Lovin' It?

Abstract

This is an exploration of young people's representations and practices with regard to fast food. Fast food has been a particularly successful innovation in postwar Norwegian cuisine. Young Norwegians eat considerably more fast food than the adult population. However, there are several indications that this type of food has an increasingly problematic food-cultural status among the young. In recent years, the proportion of young people expressing skepticism towards such food has increased considerably. Among young people today, the fear of fat and calories seems to be an important driver of attitudes regarding food and eating. The healthy and the slim are at the top of young people's attractiveness scale. This article shows that youth food culture is not as onesidedly negative as is often claimed in the food-cultural debate. On the contrary, there are many indications that the health trend is strong among the young.

Keywords:

• agency
• beauty
• body
• fat
• health
• identity
• McDonald's
• media
• youth

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Annechen Bahr Bugge

Annechen Bahr Bugge gained a doctorate in sociology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 2005. More recently she has undertaken a post-doctoral project on the sociocultural aspects of teenagers' food choices and eating patterns. She passed her master's degree in sociology at the University of Oslo in 1993. Annechen works at the National Institute for Consumer Research, where her field of research is food and eating habits. National Institute for Consumer Research (SIFO), PO Box 4682 Nydalen, N-0405 Oslo, Norway ([email protected]).