Project Goals and Research Questions.

Our goal is to gain a better understanding of ‘convenience’ food and its relationship to the promotion of public health and environmental sustainability. To achieve this, we seek to understand when, where, how and why people use ‘convenience’ foods (including how they are combined with other kinds of food) and how to encourage healthier/more sustainable practices. Based on comparative research in Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the UK, we will examine the context and dynamics of consumer choice, hypothesising that many so-called ‘choices’ reflect routinized/ habitual behaviour, embedded in consumers’ everyday practices of shopping, cooking, eating and disposing.

Specifically, we will address four research questions:

• How is ‘convenience’ food defined by consumers and how does its use relate to consumer understandings of ‘healthy eating’ and environmental sustainability?
• With what specific practices (shopping, cooking, eating, disposing) are ‘convenience’ foods associated?
• How are such foods incorporated within different household contexts and domestic routines?
• To what extent are current practices subject to change (towards more sustainable and healthier practices)?