‘Eating beans … that is a “no-no” for our times’: Young Cypriots’ consumer meanings of ‘healthy’ and ‘fast’ food

Abstract

Objective To investigate in-depth beliefs and experiences relating to the choice of fast and/or healthy foods from a group of young people living in Cyprus.

Design Data for the study were generated from one-to-one qualitative interviews which encouraged the participants to articulate the symbolic value of eating choices in their day-to-day experiences.

Participants Twenty five young people (12 male, 13 female) aged between 15 and 17 years from diverse socio-economic backgrounds living in different parts of the urban area of Nicosia were recruited using a snowballing technique.

Analysis The analysis focused on the division between ‘healthy’ and ‘fast’ foods.

Results This study discloses the way that a group of young Cypriots make sense of, and articulate, ‘fast’ and ‘healthy’ foods as consumer eating choices. The analysis demonstrates how ‘fast’ and ‘healthy’ eating choices entail a symbolic value which the participants claimed had significance and meaning in young people’s lifestyles. Eating fast foods was primarily seen as a medium for expressing a youthful self and/or lifestyle image, while choosing healthy food was viewed as being in opposition to the normal image of being young.

Conclusions and implications This article challenges the one-dimensional approach of the ‘nutrition value of foods’ approach for convincing young people to choose healthy foods and strongly suggests the need to provide them with opportunities to become aware of and critical about the symbolic value of eating choices.