolic meaning in order to signify particular social status within a stratified social order [1, 3], or group, or community belonging [4]. For example, champagne and caviar represent economic success; regional foods are symbolic indicators of personal identity and the individual‘s provenance, or cultural belonging [5, 6].

Summary

People eat food even if they dislike its taste. Based on individual cases, this study presents ways in which individuals adapt their eating behavior according to parameters of the eating situation. Individual justifications to eat against their food preferences include:
• not to harm one’s reputation,
• wish to comply with social norms (e.g. rules of courtesy and propriety),
• wish for harmony and respect in social relationships,
• to set children an example when eating,
• lack of provision,
• wished-for effect on health,
• economic forces.

Keywords: taste preference, homo cooperativus, eating situation, social determinants, eating behavior

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