Meaning of food in eating patterns

Abstract

Purpose–Thepurposeofthisstudyistoconceptuallyandempiricallyverifythemeaningofthefoodconstruct, while adapting and validating the Meaning of Food in Life Questionnaire proposed by Arbit et al. (2017) into Spanish and comparing groups with specific and non-specific eating patterns in relation to the meaning of food. Design/methodology/approach–Confirmatoryfactoranalysisandmultivariateanalysisinvolvinggroups with specific and non-specific eating patterns. Findings–Resultsshowthattheadaptedversionofthescaleretainedthefivefoodmeaningfactors,althoughfour itemsfromtheoriginalversionhadtoberemoved.Multivariateanalysesofvarianceshowthattherearesignificant differences in the moraland sacred factors offoodmeaning whencomparingpeople withspecific and non-specific eatingpatterns.Significantdifferencesinthemoral,sacredandsocialfactorswerefoundwhencomparingbetween people with a specific diet, vegans/vegetarians and people who do not consume gluten/lactose or are on a diet. Research limitations/implications– Differences in the meanings attributed to food can be observed among the different ways people eat. This could have implications on ethics, sustainability and well-being by considering the characteristics of the five factors of food meaning. Originality/value– This study suggests that food meaning is a complex and rational process, where eating patterns play a key role in the attribution of meaning.