SOCIAL CONTEXTS OF FOOD EXCLUSION

Abstract

This article deals with social problems experienced by people who exclude certain groups of products from their everyday diet. These exclusions stem from various reasons and involve a range of everyday material and social practices. They evoke particular kinds of social interactions within the household, among hosts and guests, and also induce different reflexive interpretations of the participants. The aim of this paper is to explore the problem of how elimination diets are practised and explained on an everyday basis, and to describe particular strategies and techniques undertaken by food excluders in shops, in their kitchens, and at the table. The empirical basis for the qualitative investigation is a set of eight participant observations combined with in-depth interviews conducted with urban residents with higher education living in northern Poland.

Keywords

• food practice
• food studies
• qualitative research
• Poland