The food we eat in our day-to-day lives are affected by multiple factors such as cost, availability, cravings, etc but a factor that we seem to undermine even though it has a massive impact all the other factors listed earlier is our geographic and economic location as well as our ethnic background. According to the European Public Health Alliance,” food environments are defined as ‘the physical, economic, political and socio-cultural contexts in which people engage with the food system to make their decisions about acquiring, preparing and consuming food”[1]
ECONOMIC AND GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION
Firstly, we’ll focus on how location affects the food we eat. The climate, topography, soil quality and the average amount of precipitation can affect the crops that could be grown, the animals that can survive such a climate. But apart from that, the economic situation of said geographical area also affects the food we eat. According to a research paper that sought to find the factors that influence the consumption of street food in college students.They find street food is cheaper and easy to access in countries like the Philippines and Ghana therefore consumption of street food in said countries are high[3].However in richer places, the food eaten is more likely to be of better quality, a more balanced meal, and of course, cost more.
ETHNICITY
Apart from geographic and economic location, ethnicity and culture also affects the way we perceive food. According to a study by Qian Yang, Asians are more likely to be thermal tasters and like less sweets compared to Caucasians.[4] This supports the thought that ethnicity affects the food we eat. In the Guardian article called “The geography of taste: how our food preferences are formed”,Fleming shows that even though terrain and climate affects the food eaten by an ethnic group, individual cultures develop unique preferences between different ethnic groups, regardless of living in the same area/similar terrain.
According to Dan Schmitz, director of Global Product Development at Abbott, one of the top things that affects our taste is cultural background. According toCarolyn Alish, the foods you may prefer later in life are affected by what you ate as a fetus and a baby.The food we grow up around with influences our taste in food when we are older.”Paasi (1991, 249) argues that the “historical accumulation of experiences” contributes to cultural and historical relations between regions and people. This claim is supported by the construct of spicy taste in Nanxiong, which is achieved by at least three overlapping factors – climate and landscape characteristics, geographical proximity, and long collective engagement.”[7]. Our past and history affects the way a group of people collectively perceive food, which affects the way we as individuals perceive the food we eat.
Apart from these two factors other factors that are not considered are sex,genetic makeup,exposure, and illness and disease. However this article only seeks to highlight how ethnicity and location affects the way we eat.Your favorite dish/ least preferred food may be affected by where you live and the place you live. Think about it,if you were born in a different culture or location, you would have never been able to appreciate food in the way you do now. The food economy you are born in affects the way you perceive food.
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sources:
1.Alliance, European Public Health. “What Are “Food Environments”? - EPHA.” Https://Epha.org, 20 Dec. 2019, epha.org/what-are-food-environments/
2.“How Much of the Earth’s Land Is Farmable? | Synonym.” Synonym.com, 2013, classroom.synonym.com/much-earths-land-farmable-39677.html.
3.“Street Foods: Factors Influencing Its Popularity among College Students.” Research Gate, Research gate, Nov. 2023, www.researchgate.net/publication/379025150_Street_Foods_Factors_Influencing_its_Popularity_among_College_Students. Accessed 16 Aug. 2024.
4.Yang, Qian, et al. “Exploring the Relationships between Taste Phenotypes, Genotypes, Ethnicity, Gender and Taste Perception Using Chi-Square and Regression Tree Analysis.” Food Quality and Preference, vol. 83, July 2020, p. 103928, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2020.103928.
5.Fleming, Amy. “The Geography of Taste: How Our Food Preferences Are Formed.” The Guardian, The Guardian, 3 Sept. 2013, www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/sep/03/geography-taste-how-food-preferences-formed.
6.“10 Surprising Factors That Affect Your Taste Perception.”
www.nutritionnews.abbott, www.nutritionnews.abbott/news-research/expert-views/10-surprising-things-that-affect-your-taste/.
7.“Taste and Place of Nanxiong Cuisine in South China: A Regional Analytical Framework.” Research Gate, July 2021, www.researchgate.net/publication/352196273_Taste_and_place_of_Nanxiong_cuisine_in_South_China_a_regional_analytical_framework?enrichId=rgreq-a874e1fb737e71cb9556ac6ed35b558f-XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzM1MjE5NjI3MztBUzoxMTQzMTI4MTIwNTkyMjIzNUAxNzAwNDg3NDA5NTQ3&el=1_x_3. Accessed 16 Aug. 2024.
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