Dining with liberals and conservatives: The social underpinnings of food neophobia

Abstract

Although food and politics seem to be distant domains, socio-political ideology and food neophobia (i.e., reluctance to eat unfamiliar food) may be related. Conservatives’ high threat sensitivity and the inherently threatening nature of novel foods (the existential explanation), along with conservatives’ negative attitudes toward minority outgroups (e.g., foreigners) and the role of the latter in introducing novel foods to a culture (the social explanation), led us to expect that socio-political ideology would predict food neophobia over and above their common roots. Across two correlational and two experimental studies (N = 627), socio-political ideology emerged as a strong predictor of food neophobia. In addition, the findings did not support the existential explanation, while confirming the social explanation of the ideology–food neophobia link: Conservatives seem more neophobic than liberals not because of their higher threat sensitivity but rather because they hold more negative attitudes toward foreigners who are associated with those foods.

Legumes or Meat? The Effectiveness of Recommendation Messages towards a Plant-Based Diet Depends on People’s Identification with Flexitarians

“…Food selection, and specifically the choice to eat or to not eat meat, is influenced by the groups to which one feels to belong or not to belong [ 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 ], given that people are likely to consciously or unconsciously prefer certain foods according to group values and norms (e.g., [ 49 , 50 , 51 ]). This is especially true when the pro-environmental outcomes of a dietary change can only be achieved by collective efforts [ 52 ].…”