The social organisation of food preferences

Food preferences are typically understood to be individual, psychological concepts. Whether we ‘like’ a food or not, is surely a matter of personal taste? Sociological research, and some social psychological research, has already addressed this issue by examining the role of social context, norms and cultural practices in determining individual food preferences. The current paper will draw on this work, and demonstrate an emerging research programme in discursive psychology which demonstrates the social organisation of food preferences at a more fundamental, normative level. Through examinations of video and audio recorded family mealtimes, this research – which to date has spanned 10 years – will unpack some of our taken-for-granted understandings of what is happening when we say we ‘like’ a food, when we express pleasure at eating, or even when we express disgust at food or eating practices.