"Novel foods, often positioned as solutions to unsustainable food systems, do not exist in a vacuum. What is recognized (or overlooked) as food is connected to resources coming into being, consumption patterns, and valuation." Merkel writes in her thesis.
The defence is 22 May, at 13.15 in U203 på Campus Helsingborg. Faculty opponent is assistant professor Sebastian Abrahamsson, Uppsala university.
Abstract
Food production and consumption are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. As a transition to sustainable diets and sustainable food systems is widely agreed upon, one strategy is to focus on novel foods, such as previously unused resources, and their integration into everyday diets.
Marine macroalgae (seaweed), which require no freshwater, agricultural land, or fertilizers, are positioned as an environmentally sustainable, regenerative, and underutilized new food resource for Western diets. This thesis follows the empirical study object seaweed as an example of a novel food in Sweden. It highlights valuations as both enablers and constraints in transforming food consumption and how we eat. It explores aspects that facilitate the embedding of novel food resources in established contexts through investigating the valorisation of seaweed in different settings.
The research encompasses four academic papers and one book chapter, each addressing different settings and everyday encounters with seaweed in Sweden. The thesis has two analytical foci: consumption contexts and scientific contexts. First, it is analysed how meanings associated with marine macroalgae are constructed, evaluated, and valued in consumption contexts. Paper I analyses consumers’ experience-descriptions to map the values attributed to seaweed and reveals context-specific interactions with marine macro algae. The Book Chapter sheds light on the retail sector’s role in shaping the categorization and uptake of novel foods, emphasizing its potential as change agent. Second, it is investigated how values and attributes connected to novel foods get assessed and assigned in scientific contexts. Paper II, a literature-based study, maps how research approaches the integration of novel foods into consumers’ diets, to examine how implicit values and disciplinary assumptions influence understandings of novel food consumption. Paper III looks behind the scenes of professional evaluating activities and demonstrates how collaboration across disciplines can be fostered through shared experience and reflexive methodologies. It utilizes sensory testing of seaweed as a common empirical focus. Linking valuation with sensory studies, Paper IV frames a sensory analysis as a valuation process. It uses taste as an example and explores how values are formulated, negotiated, and attached to novel food products.
Together, these studies offer a multifaceted understanding of how novel foods are embedded, negotiated, and valued in different contexts, contributing to broader debates on less resource-intensive diets and transitions towards more sustainable food systems.
