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Food and Choice

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics

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Synonyms

Consumer choice; Control and autonomy; Diversity and variety; Freedom to choose; Options

Introduction

Food is understood to be a site of choice in myriad ways (Marshall 1995). Most obviously, individuals choose what food to eat. This seemingly simple choice gives rise to a variety of other opportunities for choice. One may choose to eat healthfully or not, to endorse a particular conception of what “healthful” means, to eat animal products or not, to seek the most affordable options, to select organic produce, to shop at farmers’ markets or join a CSA, to grow one’s own food, to dine out at numerous different kinds of restaurants, to eat only raw food, to buy in bulk, to avoid sugar or wheat or artificial sweeteners, and so on. Yet, choices about what to eat are never just choices about the content of what to put into one’s body. Rather, these choices are ones that reflect priorities, values, self-conceptions, and bodily needs and wants, as well as the various socioeconomic,...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL, USA

    Prof. Erinn Gilson

Authors
  1. Prof. Erinn Gilson
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Correspondence to Erinn Gilson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Michigan State University Dept. Philosophy, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

    Paul B. Thompson

  2. University of North Texas Dept. Philosophy & Religion Studies, Denton, Texas, USA

    David M. Kaplan

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© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Gilson, E. (2013). Food and Choice. In: Thompson, P., Kaplan, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_258-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_258-5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6167-4

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