Lecture 4-Consumer Food Choices II Flashcards
What is meant by the “obesogenic environment”? How does it relate to the “built environment”? to “mindless eating”? what is the “unbuilt environment” ?
Obesogenic environment: promotes obesity and unhealthy food consumption. Our
Built environment consists of how we have built the structure of our cities/suburbs. This includes the shopping environment (malls) for example and how they promote or hinder healthy eating. The built environment can refer to the exact places you consume food: is it at the dining room table? in your car? in between meetings? The “unbuilt environment” consists of the way culture, social norms shape our behaviour. Mindless eating can occur when the brain is distracted and is not properly taking into account how much food he/she is consuming. The setting of where you are eating (foodscape) plays an important factor in mindful eating. When you have a built environment that is comforting to eat, you are more likely to consume food mindful.
What aspect(s) of your childhood kitchen/dining room/built environment do you remember? What influence, if any, did these have on your eating pattern then and now?
My childhood kitchen had an island with a small bar style countertop attached and seating on the other side. The main kitchen/eating table was directly connected to our living room but we were never allowed to watch TV. We had an L shape counter top which had a fake marble counter, appliances such as a toaster, knives, stove top. We also had an oven and microwave. Dinner time with my family has always been a time to connect and socialize. We are not allowed to have phones, tv or any technological appliances unless it is a special day. We usually light a candle, play some jazz music and dim the lights for “ambiance” as my dad would say. Growing up, I feel like I learnt a lot of important things that influence my eating today. If you did not finish your plate, you could not leave the table (unless you had a good reason), we were taught not to put our elbows on the tables, to chew with our mouth clothes and always say please and thank you when asking for something. Eating was seen as a fun activity, my sisters and I would race to set the table. My parents would call it a relay race. We would also play a game where we had to guess the amount of stuff on the table, the person who got the closest number would get a special desert. Overall, growing up in my kitchen was very enjoyable and taught me valuable lessons. I would consider myself to love all kinds of food and I am definitely mindful of what I ingest. When reading about the effect of music on eating, I do have to agree I tend to stay longer at the table when there is music.
- What ethnic food(s) (outside of your own cultural food repertoire) have you taken to eating on a regular basis? How did you come to like this/these food(s)
? How do ethnic foods influence the food landscape? Consumers’ eating behaviours?
Need to fill
- What do we mean by “path to purchase”? how does this concept help us to understand consumers’ food choices?
The path to purchase is shorthand used by marketers to describe the customer journey or different touchpoints across the customer lifecycle. The steps are the initial consideration set, active evaluation (add or subtract options from original set), Moment of purchase (select one brand), Postpurchase experience (build an opinion in order to influence future decision journeys).The path to purchase consists of various components and is not as linear as it is made out to be. It is a gradual journey where the consumer considers and evaluates their decisions. Your days will differ given your physiological state. For example: When a customer decides to go vegan, it is hard for them to just stop eating meat cold turkey and officially become vegan. The consumer will need to ideally ease their way into the transition by discovering new recipes and deciding what brands they will become loyal to. This is a gradual journey. Overall, the path to purchase is not linear because a consumer’s decisions will differ given their physiological state. If a consumer is sad, they may come to the grocery store for a tub of icecream. If they are tired, they may buy a premade cold brew coffee.
