The Problem of Changing Food Habits Report of the Committee on Food Habits 1941-1943 (1943) / Chapter Skim
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Forces Behind Food Habits and Methods of Change
Forces Behind Food Habits and Methods of Change
Pages 35-65
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From page 35... ...
Five groups were studied; three representing economic subdivision (high, medium, and low income levels) of White American stock, and two subcultural groups, Czech and Negro.
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From page 36... ...
. ~ A diagrammatic representation of the Clza~znel Theory appears in "Studies in topological and vector psychology III," edited by Kurt Lewin, to be published by the Child Welfare Research Station, State University of Iowa.
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From page 37... ...
This question can be answered, at least in part, by a "channel theory." Of paramount importance in this theory is the fact that once food is on the table, most of it is eaten by someone in the family. Therefore one would find the main answer to the question "why people eat what they eat," if one could answer the question, "how food coiner to the table and why." Food comes to the table through various channels.
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From page 38... ...
~,8 The Problem of Changing Food Habits ao up cat ~ _ ct us ~ .
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From page 39... ...
This, T A B L E 3 PER CENT OF FAMINES USING DIFFERENT C HANNELS Total High Middle Low Czech N-~o7 N-23 Nag N-2I N-23 Home canning 83 74 79 go IOO Have gardens .............
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From page 40... ...
The above discussion on food channels shows that to some extent financial circumstances and cultural values do influence the extent to which various food channels are used and the uses to which they are put. Thus, the lower income groups are able to effect savings by canning more of the essential foods they eat and by having more food gardens.
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From page 41... ...
In other words, the psychological area of food in our culture is only a small part of the objectively edible food, and could be represented diagrammatically as a small restricted region within the total region of all objectively edible food. In some parts of our country peanuts or cheese are considered food for animals but not for human beings.
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From page 42... ...
c. `'Meal patterns." Other aspects of the cognitive structure of food are the difference between breakfast food, food for lunch, and for dinner; the distinction between main dish and dessert; the concept of balanced meal and of "leftover." The housewife was asked: "In what terms do you think of a meal: what goes into a breakfast?
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From page 43... ...
There are indications that regardless of working hours, people eat according to the clock.4 A worker waking at noon to go to work will eat a lunch meal rather than a breakfast and nutritional elements which he ordinarily obtained through breakfast foods may be deficient in his diet. Moreover, since the results indicate that the lunches of all but the high group are the least "structured" of the three .
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From page 44... ...
Eating with fellow-workers in a factory is something different from eating at the family table or eating in a restaurant. The "eating group" influences greatly the eating conduct and the eating ideology of the individual One can say that every eating group has a specific eating culture.
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From page 45... ...
In the middle group money is the predominant frame, with health considerably lower, and taste a great deal lower. This is also true of the low income group except that the differential between money and health is even greater, money being by far the most important consideration.
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From page 46... ...
TABLE WPER CENT OF TOTAI~ GROUP ( N-107) MENTIONING VARIOUS MEATS IN ANSWER TO FIVE FRAMES OF RETERENCE Meats Short on money Fill up Health Taste Fuss 6 2 I4 40 0 5 7 I 7 7 I8 6 II 5 8 23 5 2 2 2 I2 II 5 2 I4 I2 7 6 7 IO II 8 He a: ~ `,~ ~ 50Yo LL ~ ct LL .~ ~ J cow z ~ ar O z ~ Ill,!
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From page 47... ...
Meat tends to be less mentioned as a favorite dish with decreasing income level. Vegetable dishes show the opposite trend and are mentioned significantly more often by the low and Negro group than by the high income group.
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From page 48... ...
3 3 Cereals .... ~9 High Middle Low 96 IOO 90 96 8g 57 9 I 84 43 74 89 29 70 63 29 22 37 48 43 53 57 As shown in Table IO, vegetables and milk are the most frequently mentioned essential foods in all groups.
