Who are You and What are you Eating?

1. Who are You and What are you Eating? Elena T. Carbone, DrPH, RD, LDN Department of Nutrition University of Massachusetts

2. “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are.” Brillat-Savarin A. “Physiologie du Gout”, 1826

3. Factors influencing health • Factors influencing food intake • Dietary stereotypes • Food as self-identity • Global identity

4. Factors Influencing Health

5. Factors Influencing Health Healthy People 2020 Determinants of Health. http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/DOHAbout.aspx#socialfactors • Genetics • Lifestyle • Alcohol, cigarettes, drugs • Physical activity • Dietary practices • Environment • Social • Physical • Health services • Policies

6. Factors Influencing Food Intake

7. Factors Influencing Food Intake Adapted from: Eating Habits. http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Diab-Em/Eating-Habits.html • Individual preferences • Religion • Economics • Cultural norms • Social influences • Environment • Food policies and guidance systems

8. Factors Influencing Food Intake Kittler PM, et al. 2012. Food and Culture, 6th ed. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, CA. Carbone ET & Anliker JA. 2004-2009. Strength & Power in Nutrition (SPIN). USDA-CSREES Grant . Carbone ETet al. 2007. Diabetes self-management: Perspectives of Latino patients and their health care providers. Patient Education and Counseling,May;66(2):202-10. • Taste, cost, and convenience • Age • Peers • Health status and beliefs • Lifestyle • Self-identity

9. Factors Influencing Food Intake Kittler PM, et al. 2012. Food and Culture, 6th ed. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, CA. • Self-identify • “You are what you eat” • Intriguing correlation between: • what people eat • how others perceive them • how they characterize themselves

10. Dietary Stereotypes • College students asked to rate profiles of people based on their diets. • All study participants had identical physical characteristics and exercise habits. • Those who ate “good” food perceived to be… • thinner • more fit • more active… Stein RI & NemeroffCJ. 1995. Moral overtones of food: Judgments of others based on what they eat. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 480-490.

11. Dietary Stereotypes • …as compared to people who ate “bad” foods. • Findings thought to be associated with strong morality-based food effect, including prevailing Puritan ethic of self-discipline. Stein RI & NemeroffCJ. 1995. Moral overtones of food: Judgments of others based on what they eat. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 480-490.

12. Dietary Stereotypes Another study listed foods typical of five diet types: • Vegetarian (broccoli quiche, brown rice, avocado, bean sprout sandwiches) • Gourmet (oysters, caviar, French roast coffee) • Health food (protein shake, wheat germ, yogurt) • Fast food (Kentucky Fried Chicken, Big Mac, pizza) • Synthetic food (Carnation Instant Breakfast, Cheez Whiz) SadellaE & Burroughs J. 1981. Profiles in eating: Sexy vegetarians and other diet-based stereotypes. Psychology Today, (October), 51-57.

13. Dietary Stereotypes Vegetarian • Pacifists • Likely to drive foreign cars

14. Dietary Stereotypes Vegetarian • Pacifists • Likely to drive foreign cars Gourmet • Liberal • Sophisticated

15. Dietary Stereotypes Vegetarian • Pacifists • Likely to drive foreign cars Gourmet • Liberal • Sophisticated Health Food[precursor to “green” movement] • Anti-nuclear activists • Democrats

16. Dietary Stereotypes Vegetarian • Pacifists • Likely to drive foreign cars Gourmet • Liberal • Sophisticated Health Food[precursor to “green” movement] • Anti-nuclear activists • Democrats Fast Food & Synthetic Food • Religious, conservative • Fond of polyester clothing Sadella E & Burroughs J. 1981. Profiles in eating: Sexy vegetarians and other diet-based stereotypes. Psychology Today, (October), 51-57.

17. Stereotypes Carbone ET & Goff S. 2011. The Massachusetts BMI Letter: How are Parents Responding? Collaborative Biomedical Research grant. • Parents of overweight children shown 10 words: • fat • weight problem • chubby • high body mass index (or BMI) • heavy • overweight • weight • unhealthy weight • obese • extremely obese

18. Stereotypes What do you think were the most preferred terms and least preferred terms?

19. Stereotypes Carbone ET & Goff S. 2011. The Massachusetts BMI Letter: How are Parents Responding? Collaborative Biomedical Research grant. • Parents of overweight children shown 10 words: • fat • weight problem • chubby • high body mass index (or BMI) • heavy • overweight • weight • unhealthy weight • obese • extremely obese

20. Stereotypes Most preferred Carbone ET & Goff S. 2011. The Massachusetts BMI Letter: How are Parents Responding? Collaborative Biomedical Research grant. • Parents of overweight children shown 10 words: • fat • weight problem • chubby • high body mass index (or BMI) • heavy • overweight • weight • unhealthy weight • obese • extremely obese

21. Stereotypes Most preferred Carbone ET & Goff S. 2011. The Massachusetts BMI Letter: How are Parents Responding? Collaborative Biomedical Research grant. • Parents of overweight children shown 10 words: • fat • weight problem • chubby • high body mass index (or BMI) • heavy • overweight • weight • unhealthy weight • obese • extremely obese

22. Stereotypes Most preferred Carbone ET & Goff S. 2011. The Massachusetts BMI Letter: How are Parents Responding? Collaborative Biomedical Research grant. • Parents of overweight children shown 10 words: • fat • weight problem • chubby • high body mass index (or BMI) • heavy • overweight • weight • unhealthy weight • obese • extremely obese Least preferred

23. Food as Self-Identity • Especially evident in dining out experiences where selection of location and menu items depends on the function or role an individual is playing.

24. Food as Self-Identity

25. Mother Interested in a family experience... • Quick • Low cost • Play equipment

26. Employee At a work-related event… • Quiet • Professional • Conservative • Cost can be higher

27. Wife On a date with her husband... • Romantic • Intimate • Quiet • Cost can be higher

28. Traveler Seeking adventure… • New tastes • Quiet or lively • Cost may be less important

29. Elite Eater In a competition… • High energy • High intake • Loud/lively • Cost not an issue

30. Global Identity • Since the 1970s, the US has increasingly moved toward cultural plurality, where no single group is a majority.

31. Global Identity • Since the 1970s, the US has increasingly moved toward cultural plurality, where no single group is a majority. • Growing need for cultural competency is evident in the current demographic trends. • The US Census Bureau has released data showing that “minorities” are now a majority of births in the United States. • For the first time in US history, Hispanics, blacks, Asians, and other minorities accounted for 50.4% of births. http://www.washingtonpost.com May 17, 2012.

32. Global Identity Nation’s growing diversity has tremendous implications for education, economics, politics and our palates. The significance of culturally-based food habits on health and diet more widely recognized. The need for intercultural competencies in areas of nutrition research, assessment, counseling and education are needed.

33. QUESTION: Are you what you eat?

34. ANSWER: Who we are and what we’re eating is changing, but what remains true is that…

35. …food “evokes, and in a certain way represents, an anthropological place made up of words, memories, stories, people and relationships.” The Cultural Dimension of Food Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition

36. The food system contains and transports the culture, traditions, and identity of a group and constitutes the initial means to enter into contact with different cultures. The Cultural Dimension of Food Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition https://www.barillacfn.com/publications/pp-cultural-dimension-of-food.pdf

37. Through eating, nostalgia for our homeland unwinds, is consumed, reconciled and sometimes reinforced.” Teti V., 1999, p.84

38. QUESTION: What assumptions are you making about others based on their food intake … and what are others thinking about you?