Participatory Methods to Identify Perceived Healthy and Sustainable Traditional Culinary Preparations across Three Generations of Adults: Results from Chile's Metropolitan Region and Region of La Araucanía

Trust and distrust in food among non-dependent elderly people in Spain. Study on socio-cultural representations through the analysis of cultural domains

The social and cultural representations of food are essential when it comes to understanding the perception of risk and the trust/distrust that people place on it. In this paper, we analyse the attributes and categories that non-dependent older people aged 65 and over living in Spain use when talking about trust/distrust in relation to food. In order to explore how they manifest different social meanings, we have conducted a study based on an analysis of cultural domains. The results of examining free-listing and pile-sort techniques were triangulated with the narratives obtained from interviews, life histories, food diaries and participatory workshops. The ethnographic research was conducted between June 2021 and June 2022 in the autonomous communities of Andalusia and Catalonia as well as the Valencian Community. Understanding the criteria for trust and distrust through the analysis of cultural domains allows us to better comprehend what food risks are perceived by older people and what value they place on food safety in their food choices. This study aims to provide qualified input for the development of healthier eating habits with recommendations for making ageing an easier process.

Categorizations of Trust and Distrust in the Classifications and Social Representations of Food among Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women in Spain-Applying the Cultural Domains' Pile Sort Technique

Food is fundamental in the decision making of pregnant and breastfeeding women to care for their own health and that of their child. In this paper, we explore some common food classification systems and certain attributes assigned to these categories, represented by values of trust and distrust. This study is based on an interdisciplinary research project in which we analysed discourses and practices regarding the dietary intake of pregnant and breastfeeding women in relation to the presence of chemical substances in foods. The results presented are part of the second phase of this research where we explored the results of our analysis of the pile sort technique based on an analysis of cultural domains in order to explore the categories and semantic relations among terms regarding trust and distrust in food. This technique was applied to the 62 pregnant and breastfeeding women of Catalonia and Andalusia. These women also participated in eight focus groups that provided information and narratives enabling us to analyse the meanings of the associative subdomains obtained in the pile sorts. They classified different foods and assigned certain attributes to them according to the level of trust and mistrust, providing a social representation of food risks. The mothers expressed great concern about the quality of the food they consume and about its possible effects on their own health and on that of their child. They perceive that an adequate diet is one based on the consumption of fruits and vegetables, preferably fresh. Fish and meat generate serious concern, as their properties are considered ambivalent depending on the food's origin and mode of production. These criteria are perceived by women as relevant to their food decisions and, therefore, emic knowledge should be taken into account when developing food safety programmes and planning actions aimed at pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Measuring Food Culture: a Tool for Public Health Practice

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Food culture is a ubiquitous aspect of all societies. This review provides an overview of methods for measuring food culture, and emphasizes the importance of these measures not just for description, but also for strengthening public health practice, primarily through the development of better interventions; to monitor and evaluate changes in diet and nutrition; and for the development of strategies for sustainability and dissemination.

RECENT FINDINGS

Food culture measurement has enriched public health practice through its use of myriad approaches, including interviews, cultural domain analysis, visual methods, observation, time allocation studies, focus groups and community workshops, household studies, and textual analysis. Food culture measurement is essential for public health practice related to food and nutrition, and can lead to, among other outcomes, improved implementation research in nutrition, understanding household dynamics that impact nutritional outcomes, innovative textual analysis to identify food culture through language, and the selection of interventions conveyed through multiple strategies, including digital means, such as via social media.

Towards Win-Win Policies for Healthy and Sustainable Diets in Switzerland

The first Swiss national dietary survey (MenuCH) was used to screen disease burdens and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of Swiss diets (vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, slimming), with a focus on gender and education level. The Health Nutritional Index (HENI), a novel disease burden-based nutritional index built on the Global Burden of Disease studies, was used to indicate healthiness using comparable, relative disease burden scores. Low whole grain consumption and high processed meat consumption are priority risk factors. Non-processed red meat and dairy make a nearly negligible contribution to disease burden scores, yet are key drivers of diet-related GHGs. Swiss diets, including vegetarian, ranged between 1.1–2.6 tons of CO₂e/person/year, above the Swiss federal recommendation 0.6 ton CO₂e/person/year for all consumption categories. This suggests that only changing food consumption practices will not suffice towards achieving carbon reduction targets: Systemic changes to food provisioning processes are also necessary. Finally, men with higher education had the highest dietary GHG emissions per gram of food, and the highest disease burden scores. Win–win policies to improve health and sustainability of Swiss diets would increase whole grain consumption for all, and decrease alcohol and processed meat consumption especially for men of higher education levels.