The Crisis of Habits and New Figurations of Food (HABITS)

The HABITS project investigates how the eating habits of different population groups in Denmark are formed, and what might change them. The project explores how the plasticity of everyday food habits is figured in critical times of ecological change.

Among the consumption habits in Denmark, food is one of the top carbon emitters with a significant climate footprint. But experience has also shown that the vast majority of Danes find it difficult to change their eating habits in a more climate-friendly direction, for example by eating less meat.

The research team studies the eating habits of four generation and by thinking the notion of habit through the concepts of habitus, habitat, and ethics.

Focus areas

Through interviews and other fieldwork, four sub-projects will shed light on:

Radical changes of food habits among climate activists. The focus will be on how activists in their 20s respond to ecological crises by cultivating new connections to plants, animals and other materials.

Responsible food habits in families with pre-school children. The sub-project will shed light on how parents with young children balance issues of proper nutrition and good eating habits with ethical issues such as food quality and CO2 emissions.

Food habits of empty nesters. This part explores the resistance to change in a generation that has grown up in a period of rapid economic growth and a surge in meat consumption.

Thrifty food work and sustainability among pensioners. The sub-project examines the role of scarcity habits of retired Danes who belong to the post-war generation. A generation that has experienced public restrictions on food supply as well as restrictions on food provision and eating due to economic crisis.

Collaborations

The HABITS project is a collaboration between the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen.

The aim of the project is not only to disseminate the work of the project through a series of academic articles, but also to target a wider audience. Among other things, the project will work with a photographer and a graphic designer to translate the key ethnographic analyses and conclusions into a series of visual products.

Selected publications

In preparation

Researchers

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Funded by:

The crisis of habits and new figurations of food’ (HABITS) has received funding from Independent Research Fund Denmark.

Project: The Crisis of Habits and New Figurations of Food (HABITS)
Period: 2024 - 2027

Contact

Cecilie Rubow
Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology
E-mail: cecilie.rubow@anthro.ku.dk
Phone: +45 35 32 35 68

Bente Halkier
Professor
Department of Sociology
E-mail: beh@soc.ku.dk
Phone: +45 35 33 50 44