Commentaries

Marketing Theory
1–16
New paths in researching ª The Author(s) 2016
Reprints and permission:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
‘‘alternative’’ consumption DOI: 10.1177/1470593116649793
mtq.sagepub.com
and well-being in
marketing: alternative
food consumption

Wided Batat
University of Lyon 2, France

Abstract
In line with the Fifth Transformative Consumer Research Conference held at Villanova University,
USA, in 2015, we chaired a dialogical track that involved seven international researchers working
on ‘‘alternative food system.’’ Among many other subjects that emerged from brainstorming, three
overarching themes were identified as significantly important for furthering research on ‘‘alter-
native’’ consumption and well-being. Manna, Ulusoy, and Batat explore the meanings behind
alternative food consumption and discuss the role of ideology and anti- and post-sociocultural
structures in shaping AFC meanings. Peter, Batat, and Ulusoy propose to rethink ‘‘literacy’’ in the
adoption of AFC and offer a framework that represents a blueprint in the definition of literacy
considering the adoption of other sustainable alternative behaviors (e.g. vegetarian diet, car
pooling, recycling). Finally, Vicdan, Batat, and Hong explore social class dynamics in AFC. The three
essays suggest potential areas of research with a focus on alternative modes of consumption and
well-being and contribute to the theoretical conceptualization in marketing theory.

Keywords
AFC, alternative consumptions, class, ideology, literacy, marketing theory, SES, structure,
sustainability, well-being

Corresponding author:
Wided Batat, University of Lyon 2, Campus Porte des Alpes, 5 Avenue Pierre Mendès-France, 69676 Bron Cedex, France.
Email: wided.batat@univ-lyon2.fr

Downloaded from mtq.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on June 7, 2016

2 Marketing Theory

Alternative food consumption:

What is ‘‘alternative’’?

Valerie Manna
Lincoln University, New Zealand

Emre Ulusoy
Youngstown State University, USA

Wided Batat
University of Lyon 2, France

Emerging food alternatives include a heterogeneous group of initiatives that contribute to efforts to
re-embed food production and consumption within a social system. Often based on shared values
and a common vision of a sustainable and local food system, alternative food consumption (AFC)
may reflect a reaction to the perceived failure of the dominant mode of food production and
concerns over environmental and health issues, loss of taste and seasonality in food, loss of food
literacy, and food social injustice.
Thus shared values and concerns stimulate new modes of ‘‘sense-making against the market and
the state-sanctioned rationalities of industrialization and globalization’’ (Stassart and Whatmore,
2003: 449). AFC sense-making comes from elements within both mainstream and alternative food
cultures, where the assemblage of meanings makes a unique and new sense. In this commentary,
our aim is to examine the meanings behind AFC as a matter of ideology, sociocultural structure,
anti-structure, and post-structure. In doing so, we hope to contribute to developing a compre-
hensive understanding of ‘‘alternative’’ consumption applied to food behaviors and, ultimately, its
impact on individual and collective well-being.

The ideology of food consumption

Mainstream food consumption and the pursuit of alternative diets can be viewed through the lens
of ideology (Lusk, 2012). Simply put, ideology refers to the complex system of ideas, values, and
meanings that construct a certain social reality which, in turn, sustain and legitimize power
relationships and shape individuals’ feelings and ways of thinking, being, and behaving (Eagleton,
2007). Through ideology people are subjected to the dominant social values which they may or
may not accept on an individual level.
The impact of ideology on society is enormous yet tacit for generating taken-for-granted
assumptions. Dominant ideologies in varied manifestations are interwoven into the fabric of our
everyday lives, often remaining unexamined as they shape social relations and structure (Gramsci,
1971). Acting as ‘‘ideological state apparatuses’’ (Althusser, 2014) both powerful organizational
entities and ordinary people play roles in disseminating a dominant ideology while potentially
ignoring contradictions between different values held within that ideology (Žižek, 1989). Yet
internal contradictions in ideology can expose its own defects and thus undermine its authority

Downloaded from mtq.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on June 7, 2016

Manna et al. 3

(Althusser, 2014). In Foucauldian terms, while ideology may contain ‘‘technologies of domina-
tion’’ to manipulate the masses, it also engenders the ‘‘technologies of self’’ that may give way to
social critiques. That is, power reproduces its own resistance and triggers new forms of frag-
mentation within the mainstream culture via subcultures (Ulusoy, 2016) and social and cultural
movements (Cherry, 2006; Haenfler, 2004; Melucci, 1985).

