Influences on Food Selection
Influences on Food selection
The factors that influence people to select one food over another are Decisions made up of many interrelated factors.
Physiological
¨ Physiological factors are factors that affect the body’s hunger and or appetite for food. You may choose the foods you eat either because you are hungry or you have a specific appetite for one particular food.
¨ There is a big difference between hunger and appetite. Hunger is when the body is telling you that it needs food straight away but an appetite is the desire for a specific food even when you’re not hungry.
¨ Each individual food has either low or high value satiety. A high satiety food is where it makes you satisfied and no longer hungry but a low satiety food makes you unsatisfied with what you have eaten and you are wanting more.
¨ Each individual person experiences appetite and hunger differently. Some people experience hunger at a regular bases while other are continually satisfied. It is based on food habits, gender, body size and activity level.
Psychological
There are many psychological factors that influence food choices and decisions. These factors differ mostly from person to person.
. People’s attitudes (opinions) towards food, occur around eating certain animals, for example the consuming of dog meat is prohibited/unacceptable, yet still in places like china it is an exception.
. Values also play a big part in the influence of food and can affect your choices you make in the foods you select to eat. For example, some individuals may value the life of animals and their rights and may make a decision not to consume any dairy or animal products.
. Experiences can influence your relationship with food. Foods regularly eaten with family or friends, often remain firm favorites. Nevertheless experiences unpleasant memories associated with food that you select may affect the way you feel. For example, when ill after consuming a particular food, people often have a difficultly eating that food again.
. Emotions are connected to feelings and frequently the foods that you ingest can be used to express feelings. For example, you may eat because you are feeling happy, worried or nervous. There may be other particular foods that you consume within these times.
. Habits are routines that you can perform without really without thinking about them and are usually very hard to break. They can be something that you do at a particular time each day or in a certain situation. Food habits relating to food selection can be both good and bad. Good habits may include, not skipping breakfast, eating the correct daily serving of fruit and vegetables, or drinking water instead of soft drinks.
. Beliefs are what you accept to be true and generally come from interaction with the people around you. They can be based on your experiences, traditions passed down in your family, or religion. For example, your family may always pray before they consume a meal, or they may not eat meat on Fridays.
Geographical
Geographic location and climate dictate the type of foods that can be grown for example, desert areas are not suitable for growing crops of wheat, fruit or vegetables and influence how and where you eat them.
- People that live in high temperatures often eat a lot of food that contains food with water in them like salad and fruit.
- People that live in low temperatures often eat hot meals indoor like baked dinners and casseroles.
- People that live in rural and coastal areas like to buy fresh local produce.
- People that live in the city usually eat out and eat takeaway food as it is very social activity.
Social
- Eating is a social activity and there are many people that come in contact with others resulting in social interaction and the sharing of ideas, customs and lifestyles.
- Family and peer groups are certainly the most important socializing groups and both have a significant influence on the foods that you select when you are with them.
- Social influences on food intake refer to the impact that one or more persons have on the eating behaviour of others, either direct or indirect, either conscious or subconscious.
- As a result of influences from other cultures, Australians are cooking a greater variety of foods on the barbeque.
Economical
· Foods people choose depend on price and taste.
· Where you purchase food from has an effect on the price.
· The age of food or produce can also affect the price of the product.
· Whether your purchase food when it is in season or out of season can have a large effect on how much it costs and how much it is worth.
· If you buy processed food it costs more then simply making the same thing at home from scratch
Technological
Influences the type of food we eat and the way we prepare, store and serve.
Technological factors that effect our food selection may include;
· Cooking methods
· food production
· food storage
· food packing
· preservation
· appliances
Religious
· The consumption of meats is generally discouraged
· Fasting is very often practiced by all religions
· Religious food practices very widely.
· Within cultures, people select foods to conform to particular styles of eating.
· The religions of Buddhism, Eastern Orthodox, Hinduism and Jewish all have very strong beliefs that eating meals like beef, pork and eggs, fish is breaking the laws of their religions.
Media and Advertising
· The media influences a persons lifestyle by changing the way our perception is towards certain things (e.g. what we choose to wear or he foods we chose to eat)
· Many television adverts promote high fattening or sugary foods
· Advertisements Mainly to target children by using prizes, giveaways, animation and jingles and popular personalities to draw them in.
· In 2008 the Sydney Morning Herald found that from 6-9pm there were at least 15 fast food commercials.
