Rebecca Gregson sits down with Julie Hesselberg to discuss her new research on how families manage dietary changes when teenage members adopt more plant-rich diets.
Julie, could you briefly introduce yourself?
My name is Julie Hesselberg. I am a PhD Candidate at
MAPP Centre, Department of Management, Aarhus University. I have
a background in economics and sociology. My research interests cover
consumer behaviour and consumer culture.
You have a new paper out, co-authored with Susanne Pedersen and
Alice Grønhøj, “Meat reduction meets family reality: Negotiating
sustainable diets in households with adolescents”. What inspired
this research and what were some of the key findings?
The research is inspired by the basic fact that no consumer lives on
an island. And yet, in consumer research, consumers tend to be seen
as individual units making decisions for themselves. Consumer
research, as I see it, often fails to address the challenge of
sustainability and identify real-world, family-oriented solutions.
In this research, we focus on family decision making as it relates
to meat consumption. By drawing on qualitative approaches we provide
some key insights regarding how such decisions play out in everyday
life.
In your work, you refer to the “fragile family meal equilibrium”.
Can you explain what you mean by this?
“Equilibrium” refers to a way of eating where all family members are
somewhat happy with the chosen food and, most importantly, can enjoy
a shared meal. So, when individual members have different
preferences, as they often do, equilibrium refers to the point where
such preferences ‘intersect’. Family members seem to be striving for
the point of equilibrium as a way of staying cohesive and
maintaining ‘family’. What constitutes this point, in terms of
concrete meal choices, will differ among families. However, new food
preferences within a family, such as more plant-rich eating,
constitute threats to the achieved equilibrium and harmony they have
established.
Is it fair to say that the desire to uphold harmony and avoid
conflict in families serves both as a driver and a barrier to
reducing meat consumption. How does your research show this?
Yes, it is fair to say that the desire to uphold harmony in families
serves as both a driver and barrier to reducing meat consumption. In
our research, we see that in some families, green food preferences
are toned down or even abandoned as a way of maintaining the
“equilibrium”. In other families, the new, green preferences can be
incorporated in everyday eating, as a way to maintain the
equilibrium. This latter outcome is more likely to be the case when
family members support the new preferences.
“Conflict is symptomatic of change”. Do you see this statement
applying to the way households negotiate sustainable diets? How so?
No, I do not see conflict as an integral part of how households
negotiate plant-forward dietary practices. Quit the opposite. No
doubt conflicts are found in families, but these conflicts do not
appear to be in any way dominant in the families we studied.
Instead, we found that both parents and adolescents put considerable
effort into avoiding conflict. This can be contrasted with studies
of how families negotiate issues such as junk-food consumption and
the “pester power” children can exert within these power struggles.
In your work, did you find any evidence of a “contagion effect”
(e.g., one family member inspiring the family system to establish
new eating practices)? If so, how did this unfold and what do you
think were the facilitating factors?
Yes, we did. There were several facilitating factors. One of them,
which we provide evidence for, is a desire to uphold harmony. For
instance, parents will often be more than happy to eat meat-reduced
meals if their children are involved and driving the change – family
cohesion is often more important than eating meat. Also, change is
facilitated better when more family members support the change.
Lastly, our research indicates that time can be an important factor.
Suggestions for new meals can sometimes be discarded due to limited
time available for learning and cooking new meals in everyday life.
Parents will often be more than happy to eat meat-reduced meals if
their children are involved and driving the change.
You highlight that there is some disagreement over the role that
children play in family food-decisions. What is the disagreement
about, and how does your research add to this commentary?
In the literature, there has been disagreement about how much
control parents exert over children’s eating (and vice versa) and
whether these decisions are still fundamentally hierarchical or more
collaborative. Our research contributes empirical insights to the
dynamics of family negotiation by showing that meal choices for
dinner is often a product of negotiations and compromises by family
members, parents and children alike.
You find evidence that the transition toward more sustainable food
consumption practices within the household is likely to be
characterised by “gendered work”. What do you mean by this?
In the population we sampled from (families in Denmark), shopping,
cooking and cleaning are often shared tasks, done by mothers and
fathers alike. But meal planning, and thus the planning of new green
meals that will satisfy all members of the household, tend to fall
on the shoulders of mothers. This can be a barrier to change since
the job is challenging for one person alone to accomplish—it is
difficult, time-consuming, and requires the input of others for
success.
What would you like actors working on the transition toward a more
sustainable food system to take away from your research?
I would like such actors to recognise that the lack of household
change can be due to relational family dynamics, and is not solely
due to consumer unwillingness, lack of knowledge or cooking
competences, or perceptions of financial burden. Moreover, choices
regarding meat reduction can be a source of family cohesion,
attention, and expressions of love. Therefore, we support the idea
that plant-rich eating in families can be a good first step towards
society-wide food-systems change.
Interview and blog post by Rebecca Gregson. Editorial assistance by Jared Piazza.