Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

This anthropological study was established to investigate people's own notions of the relationship between the food they ate and their health. In order to do this it was considered important to situate food choices in their social and cultural context. The first project (Phase I) was set in Lewisham, an urban area of London. A second project (Phase II), designed to provide comparative data with Phase I, was located in and around Newport (Pembrokeshire), a rural area on the west coast of Wales. The aims and objectives of the study were: to accumulate new information on food choices in Britain and the processes - social, cultural, political and economic - which lead to such choices in a diversity of settings, and in a rapidly changing situation to encourage greater understanding of people's ideas about the relationship between food and health which may prove of practical use in seeking to improve diet and therefore morbidity and mortality rates to refine anthropological theory and methodology in the area of food and diet by combining the approaches of political economy and cultural analysis by working at the micro-level, but situating the research in a much broader political, economic and geographical, as well as historical context to demonstrate the value of anthropological analysis, especially the importance of symbolism, categorisation, and social relationships in the understanding of people's choice of diet Phase I was located in the London borough of Lewisham. A variety of methods was used in this research, including open-ended, semi-structured interviews with both general informants and with retail, catering and health professionals. General informants included men and women of all ages, both black and white British, from middle and working class backgrounds. Phase II of the study was located in the small rural town of Newport. This replicated the methods of Phase I. Alongside retail, catering and health professionals, general informants in Phase II included middle- and working-class men and women of all ages, both Welsh and English-speaking. In addition, during the holiday season, a sample of tourists were interviewed. Selected local informants also kept 7-day food diaries. The researcher also engaged in participant observation by joining several local associations, attending meetings and other activities. In addition to the documentation available for download, there is one box of paper documentation (e.g., grey literature, publications, shoppers’ surveys, etc.) available at the National Social Policy and Social Change Archive at the Albert Sloman Library Special Collections, University of Essex. Further information can be found at the project Phase I web page and project Phase II web page or at the ESRC award page for Phase I and Phase II.

Main Topics:

Afro-Caribbean, age, alternative lifestyles, alternatives, body and embodiment, BSE, class, culture, dieting, eating disorders, ethnicity, food and health, food choices, food panics, gender, healthy eating, identity, medical anthropology, permaculture, social anthropology, supermarkets, tourist food, vegetarian.

Convenience sample

Face-to-face interview

Observation

Diaries