Food Choice
Food choices may be studied at the individual, family or community level. Research in the department currently focuses on individual choices and those made within the context of family meals.
Individuals make food decisions everyday based on past experience, perceptual differences, habitual intake and responses to environmental cues. Even young children make food choices in grocery stores, day care units, schools and at social events. Sensory science measures and evaluates the characteristics of foods that make them appealing to consumers. This allows food companies to design foods that appeal to various market sectors, including children. Methods from sensory science can also be used to understand biological variation that predisposes individuals to either consume or avoid foods that have potential to impact health and wellness.
Families, as represented by its household members, have considerable influence on both individual food choice made outside the family as well as choices served or offered within the family setting. Current research examining the family food system includes understanding how a) risk perception, b) family member food preferences; c) gender roles; and d) traditional food patterns affect food choices. Strategies to increase family openness to new choices or patterns (i.e. increased flexibility) are being developed and tested.
People specializing in this area
Faculty
J. Lynne Brown, Ph.D.
Consumer perception of food safety risk and risk communication strategies; factors involved in family food choices; evaluation of educational materials.
John E. Hayes, Ph.D.
Flavor perception, behavioral genetics, and ingestive behavior; biological foundations of food liking and intake; Impact of genetic variation on food sensations and intake; Acquisition of preference for initially aversive stimuli.
