The Psychology of Human Food Selection
Datum: 24.07.2014
Abstract
In the western world, there has been, in recent decades, a strong preference for natural
foods, and other natural products. I will analyze the basis for this preference, and focus on
the fact that for most people, natural has to do with the history of a food, rather than its
composition. It has a moral component, and I will discuss this and relate it to opposition to
genetic engineering. In a second section, I will discuss the fact that large scale consumption
of insects could solve many of the world’s food security problems as well as many
environmental problems. I will consider the nature of opposition to consuming insects,
mainly motivated by disgust. In a third section, I will discuss how attitudes to food and the
food environment differ by culture. The main comparison will be France versus the United
States, but I will also include India, Argentina and Brazil.
Vortrag
