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Paper short abstract:

What is food? What is not food? How does our perception of food affect how we place ourselves in the lifeworld, or vice versa?

Paper long abstract:

Humans depend on other species every day for their survival through the basic act of eating. While many do not actively reflect on what they choose to eat or not to eat on a daily basis, it is a conscious and purposeful endeavour for others. This applies to people who adhere to a vegan diet and have for various reasons eliminated meat and other animal products from their consumption.

This paper is based on an ethnographic inquiry being made into the eating habits and food related values among vegans in Iceland. The objective is to learn from their experiences, to inform a larger multi-disciplinary research project based at the University of Iceland titled Sustainable Healthy Diets: Filling the Gaps and Paving the Way for a Sustainable Future. The aim is to gather data and knowledge that can guide policy makers and the public towards a future of more sustainable and healthier foodways.

This paper investigates the apparent synergy between people’s values and their perception of food/non-food, and how this has developed in distinct ways among these individuals since changing their diet. Becoming more attuned to one’s own body and wellbeing seems to extend to other organisms and make way for a new perspective on the lifeworld and their own place in it. One could argue that is precisely what is needed in order to confront and reverse the man-made environmental crisis we face.