Structure, anti-structure, and post-structuralism relative to AFCs

It is only in reference to contemporary sociocultural structures that a diet can be regarded as
alternative or not. Here the term ‘‘structure’’ refers to societal order, including indications of which
behavioral choices are desired by a cultural collective (Turner, 1974) at a particular point in time.
For example, while the line ‘‘vegetarianism is still nonconformity’’ reflected the thought of nearly
20 years ago (Visser, 1999), it is unlikely that the same sentiment would make its way into today’s
academic literature.
In the food context, a mainstream system placing animal products at the center represents the
prevailing food ideology in Western societies. Even labeling animal flesh as meat can be thought
of as being expressive of ideology. The notion of what is and what is not food is shaped by the
dominant sociocultural paradigm and reproduced by the coordinated acts of governmental bodies
and corporations as well as everyday discourses. Reflecting the cultural value placed on a dietary
practice and the value that the individual places on social cohesion ‘‘we impose upon ourselves
innumerable constraints and boundaries to keep chaos at bay’’ (Turner, 1974: vii). Consumers may
not recognize that their food culture and consumption habits are indeed ideological and therefore
the ethical and ideological justifications of their food consumption patterns may remain unex-
amined (Singer, 2009).
Anti-structure, the ‘‘negative space’’ of structure, includes characteristics and behaviors that are
inconsistent with those contained in societal structure. Attributes of anti-structure include being
natural, transcendent of the mundane, and authentic (Lanier and Rader, 2015), all terms antithetical
to the global industrial food complex. Critiqued as reflecting an ideology of speciesism (Singer,
2009), the socially constructed hierarchical system of mainstream food production implies the
superior position of human animals over others, magnifying the alienation people experience from
other sentient beings and nature and reinforcing a perspective on what is acceptable in a food
system. AFC, therefore, may take a form seeking a coexistence with nature that comes with no
judgmental assessment in terms of inferiority or superiority (Fırat and Dholakia, 2006).
The case of what ‘‘authentic’’ food is may be open for debate when differentiating that which is
tightly linked to a culture and that which is ‘‘staged’’ or has been hybridized (Grosglika and Ram,
2013). Foods once linked with specific ethnic cultures can become mainstream, reflecting the
dynamic nature of that which is structure, and that which is anti-structure. Yet it may be a
‘‘whitened’’ acceptance of cultural practices that dictates these instances of transition and their
final form, not the ideals of ethnic minorities (Guthman, 2008). Existing in the realm of anti-
structure would be those foods both truly exotic to the culture in which they are being consumed
and honestly reflective of their culture of origin.
Overall, foods produced within the global industrial food complex are inherently within the
category of ‘‘structure.’’ Mass marketed foods, by definition, are not ‘‘transcendent of the mun-
dane.’’ Our question then becomes whether AFC symbolizes that which is truly anti-structural (in
which the practice of an alternative diet symbolizes an act of resistance to the dominant paradigm
of food provision) or whether AFC is more aligned with post-structuralism in which dietary options

Downloaded from mtq.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on June 7, 2016

4 Marketing Theory

are imbued with varied social meanings held by different sociocultural groups that the consumer
may identify with.

An anti-structural perspective on AFCs

Viewed through the lens of being anti-structural, the emphasis of AFC is placed on the word alter-
native. Therefore meanings associated with AFC flow from consumption being based on resistance, a
‘‘counter-hegemonic’’ mode contesting and challenging hegemonic authority (Gramsci, 1971).
In consumption designed to signify resistance to social order, the primary purpose of the
consumer is to not participate in mainstream conventions and, as a consequence of this, they
construct an identity outside of their dominant sociocultural group. This lies in contrast to, for
example, the consumer who is motivated by feelings of superiority realized through disassociating
him/herself from the mainstream consumer. It could be argued here that because the reference
point is separation from other consumers rather than from a food production system, this is not an
act of resistance as much as it is one of striving for a unique social status within a sociocultural
structure.
If resistance is episodic, this may be part of the sense-making process of the individual con-
sumer. If acts of resistance follow a theme over time, this does not equate to the consumer adopting
a lifestyle devoid of structure. Rather ‘‘struggles against the system are cloaked less in ideologies
of resistance and more in identities of liberation’’ (Cova et al., 2007: 8) in which a consumer may
transition from one consumer tribe to another.
This transitioning is echoed in a post-structural perspective in which the consumer affiliates
himself with a sociocultural group that, itself, is alternative (Lanier and Rader, 2015). The indi-
vidual aspires to adopt an identity within the normative structures of the alternative group and, in
doing so, may symbolize an aspiration for social cohesion—not resistance. Veganism, for instance,
serves to critique dominant ideology by questioning the environmental, ethical, and health-related
consequences of meat production and consumption in the hopes of reforming a ‘‘public sphere’’
(Habermas, 1991) and, thusly, bringing about social change founded upon an alternative set of
shared values.
In addition to mainstream consumption, consumption as resistance, and consumption aligned
with an alternative consumer tribe, the individual may consider what different dietary practices
symbolize to different sociocultural groups and combine these meanings in a way that makes sense
to that individual. A dietary practice that is functional for one sociocultural group may be dys-
functional for another, yet the consumer may belong to both. The consumer is left to negotiate
these conflicts and, in doing so, may blend social values in a way that takes on a semiotic meaning
unique to the individual (Thompson and Troester, 2002). In this case, the bundle of values ulti-
mately chosen may motivate the individual to more strongly identify with a sociocultural group in
which a rough approximation of the relative rankings of these values (Rokeach, 1976) is shared,
even when consumption practices themselves may not be aligned.
As Cooley wrote ‘‘self and society are twin-born’’ (1962: 5). Societal values associated with
food choices can be transferred to the individual, rejected, or adapted into alternatives that may
become part of the sociocultural structures of generations yet to come.

