UK Data Archive Study Number 5801 Concepts of Healthy Eating Food Research: Phases I and II, 1992- 1996 Phase II: Newport, Pembrokeshire USER GUIDE ESRC Research Programme On The Nation's Diet concepts of healthy eating: a comparative anthropological investigation (phase 2) 11 Research team RATIONALE and OBJECTIVES Professor Pat Caplan These are as for Concepts of healthy eating: a comparative anthropological investigation Dr. Janice Williams (phase I). Department of Anthropology STUDY DESIGN Goldsmiths College This study was designed to complement phase 1 - which was located in an urban area - and University of London to provide comparative dara. Accordingly it was based in a small town in west Wales and London SE 14 6NW in its rural hinterland. The same research approaches and variety of methods were used as tel: +44 (0)1719197803 for phase 1. The only differences/additions were (a) to include both Welsh and English­ speaking people amongst the interviewees in the cross-section of the general population (b) Contact interview a sample of tOurists during the holiday season, and (c) arrange for local school Professor Caplan children to complete a questionnaire. Participant observation in this second phase meant joining the distinctively local associations, Duration of research including the Women's Institute, Wine Club, and Gardening Club. The researcher also February 1994 - January 1996 participated in a wide range ofevents which included food: coffee mornings/evenings, local festivals and carnivals, agricultural'shows, fairs and fetes, and fund-raising events. Matching phase 1, it is noted that patterns of diet are complex, and cannot always be correlated in any simple way with factors such as ethnicity, class, or age, although these are important. So, in phase 2 they have also been considered in the context of household composition and organisation, time and money budgets, and cultural notions about what constitutes 'good food' and health. MAIN FINDINGS There have been significant changes in diets and availability of foodstuffs in this area during this century, and particularly over the last twenty-five years. Self-sufficiency is no longer widespread. Now both rural-dwellers and townsfolk buy virtually all their food, except for members of the 'alternative' communities, many ofwhom seek to practise as great a degree of self-sufficiency as possible. In addition to the town's variety ofsmall food shops, there are small supermarkets a half an hour's drive away. A large branch ofTesco has recently opened in a nearby larger town, significantly affecting shopping patterns. Over the last twenty years, a number of wholefooel shops have also sprung up in the area, primarily to serve the alternative community, but these are increasingly used by local residents too. The 'proper meal', which has to be cooked from at least some raw ingredients, remains both an important ideal and is also adhered to by the vast majority of informants at least once a day, although the 'Sunday dinner' is less significant for those under 40 than for older informants. For the majority, a proper meal should include meat in some form, although there were a number of vegetarians among our informants, not all of whom 'alternatives'. And some people have adopted pasta dishes and even curries and Chinese food. On the whole, however, older residents tend to be resistant to such changes, on the grounds that 'you don't know what's in them'. (continued overleaf) ESRC Research Programme On The Nation's Diet This area is one with a high incidence of coronary heart disease and other diet-related diseases, and has be.en targeted for healthy eating advice through campaigns such as 'Heart-beat Wales'. Local people are not unaware of such advice, but the extent to which they are willing to adopt it varies. Many are highly sceptical, stating that experts are 'constantly changing their minds', so that 'if you listened to them, you'd never eat anything would you?' People also frequently cite the diet of their parents and grandparents, which was high in fat (particularly fatty bacon), arguing that 'it never did them any harm', and that most lived to ripe old age. Many farming households thus still eat a diet which is high in fat and sugar. There are strong cultural reasons for this, including conventions of hospitality and sociability. Economic constraints also play a part in ability to adopt 'healthy eating': fruit and vegetables available locally are relatively expensive. Families on low incomes, especially those with children, or farming families with workers to feed, have often of necessity to choose inexpensive ways of eating, which risk high intakes of fat. Nonetheless, dietary changes for health reasons are apparent in this part of Wales, including for instance: • Those living an 'alternative' lifestyle have ideological, as well as health reasons for conforming quite closely to current dietary guidelines. Many have moved from cities to this area to seek a new life-style, part of which includes a wholefood, organic, and perhaps vegetarian or vegan diet. • There is a significant tourist industry in the area, together with catering facilities to service it. Some of these include establishments offering a 'Welsh cuisine' which has, effectively, been 'invented' over the last twenty-five years, drawing on 'traditional' dishes and locally available items. Tourists themselves often seek out an 'authentic', regional cuisine, as well as foods which contain nostalgic associations. Such food is considered as a 'treat' and particularly suitable for the 'release' of holiday eating, as opposed to the 'control' which is more suitable for everyday life at home, and which frequently includes concerns about healthy eating. This dichotomy lends further weight to the notion that there continues to be a perceived discrepancy between eating 'good food' and 'food which is good for you'. CONCLUSIONS We draw the same conclusions from this phase of the study as for phase 1. In particular, we stress that our study of some of the social relations involved in purchase, preparation and consumption of food, shows that what people eat is not only based upon individual choices and preferences, but is formed and constrained by circumstances which are essentially social and cultural. SELECTED PUBLICATIONS Caplan, P. (1994) 'Feasts, fasts, famines: food for thought' Berg Occasional Papers in Anthropology no. 2. Berg Publishers: Oxford. Williams, J. (1997) "'We never eat like this at home": food on holiday' in Caplan, P. (ed.) Food Health and Identity Routledge: London. Goldsmiths > Department of Anthropology http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/anthropology/staff/pat-caplan/project-U... Skip navigation Text only Home News and Events > Archive Programmes Staff Research > Research papers Professor Pat Caplan MA PhD Staff list Centre for Visual Pat Caplan home Anthropology > Films The Anthropology Concepts of Healthy Eating Phase II (West Wales) Society ESRC Research Programme: 'The Nation's Diet: The Social Science of Food Choice' Contact us Key Terms: Food and health, 'healthy eating', Wales, alternative lifestyles, tourist food Goldsmiths home Names of investigators: Principal Investigator: Professor Pat Caplan Download our booklet Research Associate: Dr. Janice Williams Institutional affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Goldsmiths College, University of London Rationale: These projects were set up to investigate people's own notions of the relationship between the food they ate, and their health. In order to do this it was considered important to situate food choices in their social and cultural context. The first project (Phase I) was set in Lewisham, an urban area of London, whereas the second project (Phase II) was designed to provide comparative data with Phase I, which was located in an rural area of Wales. Summary of aims and objectives To accumulate new information on food choices in Britain and the processes - social, cultural, political and economic - which lead to such choices in a diversity of settings, and in a rapidly changing situation. To encourage greater understanding of people's ideas about the relationship between food and health which may prove of practical use in seeking to improve diet and therefore morbidity and mortality rates. To refine anthropological theory and methodology in the area of food and diet by combining the approaches of political economy and cultural analysis, and by working at the micro-level, but situating the research in a much broader political, economic and geographical, as well as historical context. To demonstrate the value of anthropological analysis, especially the importance of symbolism, categorisation, and social relationships in the understanding of people's choice of diet. Study Design This study was located in a small town in west Wales and its rural hinterland. A variety of methods was used in this research, including open-ended, semi-structured interviews with both general informants and with retail, catering and health professionals. General informants included men and women of all ages, both Welsh and English-speaking, from middle and working class backgrounds. In addition, during the holiday season, a sample of tourists was interviewed. Selected local informants also kept 7-day food diaries, and filled in food frequency questionnaires, and a questionnaire was also filled out by local school children. The researcher, Dr. Janice Williams, also engaged in participant observation by joining several local associations, including the Women's Institute,