Selling, buying and eating – a synthesis study on dietary patterns across language regions in Switzerland
ISSN: 0007-070X
Article publication date: 14 October 2021
Issue publication date: 21 March 2022
Abstract
Purpose
Cross-cultural studies on differences in eating and consumer behavior have several limitations due to differences between countries, for example, in national health policies. Switzerland combines cultural diversity between the language regions, but with a common national health policy. Therefore, Switzerland provides an ideal framework to investigate cross-cultural eating and consumer behavior. The aim of this study was to combine food consumption, purchase data and sales data to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of cultural dietary differences.
Design/methodology/approach
Six national Swiss studies on food consumption, one study of food sales from the largest supermarket chain in Switzerland and one national study of food purchasing were included. The estimated marginal mean of each food category in each language region was calculated using linear regression and respective linear random effect models.
Findings
In the French- and Italian-speaking regions more fish was sold, bought and consumed than in the German-speaking region of Switzerland. In contrast, in the German-speaking region, more milk and dairy products were sold, bought and consumed. Language regions explained sales, purchase and consumption of foods, but the findings were only consistent for fish and milk and dairy products.
Originality/value
If possible limitations of cross-culture studies between countries are eliminated, cultural eating and consumer differences are still visible, even in a small country like Switzerland. For the first time, the complexity of studying food consumption, purchasing and sales is shown in one study. This indicates the importance of further studies which consider these three perspectives to better understand cultural differences in eating and consumption behavior.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (grantees Kaspar Staub and Nicole Bender) and Mäxi Foundation (grantee Frank Rühli) for funding. Datasets were provided by Migros, the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office and the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. Urs Stalder, Clara Benzi Schmid, Sabine Güsewell, Cynthia Sob, Peter Bolliger, Andrea Poffet, Frank Rühli, Giulia Pestoni and Linda Vinci provided helpful assistance and/or comments.
The authors would like to make readers aware that Dr Nicole Bender and Dr Kaspar Staub made equal contributions to this piece of research.
Citation
Matthes, K.L., Zuberbuehler, C.A., Rohrmann, S., Hartmann, C., Siegrist, M., Burnier, M., Bochud, M., Zwahlen, M., Bender, N. and Staub, K. (2022), "Selling, buying and eating – a synthesis study on dietary patterns across language regions in Switzerland", British Food Journal, Vol. 124 No. 5, pp. 1502-1518. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-02-2021-0141
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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