Nutrition in Consumption Culture: Healthy/Unhealthy Foods


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ADAK N.

ISTANBUL UNIVERSITESI SOSYOLOJI DERGISI-ISTANBUL UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY, cilt.40, sa.1, ss.197-218, 2020 (ESCI) identifier

Özet

Nutrition is an indispensable need for human beings' survival. However, nutrition is not just the physiological act of eating one's fill. It has a symbolic meaning in how the relationships within social life among individuals, between humans and God, and between humans and the natural environment are both formed and expressed. The aim of this literature review is to examine the relationship between consumption culture and nutrition by considering the socio-cultural dimensions of nutrition and eating practices. The paper also questions the relationship between consumption and "healthy" foods, whose consumption is highlighted for maintaining and improving health. Within the framework of consumption culture, this study attempts to explain how some foods are classified as healthy and others as unhealthy, and how some foods that had been very popular for a certain period are replaced by others. Why some individuals who are surrounded by health risks and who fear getting sick try to maintain and improve their health while others prefer unhealthy food will also be examined from a sociological perspective.