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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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The meal as a performance
— food and meal practices beyond health and nutrition | | Author(s) | Maria Nyberg, Viktoria Olsson, Gerd Ortman |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 38, no 1, January 2018 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press, January 2018 |
| Pages | pp 83-107 |
| Source | http://www.cambridge.org/aso |
| Keywords | Feeding capacity ; Feeding aids ; Food ; Meals services ; Qualitative Studies ; Sweden. |
| Annotation | The proportion of older people in the population is increasing, presenting a number of new challenges in society. This qualitative study is part of the Swedish project Food and Eating Aids for Independent Ageing, and investigates how older people with motoric eating difficulties perceive and perform their food and meal practices in everyday life. By using Goffman's concept of performance as a theoretical framework together with Bourdieu's thinking on habitus, a deeper understanding of food and meal practices is obtained. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 older people (aged 67-87 years); meal observations were carried out with 11 of these people. Participants were found to manage food and meal practices, by continuously adjusting and adapting to the new conditions arising as a result of eating difficulties. This was displayed by conscious planning of what to eat and when, avoiding certain foods and beverages, using simple eating aids, but also withdrawing socially during the meals. All these adjustments were important, in order to be able to demonstrate proper food and meal behaviour, to maintain the façade, and to act according to the perceived norms. As well as being a pleasurable event, food and meals were also perceived in terms of being important for maintaining health and as 'fuel', where the main purpose is to sustain life. This was strongly connected to the social context and the ability to enjoy food and meals with family members and friends, which appeared to be particularly crucial due to the impending risk of failing the meal performance. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-180105005 A |
| Classmark | CA4: MK: YP: NR: 3DP: 76P |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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