Where is food ‘good to think’? Rationalities of food and place in Sweden and France

Abstract

Where is food ‘good to think’? This comparative study describes the mental foodscapes of Swedish and French people by asking them to say where, in time and space, they would go to in order to eat well. Both the Swedish and French respondents say they would avoid the US and fast-food establishments in order to eat well, but while the French in general point inward, toward the countryside of their region a couple of decades ago, the Swedes, in their choices, want to go far away, to the Mediterranean region, South-east Asia or an abstract wilderness. The article argues that the reason for these differences is that consumers in these two countries use different dominant rationalities to judge the food of different places – a nutritional rationality in Sweden and a rationality of origin in France – and it proceeds to identify the politico-historical roots of these rationalities. Finally, it argues that while each rationality makes a certain set of food and place qualities cognizable and judgeable, others, such as exotic foods in France and conviviality in Sweden, are left non-cognizable and difficult to judge.