Conclusion
We propose further discussion on how to define ‘‘alternative’’ consumption and hope to encourage
marketing scholars to examine the process by which consumers make sense of food consumption

Downloaded from mtq.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on June 7, 2016

Manna et al. 5

in the context of an industrialized global food system. Our commentary suggests that future
research could focus on the idea of alternative as meaning shaped by reference to the ideology of a
particular sociocultural context.

Rethinking ‘‘literacy’’
in the adoption of AFC

Paula C. Peter
San Diego State University, USA

Wided Batat
University of Lyon 2, France

Ebru Ulusoy
University of Maine, USA

The field of marketing theory and practice has largely focused on mainstream modes of con-
sumption in order to understand consumer decision-making and behavior. Only recently the field
has started to question the context in which consumers face different choice options, or what we
commonly refer as the alternative. Alternative modes of transportation (e.g. car pooling, biking),
alternative energy production (e.g. solar, biodiesel), alternative material consumptions (e.g.
recycling, refurbishing), and alternative diets (e.g. meat-free, organic) are all behaviors that require
specific attention to social impact and behavioral change over the creation of wealth (Peter and
Honea, 2012). These examples are all sustainable behaviors, which assume market will power and
consumer sovereignty (Nixon and Gabriel, 2015; Read, 2007). Under this lens, the adoption of the
alternative becomes a privilege of consumer citizens who have options and have the resources to
participate in the market system. This commentary challenges this perspective by focusing on key
levels and dimensions of literacy in order to overcome functional barriers (i.e. accessibility) in the
adoption of the alternative. We focus on alternative food consumption (AFC) (Batat et al.,
forthcoming) since food has received extensive attention by marketing academics for the past
20 years and therefore represents a fertile ground for research.

Food accessibility
Research shows that it is difficult for underprivileged consumer groups of low-income (low
socioeconomic status (SES)) living in geographically deprived regions or for people of color to
adopt an alternative diet due to physical, economic, and knowledge barriers, as well as exclu-
sionary practices and discourses. Most of the time AFC is not an option for most of these con-
sumers (Dutko et al., 2012). Nevertheless, Block et al. (2011) suggest that economic well-being

Downloaded from mtq.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on June 7, 2016

6 Marketing Theory

and food well-being (FWB) are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, large chains like
Walmart have adapted to the demand for more healthy and organic foods by managing the supplier
chain more efficiently (Thompson and Coskuner-Balli, 2007). The issue then becomes making
consumers aware, knowledgeable, and motivated toward the alternatives, what is commonly
referred as literacy.
In marketing and consumer research, studies on food literacy mainly focused on food
learning process and abilities (Block et al., 2011), health awareness (Grier et al., 2007),
food accessibility (Glanz et al., 1998), nutrition, and understanding food labeling (Burton
et al., 2006) and food decision-making (Bublitz et al., 2010). Although Block and col-
leagues (2011) provided a major contribution to the definition of food literacy (at indi-
vidual and societal level) and FWB in marketing and consumer research, the concept of
food literacy has been recently criticized because of its highly individualistic and apolitical
aspects (Kimura, 2011).

New levels and dimensions of food literacy

According to Sumner (2013), food literacy is a multidimensional construct that encompasses
various aspects such as autonomous food skills, contextualized practice of food knowledge, food
learning process, and food language. Further, food literacy refers to the ability of individuals to
organize their everyday nutrition by assuring self-determination, responsibility, and food joy or
pleasure (Food Literacy Project, 2011). By applying Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory
(1979), which defines five levels of environment (micro, meso, exo, macro, and chrono) that can
influence human development, this commentary proposes an expanded conceptualization of food
literacy according to three major dimensions: functional, interactive, and critical ranging from
micro to chrono level. Each dimension operates independently or interrelates. An individual can
access and return to any level without the need to progress from the functional to the interactive
and critical levels of food literacy (see Figure 1).

Functional food literacy. Functional food literacy is related to micro and meso levels. It refers to the
operational dimension of food (Renwick, 2013) and the ability to obtain accurate nutritional
information and develop an understanding of factors that can improve or constrain good health. At
the micro level, the focus is on the individual and its interaction with food and includes aspects
such as one’s food likes and dislikes (Berman and Lavizzo-Mourey, 2008), access to different
varieties and amount of food (Burton et al., 2006), basic knowledge of food origins (Benn, 2014),
and food ingredients in relation to health benefit (Sumner, 2013). At the meso level (interaction
with family, peers, and teachers), functional food literacy includes two types of food knowledge
declarative and procedural (Dickson-Spillmann et al., 2011). Declarative food knowledge refers to
individual’s awareness of facts and processes and it encompasses the ability to identify foods that
are healthy or unhealthy such as food high/low in sugar or fat. Procedural food knowledge reflects
skills and strategies that individuals can use to respond to their needs. For example, the ability to
define a healthy menu plan or low-fat products.

