Abstract
This chapter addresses social and cultural aspects of eating and drinking in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden and how this has changed in the period between 1997 and 2012. Public and scholarly debate have raised questions about whether traditional and ordinary eating patterns and the role of meals are changing in modern postindustrial societies, with nibbling, individualization, de-traditionalization, disruption, gastro-anomy, globalization, meal erosion and commercialization replacing shared rhythms, social meals, and national food cultures. To address this comprehensive data are needed which track micro changes in daily life and acknowledge the multidimensionality of eating. Results are presented from two empirical studies conducted 15 years apart, which both included large national samples of the adult populations in the four countries. The studies were based on a model of the eating system, which combines physical, organizational, and sociocultural aspects of eating by focusing on three elements: the time structure of eating patterns, the meal formats, and the social organization of eating. Nationally distinct and socially shared eating patterns persist within each of the four countries, and there is little evidence of dissolution and individualization of traditional eating patterns in terms of the timing and number of eating events or of the social context of eating. In the Nordic countries, eating still primarily takes place in the home, and in the company of family members. The most striking changes relate to the conduct of meals, where informal codes of conduct appear to be spreading.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Borch, A., & Kjærnes, U. (2016). The prevalence and risk of food insecurity in the Nordic region: Preliminary results. Journal of Consumer Policy, 39(2), 261–274.
Bugge, A., & Døving, R. (2000). Det norske måltidsmønsteret – Ideal og praksis [The Norwegian mealpattern – Ideal and practice]. Lysaker: Statens Institutt for Forbruksforskning.
Caplan, P. (1997). Introduction. In P. Caplan (Ed.), Food, health and identity. London: Routledge.
Cheng, S.-L., Olsen, W., Southerton, D., & Warde, A. (2007). The Changing Practice of Eating: Evidence from UK Time Diaries, 1975 and 2000. The British Journal of Sociology, 58(1), 39–61.
Counihan, C. M., & Siniscalchi, V. (2014). Food activism. Agency, democracy and economy. London/New York: Bloomsbury.
DeVault, M. L. (1991). Feeding the family. The social organization of caring as gendered work. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Douglas, M. (1975). Deciphering a meal. In M. Douglas (Ed.), Implicit meanings. Essays in anthropology (pp. 249–275). London: Routledge.
Douglas, M., & Nicod, M. (1974). Taking the biscuit: The structure of British meals. New Society, 30, 744–747.
Ekström, M. (1990). Kost, klass och kön [Food preparation, class and gender]. Umeå: Department of Sociology, Umeå University: Umeå Studies in Sociology, no 98.
Fischler, C. (1988). Food, self and identity. Social Science Information, 27(2), 275–292.
Fischler, C. (2011). Commensality, society and culture. Social Science Information, 50, 528–548.
Giacoman, C. (2016). The dimensions and role of commensality: A theoretical model drawn from the significance of communal eating among adults in Santiago, Chile. Appetite, 107, 460–470.
Gronow, J., & Holm, L. (Eds.). (2019). Everyday eating in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. London: Bloomsbury.
Holm, L., Lauridsen, D. S., Gronow, J., Kahma, N., Kjærnes, U., Lund, T. B., Mäkelä, J., & Niva, M. (2015). The food we eat in Nordic countries – Some changes between 1997 and 2012. In K. Bergström et al. (Eds.), Mat är mer än mat. Samhällsvetenskaplige perspektiv på mat och måltider [Food is more than food. Social science perspectives on food and meals] (pp. 227–246). Göteborg: Göteborgs Universitet.
Holm, L., Lauridsen, D., Lund, T. B., Gronow, J., Niva, M., & Mäkelä, J. (2016). Changes in the social context and conduct of eating in four Nordic countries between 1997 and 2012. Appetite, 103, 358–368.
Jackson, P., Olive, S., & Smith, G. (2009). Myths of the family meal: Re-reading Edwardian life histories. In P. Jackson (Ed.), Changing families, changing food (pp. 131–145). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Johansen, H. C. (1998). Food consumption and the pre-industrial Nordic societies. Scandinavian Economic History Review, XLVI, 11–23.
Julier, A. P. (2013). Meals: “Eating in” and “eating out”. In A. Murcott, W. Belasco, & P. Jackson (Eds.), The handbook of food research (pp. 338–351). London: Bloomsbury.
Kjærnes, U. (Ed.). (2001). Eating patterns. A day in the lives of Nordic people. Lysaker: SIFO – Statens Institutt for forbruksforskning.