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From page 49... ...
Members from the middle income group, however, may experience greater conflict than those from the low income group in so far as they are psychologically a marginal group. They strive to achieve the social status of the financially more able and at the same time fear dropping back to the level of poor people.
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From page 50... ...
The following scale of conflict ratings was used in determining the total conflict rating for each individual. The term"food" refers to one of the 25 food categories used in classifying foods throughout this study.*
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From page 51... ...
they are in a marginal position; the future holds more of a threat for the middle class; in the effort to resist lowering their social status they might economize first in those areas which are socially least prominent, such as food, thus keeping up appearances; 2) they are accustomed to depending less upon home canning and other economizing measures than are the lower income groups; 3)
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From page 52... ...
The great importance of potatoes to the low income group is substantiated by such comments as: "Have to leave potatoes at least once a day," or "If I cooked three meals a day without potatoes (at each meal) , there would be quite a fuss." Table ~4 gives the conflict ratings for tl~e total ~,roul~ and tl~e freq~e~cy of the various food categories in answer to each of the three questions regarding food retrenchment.
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From page 53... ...
They are next most frequently seen as appealing to the taste and as appropriate to a "fuss" dinner. The high and middle income levels consider them as a food for lunch, but the three low income levels seldom mention them as a luncheon food.
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From page 54... ...
TABLE 15 ESSENTIAL FOODS WITH NUTRIT:rONA=Y DISSIMILAR SUBSTITUTES Essential food Eggs ................
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From page 55... ...
6 This first experiment attempted to determine the relative effectiveness of two methods for changing food habits of a group: ~) Group decision the *
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From page 56... ...
Fo'r a week preceding the experiment and during the experimental period of one week, only whole wheat and white bread were served. During these two periods daily measures of consumption of both kinds of bread were made by student waiters.
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From page 57... ...
The effect of the group decision as compared with the request can be measured by the difference in the amount of actual change in consumption and by the attitudes of the group members as revealed by the questionnaire. Various circumstances interfered with the getting of satisfactory records of consumption in this experiment; for example, the group that had voluntarily chosen to increase whole wheat consumption to hobo advised the waiter to serve but a few slices of white bread.
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From page 58... ...
This holds true for both the group decision coops and the request chops with the exception of one request co-op where the rating was equal (Table ~7~.
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From page 59... ...
There seemed to be a difference in the attitude toward future consumption of whole wheat bread between those groups whose experimental goal was below loom and those on the loom level. Eighty-three per cent of the former groups wished to remain at or increase their level whereas only ~8~ of the latter groups wanted to maintain their loom level.
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From page 60... ...
Since practical usefulness of any procedure for changing food habits on a large scale demands that the method riot be too elaborate or time consuming, both the lecture and the group decision procedures were limited to about thirty minutes.
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From page 61... ...
The group-discussion leader starts with a very short introduction linking the problem of nutrition with the war effort and with general health. He points to the difficulties the government has met in trying to change food habits, and asks the opinion of the women, as a representative group of housewives, as to how successful a direct appeal to groups of housewives like themselves would be.
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From page 62... ...
. ~7 Per cent of individuals serving one or more of the three meats 35 Per cent of individuals serving a meat they had never or hardly ester served Group decision Lecture it, Middle High Total Low Middle High Total ~6 13 44 IS ~5 :3 4I 6g 54 52.
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From page 63... ...
i, The content of the discussion seems to have been guided by the same considerations which come up in the interview data. These data suggested that food habits might be changed by changing, for instance, the food channels, the place of a particular food inside or outside the area of consideration as "food for us," the frame of values governing food conduct, the high or low position of a given food on the various value scales.
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From page 64... ...
III. Sum MARY This study deals with the problem of why people eat what they eat arid with certain experiments in change of food habits.
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From page 65... ...
The relative effectiveness of a lecture method and a method of group decision for changing food habits. Washington, D
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