Torbjörn Bildtgård

Trust in food in modern and late-modern societies

This article investigates the way mainstream social theories of trust can help us understand how trust in food is produced and maintained in modern and late- or postmodern societies. In the first section, the author identifies and discusses three theoretical bases for trust in food: emotional, habitual and reflexive trust. He puts a particular emphasis on habitual trust, and explores four different bases for habitual trust — community, rational organization, policy and systems of knowledge — discussing their importance for trust in food. In the second section, the author examines how these bases come together to produce trust in food in traditional, modern and late- or postmodern societies, respectively. Finally, Bildtgård argues that certification schemes can be perceived as a technique for producing trust in food that is particularly well suited to late-modern/postmodern societies. Dans cet article, lauteur se demande en quoi les théories sociales courantes sur la confiance peuvent nous aider à comprendre comment se construit et se maintient la confiance en lalimentation dans les sociétés modernes, modernes avancées et post-modernes. Dans la première partie, lauteur passe en revue et évalue trois bases théoriques de la confiance en ce que lon mange, à savoir, la confiance émotionnelle, la confiance par habitude et la confiance réflexive. Lauteur met tout particulièrement laccent sur la confiance par habitude en en explorant quatre fondements différents —- la communauté, lorganisation rationnelle, la politique et les systèmes de connaissance —- et en en discutant limportance pour la confiance en lalimentation. Dans la seconde partie, lauteur étudie comment ces quatre fondements créent ensemble les conditions de la confiance en lalimentation dans les sociétés traditionnelles, modernes avancées et post-modernes, respectivement. Finalement, Biltgård démontre que les systèmes de certification peuvent être perçus comme une technique particulièrement adaptée aux sociétés modernes avancées et post-modernes, propre à produire de la confiance en ce que lon mange.

What it Means to "Eat Well" in France and Sweden

Which collective ideas do consumers in France and Sweden use to think about what it means to eat well? What are the most important differences between the countries and how can they be understood? To answer the above questions, this study uses open-ended survey questions from Sweden and France together with in-depth qualitative focus group interviews from both countries. The five most common ideas from each country were identified, resulting in a list of six central ideas: a balanced diet; pleasure from taste; pleasure from conviviality; regular meals; cooked food; and natural and pure products. Two of these ideas are more or less unique to only one culture—conviviality to the French and regular meals to the Swedes—but differences are also notable within each idea. Finally, the author argues that the question of what it means to eat well belongs to two different “worlds” in the two countries—a domestic world in France and an industrial world in Sweden. This belonging explains most of the differences found in the data.

Mental Foodscapes: Where Swedes Would Go to Eat Well (and Places They Would Avoid)

Abstract In the following article, the author asks 480 Swedish respondents where they would go to eat well, and, to the same end, which places they would avoid. The results reveal a Swedish mental foodscape, a sort of imaginary geography of food which is shared by the respondents. The Mediterranean region together with Southeast Asia and Japan appear as favorite destinations for the respondents, while the United States stands out as a destination that Swedes would avoid if they wanted to eat well. Finally, the author argues that the way that the Swedish respondents make sense of food and place can be reduced to a small number of binary opposites, most importantly that between culture and nature.

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

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.

New sexual relationships in later life: The case of late modern Sweden

The objective of the EVIDEM-EXERCISE study was to evaluatethe effectiveness of an exercise regime as a therapy for the behaviouraland psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). A pragmatic, ran-domized, controlled, single-blind, parallel-group trial of a dyadic exer-cise regime (tailored walking) for community-dwelling individuals withBPSD and their carers was undertaken. The primary outcome wasBehavioural and Psychological Symptoms as measured by the Neuro-Psychiatric Inventory at week 12. Results show no significant differ-ence of NPI score at week 12 between the group receiving the dyadicexercise regime and those that did not. Secondary outcome measure ofcaregiver’s burden was significantly improved; caregiver burden dou-bled by week 12 for the control group participants, but decreased forthose receiving the exercise intervention. In conclusion, this study foundthat regular simple exercise does not improve BPSD but did seem toattenuate changes of caregiver burden.Studies about intimacy in old age have mostly focused on institutionalized life-long marriages. Little research has focused on re-partnering in later life and the impact these relationships have on life satisfaction. Framed by Giddens’ Transformation of intimacy and Laslett’s Third age, as well as changing social and demographical conditions, this paper focuses on how different forms of new intimate relationships impact on life satisfaction in later life. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a strategic sample of 28 Swedes, 63–91 years, who were married, cohabiting and living apart together in new intimate heterosexual relationships initiated after the age of 60 or who were currently dating. The results showed the significance of new intimate relations the experience of life satisfaction in later life: The importance of being needed and confirmed by one’s partner, for intimacy and sexuality, for unloading children’s care responsibility, for sharing experiences in everyday life and for safety. The results also showed the importance of the partner as a resource for new experiences and a healthier life style. In conclusion, the results will be theorized in a time frame: First, in the light of new post (re)productive free time in the third age. Second, in the light of the finite remaining life-time. The results from the qualitative study will be contextualized by results from a representative survey on intimate relations among 3 000 60-90 year old Swedes (data collection has just finished).It is often argued that in late modernity sex has escaped its reproductive cage and people form pure relationships, based on mutual satisfaction. Ironically, although older people are per definitio ...