Interactive food literacy. Interactive food literacy refers to the social dimension of food activities
performed at exo- (institutions, media, and producers) and/or macro-environment (global culture,
dominant beliefs, and ideologies) level. Consumers interact with institutions and with other market
actors within an exo–macro system defined by values, norms, and beliefs. Interactive food literacy

Downloaded from mtq.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on June 7, 2016

Peter et al. 7

Chronosystem

Critical food literacy

Macro

Interactive food literacy

Exo

Meso
Functional food literacy

Micro

Figure 1. Levels and dimensions of food literacy.

allows consumers to translate food declarative and functional knowledge into positive dietary
choices when interacting with social agents and other environmental agents such as media, food
industry, food culture, and food market. Further, interactive food literacy leads consumers to
develop more complex skills, motivations, and confidence to navigate within a multifaceted and
multilevel food environment. The transition from knowledge to practice is an important compo-
nent of interactive food literacy. Consumers should translate functional food literacy acquired into
practical skills that can use at different levels.

Critical food literacy. Critical food literacy examines the ability of individuals to be critical toward
their own food practices and when interacting with their social and cultural environment (media,
culture, society, technology, and ideology) at both macro and chrono levels. Critical food
knowledge as defined by Habermas (1978) is a critical emancipatory knowledge that reflects the
desire to transform the exiting reality by transforming food learning and questioning/criticizing the
established food myths, norms, and codes. The forms of food knowledge that can be associated to
critical emancipatory knowledge domain are those that reject conventional food consumption and
production and prone AFC and production based on food justice, food sovereignty, and a critical
understanding of issues like food deserts and food discriminations. For Winslow (2012), critical
food literacy includes (1) the ability to locate and critically analyze information about one’s
relationship to food consumption and production, political implications and environmental impact
of food practices; (2) the ability to participate in the implementation of alternative and sustainable
forms of food production, distribution, and consumption; and (3) the ability to adopt alternative
food practices at both individual (choices about sustainable food to buy) and collective levels
(involvement in local and global activism).

Downloaded from mtq.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on June 7, 2016

8 Marketing Theory

Conclusion
AFC is an ongoing project of an individual acquiring food knowledge and empowering him/herself
by examining societal resource allocation, institutional practices, and economic and social con-
ditions that shape individuals’ and communities’ control over food and alternative food adoption.
As suggested by the study of food decision-making, there is need for a multidimensional and
dynamic conceptualization of food access (Kato and McKinney, 2015).
The food literacy model we propose overcomes limitations related to current research on
individualized prescriptions, instrumental forms of knowledge, and notions of blame by focusing
on different levels (from micro to chrono) and dimensions of food literacy (functional, inter-
active, and critical). Our model represents a new way to analyze current foodscapes and AFC,
which can be easily applied to other sustainable alternative behaviors (e.g. car pooling, solar,
recycling). Overall, access to the alternative means more than simply a manageable distance to
the alternative or the individual. It means the provision of alternatives that are acceptable to the
population being served (McCracken et al., 2012). No matter what type of access issue serves as
a barrier to the alternative adoption of consumers, the solution is in an inclusive approach. Thus,
the adoption of the alternative is an ongoing project of an individual acquiring knowledge and
getting access by examining societal resource allocation, institutional practices, and economic
and social conditions that shape individuals and communities in order to achieve sustainability
(Lim, 2015) and well-being.

Social class dynamics in AFC

Handan Vicdan
EmLyon Business School, France

Wided Batat
University of Lyon 2, France

Soonkwan Hong
Michigan Technological University, USA

Food is known be to an expression of identity, values, and lifestyles (Brunsø et al., 2004; Senauer,
2001). The inherently dialectical tendency in food–class relationship that reproduces and rein-
forces social stratification even in food culture may, however, need to be debunked. While food
consumption can be considered as a mundane act of consumption and routine provisioning
household (Livingstone and Lunt, 1992), recent studies on food consumption, specifically alter-
native food consumption (AFC), suggest otherwise (Zukin, 2008) and emphasize the strong
relationship between AFC meanings and class distinction. After all, such consumption behavior is
socially constructed and evolved from need-based to desire-based focus (Bauman, 2002).

Downloaded from mtq.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on June 7, 2016

Vicdan et al. 9

Although, the field of sociology of food has focused on the role of social class in shaping its
consumption (Paddock, 2015a), little attention has been paid to meanings behind the adoption of
AFC according to class culture and social norms. In this commentary, we aim to explore social
class dynamics and the role of class culture in contemporary ‘‘alternative’’ food consumption. In
doing so, we hope to contribute to the body of work in marketing theory by showing that alternative
consumption practices, especially AFC, provide a platform for the performance of class distinc-
tiveness as stated in the Bourdieusian perspective where social values and norms contribute to
shaping consumer identity and social class dynamics through food practice.

