Tra pratiche di consumo e valori: i fattori alla base del cambiamento nel consumo di cibo durante il lockdown

The massive and drastic measures, such as the lockdown, that governments across the world have taken to contain the contagion of COVID-19 created a condition that demanded the review of the daily habits of both individuals, and communities. The whole range of daily food-related practices – from shopping, to cooking, to gathering information on purchases, all the way to the form and timing of meals – especially underwent significant changes. Many of these consumer practices provide evidence of an impact that has at once both exacerbated, and normalised a polarization of extremes in peoples’ way of living, acting, thinking, and feeling. Starting from the awareness that consumer practices – especially eating – are “the locus of the social”, the research presented in this paper investigated changes that occurred in food habits during the two months of lockdown in Italy, on the basis of a wide sample survey (3155 voluntary participants from all Italian regions). The first research findings from both explorative and confirmative factorial analysis show that five main latent dimensions determined the most significant changes in eating practices during the lockdown. The principal factor out of those correlated to the observed changes refer to what we can call “mindful” consumer habits, relying upon forms of aware, sustainable consumption. The second and the third principal factors are, respectively, family size and composition, and food-related social media practices. In sociological terms this means that the way to more mindful and sustainable eating styles encouraged by the pandemic needs intervention on both structural and cultural levels. For sociological research in consumption this means the investigation of both the sphere of practices, and of values guiding consumer choices.