Ann Veeck

America's Changing Farmscape: A Study of Agricultural Tourism in Michigan*

Abstract Agricultural tourism incorporates visits to farms for the purposes of on-site retail purchases, enjoyment, and education. Long popular in the European Union (EU), agritourism is gaining popularity throughout the United States. Interest has grown as a result of stagnant grain prices, rising farm costs, and growing international competition. For rural areas seeking new economic options, the potential of these operations to generate new sources of income through sales and horizontal linkages to other tourism-based activities has sparked interest beyond the farm gate. This article, based on a survey and a statistical analysis of 300 agritourism operations in Michigan, summarizes factors associated with successful operations.

Consumer Segmentation and Changing Food Purchase Patterns in Nanjing, PRC

The remarkable economic changes occurring within the Peoples Republic of China since 1978 have resulted in striking alteration in food consumption patterns for urban Chinese residents. Higher incomes, busier life styles, greater choices in food retailers, the increasing availability of refrigeration, and the greater variety in food choice have all resulted in shifts of household consumption. This study, based on a convenience survey of urban households in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, PRC finds that three distinct patterns of food shopping exist. The significance of these findings to the global agro-food system and the agricultural sector of China are examined.

Consumer Risks and New Food Systems in Urban China

Informed by sociocultural theories of risk, this research explores the responses of urban consumers to the globalization and liberalization of food marketing systems in China. Based on food shopping observations and focus groups in four major cities, the study investigates how consumers identify and navigate risk in a rapidly changing marketplace. The findings suggest that, while consumers have legitimate worries related to the safety of their food supply in the marketizing economy, the newly diverse food retail and product options also provide new strategies to actively manage risk. The findings substantiate the importance of geographical, political, and historical contexts for understanding how consumers interpret risks in the face of transitional marketing systems.

Equal Dreams: The One Child Policy and the Consumption of Education in Urban China

This study explores the effect that Chinas one child birth policy is having on gender equality in urban areas of China, as viewed through patterns of consumption. Specifically, differential access to education by gender is examined through an analysis of the investments of urban parents in their childrens education. The results of the study show that there are few important differences in the aspirations of parents for daughters versus sons. In addition, educational expenditures, including tuition, private lessons, books, and other educational products, show no significant differences by gender. These results seem to indicate that, in an important departure from a long history of unequal access to education by females in China, urban children are receiving full and equitable investments in their futures by their families, regardless of their gender. The results have important implications for the effects that public policies can have on gender equality.

Encounters with Extreme Foods: Neophilic/Neophobic Tendencies and Novel Foods

This article examines how consumers determine what is edible through an analysis of peoples experiences with “extreme,” or unusual, foods. Data from semi-structured interviews are analyzed to explore how people define “extreme” foods, the meanings that people derive from encounters with these foods, and the social contexts under which people are most likely to sample new foods. The findings underscore the influence of psychosocial forces on food tastes, with neophilic/neophobic tendencies and the formation, maintenance, and alterations of identities and relationships informing encounters with novel foods.

The Markathon: Adapting the Hackathon Model for an Introductory Marketing Class Project

“Hackathons,” the intense, focused, idea-spawning sessions that originated in the programming community, are valued for their ability to inspire creativity, critical thinking, and innovation—all skills that employers say are essential but often lacking in business graduates. This paper introduces the “Markathon,” a team-based project that incorporates features of a hackathon to provide an opportunity for students to put to use marketing concepts learned during the semester, as well as practice other essential business skills. Working in an environment that embodies the spontaneity and time constraints inherent in hackathons, student teams are challenged to develop a product or service that will improve or promote the university. Assessment of this project by students in three sections of introductory marketing classes indicates that the project teaches students important marketing concepts and valuable business skills, while also contributing to students’ engagement in the course.

A life course perspective of family meals via the life grid method

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold: to describe and evaluate the life grid as a methodology for historical research; and to provide an example application investigating the dynamics of family meals over a lifetime by pairing life course theory with the life grid method of obtaining oral histories.Design/methodology/approach – To explore how the meanings and processes of meals change, the authors conducted interviews with 15 respondents aged 80 years old and over, on the topic of family meals.Findings – The paper discusses the merits of using the life grid method to analyze lifetime family consumption behavior. The findings of this example study provide insight as to how the roles, responsibilities, and loyalties of our participants had changed through births, deaths, marriages, wars, economic periods, illnesses, and the process of aging, leading to changes in dining.Originality/value – The benefit of the life grid method described in this paper is its ability to minimize recall bias. In additi...

Influences on food choices of urban Chinese teenagers

Purpose – This study aims to examine the major influences of food choices of Chinese teenagers within a dynamic food marketing environment. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports findings from semi-structured interviews with high school students which examine teenagers’ guidelines for selecting food, along with their actual eating behavior. Findings – The results reflect on how four major influences – personal, family, peer and retailer – may intersect to affect the eating behaviors of Chinese adolescents, as they navigate an intense education schedule during a time of rapidly changing cultural values. Different norms of food choice – nutrition, food safety, taste, body image, price, convenience, sharing, friendship and fun – are evoked according to the social context and concurrent activities of the teenagers. Social implications – The findings offer tentative insights related to the potential for promoting healthier eating habits for adolescents in urban areas of China. Originality/value – The ...

Perceptions of Food Safety by Urban Consumers in Nanjing, China

The past decade has seen what could reasonably be called an explosion in the number of food-related crises in China. Food safety issues represent a national crisis threatening the physical and psychological health of Chinese citizens, despite the repeated adoption of stringent food safety laws and regulations. This project, based on a stratified random sample of 337 households in Nanjing, assesses perceptions related to different food safety concerns and issues among urban residents and explores differences in perceptions across social strata as defined by socioeconomic and demographic variables using principal component analysis and standard statistical tests.

Religion, Markets, and Digital Media: Seeking Halal Food in the U.S.

This study explores the role that social media serves in mediating and connecting religious communities and markets through a netnographic study of the search for halal food in the U.S. We find that social media websites can serve as important tools for overcoming obstacles to finding and verifying halal food sources, including barriers of physical access, authenticity, and quality. At a macro level, social media platforms have the potential to moderate the relationship between religion, the market, and consumption in a number of important ways, such as providing a venue for dialogues related to standards of commitment and faithfulness, serving as a community-based arbiter of standards, supporting identity constructions, and helping to overcome the marginalization associated with minority populations.