The factors that influence people to select one food over another are Decisions made up of many interrelated factors.
Physiological
¨ Physiological factors are factors that affect the body’s hunger and or appetite for food. You may choose the foods you eat either because you are hungry or you have a specific appetite for one particular food.
¨ There is a big difference between hunger and appetite. Hunger is when the body is telling you that it needs food straight away but an appetite is the desire for a specific food even when you’re not hungry.
¨ Each individual food has either low or high value satiety. A high satiety food is where it makes you satisfied and no longer hungry but a low satiety food makes you unsatisfied with what you have eaten and you are wanting more.
¨ Each individual person experiences appetite and hunger differently. Some people experience hunger at a regular bases while other are continually satisfied. It is based on food habits, gender, body size and activity level.
Psychological
There are many psychological factors that influence food choices and decisions. These factors differ mostly from person to person.
. People’s attitudes (opinions) towards food, occur around eating certain animals, for example the consuming of dog meat is prohibited/unacceptable, yet still in places like china it is an exception.
. Values also play a big part in the influence of food and can affect your choices you make in the foods you select to eat. For example, some individuals may value the life of animals and their rights and may make a decision not to consume any dairy or animal products.
. Experiences can influence your relationship with food. Foods regularly eaten with family or friends, often remain firm favorites. Nevertheless experiences unpleasant memories associated with food that you select may affect the way you feel. For example, when ill after consuming a particular food, people often have a difficultly eating that food again.
. Emotions are connected to feelings and frequently the foods that you ingest can be used to express feelings. For example, you may eat because you are feeling happy, worried or nervous. There may be other particular foods that you consume within these times.
. Habits are routines that you can perform without really without thinking about them and are usually very hard to break. They can be something that you do at a particular time each day or in a certain situation. Food habits relating to food selection can be both good and bad. Good habits may include, not skipping breakfast, eating the correct daily serving of fruit and vegetables, or drinking water instead of soft drinks.
. Beliefs are what you accept to be true and generally come from interaction with the people around you. They can be based on your experiences, traditions passed down in your family, or religion. For example, your family may always pray before they consume a meal, or they may not eat meat on Fridays.
Geographical
Geographic location and climate dictate the type of foods that can be grown for example, desert areas are not suitable for growing crops of wheat, fruit or vegetables and influence how and where you eat them.
- People that live in high temperatures often eat a lot of food that contains food with water in them like salad and fruit.
- People that live in low temperatures often eat hot meals indoor like baked dinners and casseroles.
- People that live in rural and coastal areas like to buy fresh local produce.
- People that live in the city usually eat out and eat takeaway food as it is very social activity.
Social
- Eating is a social activity and there are many people that come in contact with others resulting in social interaction and the sharing of ideas, customs and lifestyles.
- Family and peer groups are certainly the most important socializing groups and both have a significant influence on the foods that you select when you are with them.
- Social influences on food intake refer to the impact that one or more persons have on the eating behaviour of others, either direct or indirect, either conscious or subconscious.
- As a result of influences from other cultures, Australians are cooking a greater variety of foods on the barbeque.
Economical
· Foods people choose depend on price and taste.
· Where you purchase food from has an effect on the price.
· The age of food or produce can also affect the price of the product.
· Whether your purchase food when it is in season or out of season can have a large effect on how much it costs and how much it is worth.
· If you buy processed food it costs more then simply making the same thing at home from scratch
Technological
Influences the type of food we eat and the way we prepare, store and serve.
Technological factors that effect our food selection may include;
· Cooking methods
· food production
· food storage
· food packing
· preservation
· appliances
Religious
· The consumption of meats is generally discouraged
· Fasting is very often practiced by all religions
· Religious food practices very widely.
· Within cultures, people select foods to conform to particular styles of eating.
· The religions of Buddhism, Eastern Orthodox, Hinduism and Jewish all have very strong beliefs that eating meals like beef, pork and eggs, fish is breaking the laws of their religions.
Media and Advertising
· The media influences a persons lifestyle by changing the way our perception is towards certain things (e.g. what we choose to wear or he foods we chose to eat)
· Many television adverts promote high fattening or sugary foods
· Advertisements Mainly to target children by using prizes, giveaways, animation and jingles and popular personalities to draw them in.
· In 2008 the Sydney Morning Herald found that from 6-9pm there were at least 15 fast food commercials.