A Bourdieusian perspective on AFC

Many sociological studies to date have explored the role of food in making distinctions between
social groups. Less well understood is how alternative means of food consumption become figured
in such relations. The highly assumptive correlations among ‘‘foodie,’’ ‘‘eating right,’’ ‘‘whole, slow,
organic, and local foods,’’ and ‘‘(upper) middle class’’ are the vanguards of the nobility built around
the hardly penetrable stronghold in the middle of the food desert, allegedly the habitat of working
class consumers who show less aptitude to contribute to the rhetoric in the political economy of
food (Maguire, 2016). Nevertheless, food plays an important role in creating boundaries of dis-
tinction between foods for us alternative and for them ‘‘mainstream’’ (Paddock, 2015b). Alternative
food adoption is then considered a social function that individuals accomplish to legitimate social
differences and distinguish themselves from other social subjects (Bourdieu, 1984)
Bourdieu (1984) argues, in relation to food, that taste is a classifier. The adoption of alternative
food may be viewed as a way to express refinement and good taste where alternative food is seen as
a display charged with symbolic meanings rather than a substance to satisfy biological needs.
Differences among social classes in terms of alternative food adoption can be explained by the
social norms dominant in each social class and can demarcate each social group’s food culture and
eating habits both in and out. Bourdieu’s (1984) analysis of food practices in the French society
revealed social categories characterized by distinctive approaches to food consumption. These
social categories could be grouped into three: (1) food as a necessity within working class where
food is substantial, salty, masculine, abundant on table, and elastic; (2) food as comfort expressed
by the middle class where we can find high amount of sweet foods; and (3) in the upper-class or the
bourgeoisie, food is defined as an expression of self-identity and as a marker of social differ-
entiation, quality, aesthetic, and distinctiveness. For lower classes, price sensitivity and necessity
of needs may be paramount, whereas upper classes may prioritize quality and innovation, social
image, and identity work in their adoption of alternative food. Hence, upper social classes may
consider alternative food as a social indicator that establishes social boundaries with other social
groups where food is seen as comfort (middle class) or as a necessity (working class). One should
note, however, that distinction is not issued by a person’s will to mark himself as superior from the
other but by social class dynamics; hence, it is inherent to each person’s social environment
(Bourdieu, 1984).
Few studies have identified individual and social values as well as status-linked motives related
to AFC. For example, organic food consumption is associated with conservatism, self-
enhancement that involves social status and prestige, self-transcendence, and openness to
change (Dreezens et al., 2005; Hoogland et al., 2007; Vermeir and Verbeke, 2006). Consumption
of fair trade products was also initially associated with counter-cultural and collectivist ethos,
which was then co-opted by the market to commodify these forms of consumption as quests for

Downloaded from mtq.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on June 7, 2016

10 Marketing Theory

individual identity (Low and Davenport, 2005), and mainstream this consumption through the
appropriation of counter values.

AFC as conspicuous practice

AFC is also associated with conspicuous motives (Veblen, 1899) that work against the very ele-
mentary needs. For example, Costa et al. (2014: 232) argue that organic food consumption has a
social value for affluent consumers, who are usually perceived as ‘‘bobos’’ (bourgeois-bohemians),
‘‘snobs,’’ ‘‘privileged,’’ exclusive, and in ‘‘fashion.’’ Affluent consumers have been characterized
with engaging in more environmental and responsible consumption practices that help them in
their quest for identity construction and social distinction (Carrigan et al., 2013; Moraes et al.,
2012). In response to these individualistic quests, the market has provided affluent people with the
means to construct green identities and pursue sustainable lifestyles, hence creating a symbolically
rich, yet sustainably weak link between green consumption and elitist lifestyles (Soron, 2010). For
the middle class, (un)fortunately, the mythology that is expected to ‘‘feed the middle class’’ and
sustain any residual conspicuousness in consumption has been shattered by the recent economic
turmoil (Shugart, 2014). The combination of Victorian and Puritan values that used to guarantee
reward as the source of the conspicuousness no longer provides cultural leverage for the middle
class due to the dilution of marketplace myths. As a result, the most ostentatious class warfare has
evolved in the domain of food in consumer culture because of the ostensibly discernible ‘‘tastes’’
of classes (e.g. Buckley, 2011).
Recognizing the demise of the imaginary, mythological fortress of stratified food conscious-
ness, what research on (alternative) food consumption in relation to class discourse may need to
illuminate is not the very reproduction of distinction but the potentially dysfunctional aspects of
the distinction unless ‘‘noblesse oblige’’ can still assist the roles of media and policies and nurture
consumer agency. Working class consumers’ creativity and criticality should not be discounted or
dismissed for the sake of the purportedly healthy, delectable, innovative, and sustainable (food)
practices of middle class (e.g. Alkon et al., 2013). For marketing theory scholars, cultural and
symbolic capital may provide a better understanding of food as necessity as well as esoterica, but
such an understanding tends to be wasted merely to restore the myths of middle class (cf. Shugart,
2014). Practices required to transcend or at least ameliorate the phenomenon of food insecurity and
food desert are forgotten during the class warfare or ‘‘confiscated’’ by the remaining or aspirant
middle-class consumers who simply perpetuate the class struggle.
Although there are evidences that suggest minimal (perhaps not nonexistent) distinguishability
between working class and middle class with respect to their food awareness, ethics, and practices
(Johnston et al., 2011), working class sensibility and practices of food have been largely absent in
the narratives of AFC (e.g. Johnston and Baumann, 2010). ‘‘Taste of necessity’’ is not necessarily
inferior in terms of nutrition, wholesomeness, and sustainability. Nor can the benefits of the
‘‘right’’ food be fully justified. Dichotomies between the privileged versus the marginalized, food
as necessity versus luxury, authentic food versus the fragmented, center and periphery (fringe), and
‘‘pro-life versus pro-convenience’’ have long been detrimental to the ongoing discourse of food
culture that could have seen some practical accomplishments otherwise.

