Food Practices, Choice, and Individualization: Pertinence of the Biographical Method
Food choices constitute an essential element in the work of individualization. At present the market and conditions of food abundance impose a regime of choice : consumers must make their choices and find justifications for them. Since the food pathway is primordial, complex and dynamic, sociology must examine the experiences of individuals as a starting point to understand large trends. The biographical approach brings out the many meanings — historical, cultural, personal, social — of the food pathway and sheds light on the articulation of the individual with the various instances of his or her socialization : family, friends, university, profession, city, country, virtual, faith, leisure, travel, and so on. Under the regime of choice, the food pathway is a series of challenges renewed daily and that must be negotiated. This essay offers a model of a food biography, whose details reveal the limitations of traditional analytical categories such as nationality.