The Taste of Nostalgia
This was a study was carried out in Tuscany in Italy 2023 and centered around how food memories flavor the stories of our lives and how these memories unconsciously, steers daily food choices. I investigated how food memories invite, create and challenge nostalgic feelings about home, hometown, local food traditions, but also identity creation, social relationships and networks. In the study, I examine how these factors are brought to the surface when cooking and how they add meaning and value to the participants' lives.
The main aim was to:
- Reach deeper insights into how our life worlds materialized through food and how skills, memories, identity and sense of belonging play out in everyday cooking methods.
- Investigate the emotional drivers governing everyday food choices
The overall conclusion was that to succeed with the transition to an ecologically sustainable and socially just food system, organizations benefit from an understand what their consumers are engaged in emotionally when buying, preparing and eating everyday food.
The study further argues that this understanding is crucial to every food business or public organization that aims at thriving in this transformation.