AFC dynamics among social classes

Understanding the dynamics of AFC habits among different social classes is important in terms of
promoting equitable alternatives to conventional foodways adapted to each social group in order to

Downloaded from mtq.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on June 7, 2016

Vicdan et al. 11

improve consumer well-being. Furthermore, one may wonder whether there should be a balance
between identity signaling and collectivist motives concerning AFC adoption, since the problem
persists when AFC is perceived solely as a tool for identity construction and boosting self-esteem,
and a signifier of status, which makes it a practice exclusive to affluent people. Such exclusivity
and abundance of symbolically rich and highly commodified alternative food options also create
confusion in the market for those who would genuinely adopt alternative food choices as a means
to make an impact on the overall environment and achieve the pillars of sustainability.
Such a problem may stem from several reasons: the society expects primarily affluent people to
be more responsible and mindful in terms of changing food consumption patterns and consumerist
lifestyles for individual and collective well-being. In addition, salient individualistic motivations
of the affluent people such as uniqueness (Furby, 1980), self-esteem (Poggi, 1983), identity sig-
naling, and distinction cause the wealthy to clash with and dominate their responsible and
environmentalist identities (Hurth, 2010). Indeed, affluent people are characterized with increased
power to have control over the environment (Dittmar et al., 1989;; Furby, 1980; Hirschman, 1990),
and also wastefulness (Veblen, 1899), yet their environmental attitudes are generally perceived as
negative, as they are associated with frugality and self-denial (Hurth, 2010).

Conclusion
Distinctions that have been made through food consumption can be foregone by recognizing the
‘‘liquidity’’ of modern life where consumers experiment and experience the right at the moment of
engagement (Bauman, 1997). Food nomadism or ‘‘omnivorousness thesis’’ breaks down the wall
between food desert and the pretentious food connoisseurship (Peterson and Kern, 1996). Trickle-
down food culture is spurious and anti-productive; ‘‘trickle-across’’ food culture is genuinely
alternative.
We propose that there should be further discussion of the concept of alternative from social
class perspective on food market and other consumption fields. Our commentary suggests that
future research should focus more on the idea of alternative as dynamic that evolves through
different social classes. Thus, the three areas we highlighted above are meant to encourage mar-
keting scholars to embrace new research orientation, particularly toward a better understanding the
role of alternative sustainable consumption in creating consumer well-being.

Acknowledgments
We are grateful to TCR cochairs Ron Hill, Julie L. Ozanne, and Brennan Davis who gave us a
chance to participate to the Fifth Transformative Consumer Research Conference TCR dialogical
conference. We also thank the participants of the Alternative Food System track for their dialogical
discussions and also relevant comments throughout the peer review process.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.

Downloaded from mtq.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on June 7, 2016

