Describe the factors (e.g., social, psychological, philosophical, and physical) that drive our food choices.

The choices we make when choosing the food we eat come from our social, psychological, philosophical and physical factors of our everyday life. The social and philosophical factors consist of family traditions and social gatherings such as birthday parties, anniversary’s etc. Growing up a way to celebrate a birthday was to have a party in which we cooked it became a family tradition. The psychological factors include not knowing the importance of food and its nutrition values, emotional eating such as being stressed or being bored. It is over time that these behaviors of bad habits are learned and accepted from generation to generation despite their negative penalties. The physical factors come from the being hungry, having cravings for a certain type of food or simply being concerned about the way a person looks some people thing appearance is everything. “Consumers also value convenience so highly that they are willing to spend almost half of their food budget on meals prepared outside the home.” (Sizer & Whitney, 2013). These days’ people don’t want to spend the time in the kitchen cooking because it seems to be more convenient for one to either go out to eat or stop and grab something to eat.

Sizer, F. & Whitney, E. (2013).  Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies (13 ed)