August 2009

Food Families

August 26, 2009 Animal foods

Foods grow up in families. At the highest level (called a kingdom), the family may be animals, or plants, or fungi, or bacteria.The food families are divided into smaller and smaller groups, so we can see how they’re related to each other. How is this relevant to food choices? Botanical relatives may have more than […]

Tagged as: Animal ingredients, Fungus ingredients, Plant ingredients

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People’s Personal Preferences

August 24, 2009 Food choice reasons

There are recipe books for diabetics, and for people on low fat diets. Manufactured foods are produced for the gluten-intolerant and for people who want low-carb diets. Restaurants offer vegetarian options. It’s easy to put labels on people and put them into baskets for food preferences. But reality isn’t that simple. A person on a […]

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Multiple Reasons for Food Choices

August 21, 2009 Food choice reasons

Some food choices may be made for multiple reasons, or reasons that don’t fit into simple categories. Most people in the West won’t eat dogs. Is this for philosophical or psychological reasons? Dogs are our friends, so we should not eat them — philosophical / beliefs. Yeuch, how could anyone eat a dog? — psychological […]

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Philosophical / Belief System Reasons for Food Choices

August 19, 2009 Food choice reasons

Some people choose and avoid foods based on their belief system. Formal beliefs include religions; informal philosophies include vegetarianism and other moral reasons for choices. Vegetarianism has been around for thousands of years; Buddha and Pythagoras were avoiding meat 2 1/2 thousands years ago. It’s a philosophy that comes in and out of popularity. Nowadays […]

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Psychological / Gut Feeling Reasons for Food Choices

August 17, 2009 Food choice reasons

Cupcake or okra? We’re designed to prefer certain foods, and dislike others — this helps keep the species alive. However, we’re designed with a certain amount of flexibility. Throughout our lives, we can learn to change our likes and dislikes. Bitter foods may be poisonous, slimy ones may contain bacteria, moldy foods may contain poisonous fungi. […]

Tagged as: Psychological food choices

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Physical / Health Reasons for Food Selections

August 14, 2009 Food choice reasons

Imagine there’s a food that most people can eat, such as peanuts, but it might potentially kill you. You’re going to keep a close eye out for it, and check everything you eat to make sure it’s not included. Most people don’t have such extreme reactions to food. However, if you believe that a food […]

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What Are Food Choices?

August 11, 2009 Food choice reasons

Everybody eats, but most people don’t eat everything. Even if someone says they eat everything, you’ll often find they avoid something — spinach, or organ meats, or insects, or smelly cheese. We’re going to take a look at what types of food preferences people have — what people eat, and don’t eat, and why. There are […]

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