12 Marketing Theory

References
Alkon, A.H., Block, D., Moore, K., et al. (2013) ‘Foodways of the Urban Poor’, Geoforum 48: 126–35.
Althusser, L. (2014) On the Reproduction of Capitalism: Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses.
New York: Verso.
Batat, W., Peter, P., Vicdan, H., et al. (forthcoming) ‘Alternative Food Consumption (AFC): Contributions to
Food Well-Being (FWB), Marketing, and Public Policy’, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing.
Bauman, Z. (1997) Postmodernity and Its Discontents. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bauman, Z. (2002) Society Under Siege. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Benn, J. (2014) ‘Food, Nutrition or Cooking Literacy – A review of Concepts and Competencies Regarding
Food Education’, International Journal for Home Economics 7(1): 13–35.
Berman, M. and Lavizzo-Mourey, R. (2008) ‘Obesity Prevention in the Information Age’, Journal of
American Medicine Association 300: 433–5.
Block, L.G., Grier, S.A., Childers, T.L., et al. (2011) ‘From Nutrients to Nurturance: A Conceptual Intro-
duction to Food Well-being’, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 30(1): 5–13.
Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979) The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Brunsø, K., Scholderer, J. and Grunert, K.G. (2004) ‘Closing the Gap Between Values and Behaviour: A
Means-end Theory of Lifestyle,’Journal of Business Research 57: 665–70.
Bublitz, G.M., Peracchio, C.M. and Block, L.G. (2010) ‘Why Did I Eat That? Perspectives on Food Decision
Making and Dietary Restraint’, Journal of Consumer Psychology 20(3): 239–58.
Buckley, C. (2011) Beyond Seizing Parks, New Paths to Influence. New York Times, November 16, p. A1.
Burton, S., Creyer, E., Kees, J. and Huggins, K. (2006) ‘Attacking the Obesity Epidemic: An Examination of
the Potential Health Benefits of Nutrition Information Provision in Restaurants’, American Journal for
Public Health 96(9): 1669–75.
Carrigan, M., Moraes, C. and McEachern, M. (2013) ‘From Conspicuous to Considered Fashion: A Harm-
Chain Approach to the Responsibilities of Luxury-Fashion Businesses’, Journal of Marketing Manage-
ment 29: 1277–307.
Cherry, E. (2006) ‘Veganism as a Cultural Movement: A Relational Approach’, Social Movement Studies
5(2): 155–70.
Cooley, C.H. (1962) Social Organization. New York: Schocken.
Costa, S., Zepeda, L. and Sirieix, L. (2014) ‘Exploring the Social Value of Organic Food: A Qualitative Study
in France’, International Journal of Consumer Studies 38: 228–37.
Cova, B., Kozinets, R. and Shankar, A. (2007) Consumer Tribes. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Dickson-Spillmann, M., Siegrist, M. and Keller, C. (2011) ‘Development and Validation of a Short,
Consumer-Oriented Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire’, Appetite 56: 617–20.
Dittmar, H., Mannetti, L. and Semin, G.R. (1989) ‘Fine Feathers Make Fine Birds: A Comparative Study of
the Impact of Material Wealth on Perceived Identities in England and Italy’, Social Behaviour 4: 195–200.
Dreezens, E., Martijn, C., Tenbult, P., et al. (2005) ‘Food and Values: An Examination of Values Underlying
Attitudes Toward Genetically Modified and Organically Grown Food Products’, Appetite 44: 115–22.
Dutko, P., Ver Ploeg, M., and Farrigan, T. (2012) ‘Characteristics and Influential Factors of Food Deserts’,
Economic Research Report, 140(August). Washington: United States Department of Agriculture, Eco-
nomic Research Service.
Eagleton, T. (2007) Ideology: An Introduction. New York: Verso.
Fırat, A.F. and Dholakia, N. (2006) ‘Theoretical and Philosophical Implications of Postmodern Debates:
Some Challenges to Modern Marketing’, Marketing Theory 6(2): 123–62.
Food Literacy Project. (2011) ‘Food Literacy’ URL (consulted July 2015): www.food-literacy.org/en/
welcome.

Downloaded from mtq.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on June 7, 2016

Vicdan et al. 13

Furby, L. (1980) ‘The Origins and Early Development of Possessive Behaviour’, Political Psychology 2:
30–42.
Glanz, K., Basil, M., Maibach, E., et al. (1998) ‘Why Americans Eat What They Do: Taste, Nutrition, Cost,
Convenience, and Weight Control Concerns as Influences on Food Consumption’, Journal of the
American Dietetic Association 98(10): 1118–1126.
Gramsci, A. (1971) Selections from the Prison Notebooks. New York: International Publishers Co.
Grier, A.S., Mensinger, J., Huang, S.H., et al. (2007) ‘Fast-food Marketing and Children’s Fast-food Con-
sumption: Exploring Parents’ Influences in an Ethnically Diverse Sample’, Journal of Public Policy &
Marketing 26(2): 221–35.
Grosglika, R. and Ram, U. (2013) ‘Authentic, Speedy and Hybrid Representations of Chinese Food and
Cultural Globalization in Israel’, Food, Culture & Society: An International Journal of Multidisciplinary
Research 16(2): 223–43.
Guthman, J. (2008) ‘Bringing Good Food to Others: Investigating the Subjects of Alternative Food Practice’,
Cultural Geographies 15(4): 431–47.
Habermas, J. (1978) Knowledge and Human Interests. Boston: Beacon Press.
Habermas, J. (1991) The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of
Bourgeois Society. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Haenfler, R. (2004) ‘Rethinking Subcultural Resistance: Core Values of the Straightedge Movement’,
Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 33(4): 406–36.
Hirschman, E.C. (1990) ‘Secular Immortality and the American Ideology of Affluence’, The Journal of
Consumer Research 17(1): 31–42.
Hoogland, C.T., de Boer, J. and Boersema, J.J. (2007) ‘Food and Sustainability: Do Consumers Recognize,
Understand and Value On-Package Information on Production Standards?’, Appetite 49: 47–57.
Hurth, V. (2010) ‘Creating Sustainable Identities: The Significance of the Financially Affluent Self’,
Sustainable Development 18: 123–34.
Johnston, J. and Baumann, S. (2010) Foodies: Democracy and Distinction in the Gourmet Landscape. New
York: Routledge.
Johnston, J., Szabo, M. and Rodney, A. (2011) ‘Good Food, Good People: Understanding the Cultural
Repertoire of Ethical Eating’, Journal of Consumer Culture 11(3): 293–318.
Kato, Y. and McKinney, L. (2015) ‘Bringing Food Desert Residents to an Alternative Food Market: A Semi-
experimental Study of Impediments to Food Access’, Agriculture and Human Values 32: 215–27.
Kimura, H.A. (2011) ‘Food Education as Food Literacy: Privatized and Gendred Food Knowledge in
Contemporary Japan’, Agriculture and Human Values 28: 465–82.
Lanier, C.D. and Rader, C.S. (2015) ‘Consumption Experience: An Expanded View’, Marketing Theory
15(4): 487–508.
Lim, W. M. (2015) ‘A Blueprint for Sustainability Marketing. Defining its Conceptual Boundaries for
Progress’, Marketing Theory 1–18.
Livingstone, M.S and Lunt, P.K. (1992) Mass Consumption and Personal Identity: Everyday Economic
Experience. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Low, W. and Davenport, E. (2005) ‘Postcards From the Edge: Maintaining the ‘Alternative’ Character of Fair
Trade’, Sustainable Development 13: 143–53.
Lusk, L.J. (2012) ‘The Political Ideology of Food’, Food Policy 37: 530–542.
Maguire, J.S. (2016) ‘Introduction: Looking at Food Practices and Taste across the Class Divide’, Food,
Culture & Society 19: 11–18.
McCracken, V. A., Sage, J. L. and Sage, R.A. (2012) ‘Do Farmer’s Ameliorate Food Deserts?’, Focus 29(1):
21–6.
Melucci, A. (1985) ‘The Symbolic Challenge of Contemporary Movements’, Social Research 52: 789–816.
Moraes, C., Carrigan, M. and Szmigin, I. (2012) ‘The Coherence of Inconsistencies: Attitude–
behaviour Gaps and New Consumption Communities’, Journal of Marketing Management 28:
103–28.

