Everyday people are forced to make food choices based upon what it is they want to get out of it ; however, these decisions can be influenced by other factors like social norms. One time social norms effected my food choice was when I stopped at a restaurant with my friends before my basketball game. While my food decision was to not eat any food since I knew how it hindered my performance and had already made sure I had the proper nutrients earlier in the day, walking in the restaurant to keep them company I was immediately pressed with the pressure of social norms. Being in a social eating environment I felt weird not eating and my food choice shifted towards the enjoyment output of foods with both the taste of the food and the laughs/happiness brought about by sharing a meal with others as I ordered a big juicy burger with fries. Unfortunately ignoring my instincts due to social stresses, I had a super bad stomach ache and lost the game.
This food choice brought on by the social norm of eating while you are out with others connects to the idea of nutrition. While obesity is still know to be a complex topic due to all of its different factors, I think some of the social norms around eating can be directly connected to it. My story deals with the idea of overeating, while I had all the nutrients necessary for my goals I chose to consume more. In areas like mine where there is a huge surplus of places and types of foods to eat its easy to get lost in the idea that when you are out with others you need to eat with them. Even worse while we overindulge just because 1 out of 7 billion people in the world are undernourished. While I do feel this is a very negative social norm I think it may be to excepted of an idea to just change the norm, instead I think we should we rely on individual action of people in that situation to be a sustainable and responsible consumer.
Hi Nicholas, I’m Siying and here’s the link to my post: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/03/04/social-norms-on-food-choice/
In my blog I talked about fast food, and I think nutrient is also an important reason why people shouldn’t eat as much fast food. Like you said in your post, nutrient is very important to you as a basketball player, but when in a social environment sometimes it’s hard to keep your original food choice. When I go out with my friend, I just go with the others’ food choice even sometime I have a healthier food choice in my mind. I also talked about obesity from the aspect of nutrition, but I agree that overeating is also a big problem for obesity.
Hello Nicholas, my name is Megan and I completely agree with how eating in a restaurant influences the amount of food you take in. Besides the social norm for eating with your friends in one, it is also considered rude to not order something on behalf of the restaurant. My blog refers more to the food itself, but you might consider reading it: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/03/04/goats-milk-is-good-megan-shrouts-take-on-la6/.
I also discussed health issues in my writing, and societal norms definitely come into play when effecting what we eat and influence the values we place on nutrition. Your graph is a little unclear as to how the components impact each other, but you can definitely tell there is a connection between all of the points made. Its hard to imagine how our social norm accepting overconsumption actually can engage with undernourishment.
Hey, check out my blog, http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/03/04/eat-local-organic/
Nick, I liked your personal experience of how social norms effected your food choices. I can relate to the same event, I can’t ever not eat when my friends are getting something to eat. I could definitely see how eating out a lot and not exercising could lead to increase in body fat. The increase in food consumption in the united states could lead to famine in other countries.