Kjærnes, U. et al. (2009). The study of Nordic meals: Lessons learnt. In H. L. Meiselman (Ed.), Meals in science and practice (pp. 69–91). Oxford: Woodhead publishing in food science, technology and nutrition.
Larson, N., MacLehose, R., Fulkerson, J. A., Berge, J. M., Story, M., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2013). Eating breakfast and dinner together as a family: Associations with sociodemographic characteristics and implications for diet quality and weight status. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 113(12), 1601–1609.
Lund, T. B., & Gronow, J. (2014). Destructuration or continuity? The daily rhythm of eating in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in 1997 and 2012. Appetite, 82, 143–153. Elsevier Ltd.
Lund, T. B., Kjærnes, U., & Holm, L. (2017). Eating out in four Nordic countries: National patterns and social stratification. Appetite, 119, 23–33.
Mäkelä, J. (2009). Meals: The social perspective. In H. L. Meiselman (Ed.), Meals in science and practice. Interdisciplinary research and business applications. Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing.
Mäkelä, J., Kjærnes, U., Ekström, M., Fürst, E. L., Gronow, J., & Holm, L. (1999). Nordic meals. Methodological notes from a comparative survey. Appetite, 32(1), 73–79.
Mäkelä, J., Kjærnes, U., & Ekström, M. P. (2001). What did they eat? In U. Kjærnes (Ed.), Eating patterns. A day in the lives of Nordic people (pp. 65–90). Lysaker: SIFO – Statens institutt for forbruksforskning.
Mandemakers, J. J., & Roeters, A. (2015). Fast or slow food? Explaining trends in food-related time in the Netherlands, 1975–2005. Acta Sociologica, 58(2), 121–137.
Marshall, D. W., & Anderson, A. S. (2002). Proper meals in transition: Young married couples on the nature of eating together. Appetite, 39(3), 193–206.
Mennel, S. (2010). Culinary cultures of Europe: Food, history, health and identity. In Germov, J., & Mestdag, I. (2005). Disappearance of the traditional meal: Temporal, social and spatial destructuration. Appetite, 45, 62–74.
Mestdag, I. (2005). Disappearance of the traditional meal: temporal, social and spatial destructuration. Appetite, 45(1): 62–74.
Murcott, A. (1982). On the social significance of the “cooked dinner” in South Wales. Social Science Information, 21(4–5), 677–696.
Murcott, A. (1997). Family meals: A thing of the past? In P. Teoksessa Caplan (toim.), Food, health and identity (pp. 32–49). London: Routledge.
Poulain, J. P. (2002). The contemporary diet in France: “Destructuration” or from commensalism to “vagabond feeding”. Appetite, 39(1), 43–55.
Poulain, J. P. (2008). Manger Aujourd’hui. France: Observatoire CNIEL des Habitudes Alimentaires.
Poulain, J. P. (2017). The sociology of food. London: Bloomsbury. [Originally published in French in 2002].
Prättälä, R., & Helminen, P. (1990). Finnish meal patterns. In J. C. Somogyi & E. H. Koskinen (Eds.), Nutritional adaptation to new life-styles. Bibliotheca Nutritioet Dieta (Vol. 45, pp. 80–92). Basel: Karger.
Ritzer, G. (1993). The McDonaldization of society. An investigation into the changing character of contemporary social life. London/New Delhi: Pine Forge Press.
Rotenberg, R. (1981). The impact of industrialization on meal patterns in Vienna, Austria. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 11(1), 25–35.
Sobal, J., & Nelson, M. K. (2003). Commensal eating patterns: A community study. Appetite, 41, 181–190.
Southerton, D., Díaz-Méndez, C., & Warde, A. (2012). Behavioural change and the temporal ordering of eating practices. A UK–Spain comparison. International Journal of Agriculture & Food, 19(1), 19–36.
Warde, A. (1997). Consumption, food and taste. London: Sage.
Warde, A., Martens, L., & Olsen, W. (1999). Consumption and the problem of variety: Cultural omnivorousness, social distinction and dining out. Sociology, 33(1), 105–127.
Warde, A., Cheng, S.-L., Olsen, W., & Southerton, D. (2007). Changes in the practice of eating. Acta Sociologica, 50, 363–385.
Wouters, C. (2004). Changing regimes of manners and emotions: From discipliningto informalizing. In The sociology of Norber Elias (pp. 193–211). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Holm, L., Kjærnes, U., Niva, M. (2019). Eating and Drinking in Four Nordic Countries: Recent Changes. In: Meiselman, H. (eds) Handbook of Eating and Drinking. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75388-1_126-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75388-1_126-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75388-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75388-1
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences