Food and drinks are not just only hunger and thirst quenchers, they also bring people together. Eating is a pleasure and combining it with good company and some tasteful wine is a nice way to spend a Saturday evening. And just like always, one also ends up in the kitchen at the end of the night. The saying that “the kitchen is the heart of the house” truly does match with reality! But food has also become a conscious restrainer. What is the “right” food to eat, which is more nutritious and what product is as cheap as fast to prepare?! In the last 5 years organic and locally produced food has been on everybody’s agenda and different diets and an overall “food consciousness” has become more and more common. People create different kinds of belongingness through their belief in “the right food”. In an ongoing study Inculture analyze consumers opinions on whether their consciousness or their wallet choose their food and their cultural food belonging. Think about it yourself, does your belief in the GI-diet win over the on-sale-bacon?

These questions are what we have in mind in our ongoing stydy about organic and local food consumption.
How do people choose? Why do they choose that specific product? What is their belief and how do they justify their arguments for it? And most importantly why?

In this contemporary ever-changing time where consumers convert and interpret brands to create affiliation and identity, is the understanding of human ideas, feelings and sense the key in branding and product development. The companies who hope to create relevant and sought-after products have to act proactively in tune with ideas, feelings and activities that are the basis of consumers´ lives.  A culture-oriented approach makes it possible to process large amounts of data and sort the potentiality from a murmur of information – that is to predict the future and how to create increased value for shareholders, control product development in the right direction and how to improve the outcome when one understands “what´s hidden under the surface”. Anthropology within consumer research seeks to understand consumption in a broader context, to analyze the consumer – based on his everyday life. The focus area for the anthropologist is to understand the cultural meanings and values which different brands and products have, and the cultural practices that surrounds them, even the small choices like fridge magnet that some families have to create a feeling of homeliness…

Katarina Graffman will answer the following questions in a lecture at Handels School of Business, Economics and Law in Gothenburg today.

What exactly is culture from an anthropological perspective?

How can we learn about culture and cultural change?

What is the significance of such knowledge in brand development?

Julia says that it is like everyday life and explains that vote-outs usually occurs if someone is different. “In ´Robinson` someone was a little different at the beginning and was voted out quickly. It is a bit like those who say different things, they become outsiders in society. It´s just like crews and groups in school”. Markus agress and says that in school one “shall have the right style”. Julia adds that those who don´t have the right style will be placed in a category or will become outsiders.