About
"Food is such a fundamental part of human existence that it would perhaps be inconceivable for it not to be bound up with ethics. Moreover, like ethical beliefs, food choices are not simply a set of decisions that individuals make, but 'a thinking framework' which pre-forms the way in which we see the world" Gofton, 1996, p.121
Food values are, as Leslie Gofton suggests in the quote above, strongly embedded in the ethical frameworks we each use to make everyday choices. We are encouraged to make 'good' food choices that consider the impact on others who count morally. But who or what are the others that count morally, for example animals or the environment, and how can we understand and evaluate the nature of the impact on the moral others?
Our group uses qualitative and other research approaches to understand how people make everyday food choices, and how their 'thinking frameworks' are shaped socially, culturally and historically.