A Commentary on Organic Food Culture and its Critical Consumption of Food

About The Study

Organic food culture refers to a recent social and cultural trend in which there has been an increase in interest in organic food as a result of increased media coverage on pesticide health, food safety, and environmental dangers. This viewpoint regards food as a critical requirement for health, but it does not dismiss the aesthetic or hedonistic aspects of food consumption. This includes market practises and food media content, and has resulted in various innovations and modifications in these areas. Global attitudes towards organic food consumption and consideration have shifted, which appears to be affecting local food cultures and traditional gastronomies, while also incorporating them.

Critical consumption of food

Organic food consumption is a form of critical consumerism because it stems from beliefs about personal and public welfare. When it comes to food consumption, this practice necessitates a conscious consumer who understands what they want and why they want it. Such a consumer vision entails both environmental and personal responsibility. It is possible to achieve this by depending on institutional entities such as the United States Food and Drug Administration, which intervene in the control of organic food circulation.

Organic food thus implies self-care and concern for the environment, and it works in a highly personalized manner. Even if consumers are consciously engaged, they must be certain that the products they consume are produced in accordance with specific criteria. This can be accomplished by relying on institutional bodies such as the United States Food and Drug Administration, which intervene in organic food circulation management. These organizations also provide the consumer with a set of recognizable signs that convey information about the food's origin, method of production, ingredients, and nutritional values. Such an organic market vision confers significant power on the consumer, who is envisioned as having the ability to lead a conscious market demand.

In the case of organic food, demand initially created the market, but as the number of products labeled “organic” increased, as well as increasing demand stimulates the consumption patterns. Even though many factors influence shopper behavior, media plays a significant role in decision making. Over 90% of consumers learn about food and biotechnology from the popular press and television. Some consumers are intimidated by the strong visuals and communication of mass media, which sometimes causes them to reject it completely, but more often than not causes a slow change in practices and habits. If the overall level of media coverage on the risks of food technology rises, so will the people who watch it. The importance of how information is "framed" in risk judgments has been identified by Erving Goffman and others. Meaning and a way of thinking about life, events, and the world in general are provided by frames. Judgments about the risks of nonorganic food can vary greatly depending on the context. News stories, as frames, provide the public with various definitions of social reality. The media can use frames to highlight certain points of view while marginalizing others. Organic agriculture is frequently portrayed in the media as a safe and environmentally friendly alternative to allegedly unsafe and environmentally damaging modern agricultural practices.