Personal Reasons for Eating (Influences on Food Habits and Food Preferences)
What Influences Your Food Choices? Although we take for granted that there are reasons why we eat the foods we do, we very often choose foods to eat based on the following influences: 1. Nutritional/Physiological Influences 2. Emotional/Psychological Influences 3. Cultural Influences 4. Family/Social Influences 5. Food Availability/Environmental Influences 6. Media Influences
Nutritional/Physiological Influences (how your body works) Hunger Appetite Survival Senses: smell, taste, touch, and sight Allergies (they affect what we are not able to eat)
Emotional/Psychological Influences Attitudes Feelings Your emotions affect what you want to eat or whether or not you eat Aesthetics (what we find to look nice or appealing to eat) Creativity (the more creative or adventurous you are, the more likely you are to try different foods)
Cultural Influences Ethnic background Holiday customs Religion Superstitions and taboos Celebrations/ traditions
Family/Social Influences Parents Friends Relatives Lifestyles Resources: money, time, knoweldge, equipment available
Food Availability/ Environmental Influences Climate and terrain Regional/seasonal foods Transportation of food (imported foods) Trends (popular foods are often grown in larger amounts) Organic foods
Media Influences Television Magazines Billboards movies
Media Influences Cont. Read the handout regarding media and advertising techniques. Fill the sheet in with examples of advertisements that you know of that are using some the techniques described on your handout. Have these advertising techniques fooled you into buying their products?