Factors Influencing Food Choice Flashcards
What affects our choice of food?
Culture Peer pressure Lifestyle Cost Health Religious/moral belief Storage and cooking facilities Personal choice Food trends Availability
How do people save money on their food bill?
Using cheaper protein foods e.g. eggs, cheese and pulses
Buying locally grown vegetables
Buying special offers
Buying foods with a short shelf life that have been reduced in price
How does enjoyment affect our food choice?
People will always tend to choose the foods they enjoy and like.
How does preference affect our food choice?
We all have our personal likes and dislikes and are influenced by our senses.
We use all of our 5 senses when we eat
How does seasonality affect our food choice?
This relates to the availability and use of products when they are in season
How does availability affect our food choice?
Choice depends on the type of food available in the country and place where you live
How do storage and cooking facilities affect our food choice?
The equipment in your kitchen allows you to prepare different foods.
For example, if you did not have a fridge, your choice would be limited to canned and dried foods
How does activity and lifestyle affect our food choice?
Our food choice may depend on the activities we are participating in
E.g. if you are going to be taking part in a strenuous activity, you may choose to eat some starchy carbohydrate foods
What are the lifestyle factors that affect eating habits?
More women are employed outside the home
More people live alone
People travel greater distances to work
People have social activities outside the home
There has been an increase in snack foods available
How do health and medical reasons affect our food choice?
The nutritional needs of individuals and groups of people are affected by their health
Eating for health means making small changes to the meals that we already eat
How does marketing affect our food choice?
Society is strongly influenced by the media
More well advertised food products are more likely to be bought by consumers
What are the various ways of advertising and promoting food products?
Advertisements on the television and the internet
Celebrity endorsements
Competitions
Attractive packaging
Displays in supermarkets and shop windows
What do the Office of Fair Trading do?
They monitor that advertising is legal, decent, honest and truthful.
How does food labelling affect our food choice?
There is a lot of information on food labelling which can help you make choices about which food to choose.
If you are on a special diet or have allergies, you would need to look at the ingredients and nutritional information
How do food scares affect our food choice?
Food scares in the media have a dramatic influence on food choice and sometimes result in product sales dropping.
What are the religious beliefs involving food for Buddhism?
Most Buddhists are vegetarian
What are the religious beliefs involving food for Christianity?
During Lent, many Christians give up rich food and will then celebrate Easter when rich foods are eaten again.
Christmas Day is a feast day and is celebrated with traditional foods such as turkey and mince pies in the UK.
Harvest festival is celebrated in many churches in order to celebrate getting the harvest
What are the religious beliefs involving food for Hinduism?
The cow is sacred to Hindus, so they will not eat beef or any product from slaughtered cows
They avoid foods that may have caused an animal pain, so are usually fasting and have many days of fasting
What are the religious beliefs involving food for Sikhism?
Sikhs have similar eating habits to Hindus
Many are vegetarians
Some do not drink alcohol, tea or coffee
What are the religious beliefs involving food for Islam?
Muslims have a set of dietary rules
The pig is considered unclean, so Muslims do not eat pork or any pork products
Other meats and poultry must be slaughtered in a particular way so that no blood remains
This is called halal meat
What are the religious beliefs involving food for Judaism?
Kosher food is food that Jews are allowed to eat
Meat must be specially slaughtered, soaked and then treated with kosher salt.
Jews do not eat pork.
Meat and dairy produce must not be eaten at the same meal
What are the religious beliefs involving food for Rastafarianism?
Rastafarians eat food that is natural and clean
They do not eat pork and only eat fish that is longer than 30cm
They cook with coconut oil and do not drink alcohol, milk or coffee
What are lacto-ovo vegetarians?
They will not eat meat, meat products, fish, poultry, lard, suet, fish oils or gelatine since they involve killing an animal
They will however eat food products from animals such as eggs, milk, cheese, butter etc.
What are lacto vegetarians?
They are very similar to lacto-ovo vegetarians but will not eat eggs
What are ovo vegetarians?
They will eat eggs but not dairy foods, meat, poultry or seafood
What are vegans?
They are strict vegetarians who avoid eating all animal products, including meat, fish, eggs, cheese etc.
What nutrients do vegans find difficult to obtain?
A range of proteins to ensure they get all the essential amino acids
Vitamins A and D, which are plentiful in animal fats
Mineral elements calcium, phosphorus and iron
Vitamin B12 as there is no B12 in cereals or vegetables
How does animal welfare affect food choice?
Some people will look at how food is produced before deciding whether to buy it
E.g. many people are concerned about food that has been produced using intensive farming methods
What does the Red Tractor mark show?
It shows that the food product has been safely produced with high animal welfare standards
What are the reasons why people choose to buy locally produced food?
They want to support local farmers and industry
It may have a lower carbon footprint as less energy is used in transport
Reduced food miles
May be fresher