Downloaded from mtq.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on June 7, 2016

14 Marketing Theory

Nixon, E. and Gabriel, Y. (2015) ‘So Much Choice and No Choice at All. A Socio-psychoanalytic Inter-
pretation of Consumerism as a Source of Pollution’, Marketing Theory 16: 39–56.
Paddock, J. (2015a) ‘Invoking Simplicity: ‘Alternative’ Food and the Reinvention of Distinction’, Sociologia
Ruralis 55(1): 22–40.
Paddock, J. (2015b) ‘Positioning Food Cultures: ‘Alternative’ Food as Distinctive Consumer Practice’,
Sociology 1–17.
Peter, P. C. and Honea, H. (2012) ‘Targeting Social Messages with Emotions of Change: The Call for
Optimism’, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 31(2): 269–83.
Peterson, R. and Kern, R.M. (1996) ‘Changing Highbrow Taste: From Snob to Omnivore’, American
Sociological Review 61: 900–7.
Poggi, G. (1983) Calvinism and the Capitalist Spirit. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
Read, D. (2007) ‘Time and the Marketplace’, Marketing Theory 7(1): 59–74.
Renwick, K. (2013) ‘Food Literacy as a Form of Critical Pedagogy: Implications for Curriculum Develop-
ment and Pedagogical Engagement for Australia’s Diverse Student Population’, Victorian Journal of
Home Economics 52: 6–17.
Rokeach, M. (1976) Beliefs, Attitudes, and Values. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Senauer, B. (2001) The Food Consumer in the 21st Century New Research Perspectives. St. Paul: The Retail
Food Industry Center. University of Minnesota.
Soron, D. (2010) ‘Sustainability, Self-identity and the Sociology of Consumption’, Sustainable Development
18: 172–81.
Shugart, H.A. (2014) ‘Food Fixations’, Food, Culture & Society 17(2): 261–81.
Singer, P. (2009) Animal Liberation: The Definitive Classic of the Animal Movement. New York:
Harperperennial.
Stassart, P. and Whatmore, S. (2003) ‘Metabolizing Risk: Food Scares and the Un/re-making of Belgian
Beef’, Environment and Planning A 35: 449–62.
Sumner, J. (2013) ‘Food Literacy and Adult Education: Learning to Read the World by Eating’, The Canadian
Journal for the Study of Adult Education 25(2): 79–92.
Thompson, C.J. and Coskuner-Balli, G. (2007) ‘Countervailing Market Responses to Corporate Co-optation
and the Ideological Recruitment of Consumption Communities’, Journal of Consumer Research 34(2):
135–52.
Thompson, C.J. and Troester, M. (2002) ‘Consumer Value Systems in the Age of Postmodern Fragmentation:
The Case of the Natural Health Microculture’, Journal of Consumer Research 28(4): 550–71.
Turner, V.W. (1974) Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society. Ithaca: Cornell
University Press.
Ulusoy, E. (2016) ‘Subcultural Escapades via Music Consumption: Identity Transformations and Extraor-
dinary Experiences in Dionysian Music Subcultures’, Journal of Business Research 69(1): 244–54.
Veblen, T. (1899) The Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Macmillan.
Vermeir, I. and Verbeke, W. (2006) ‘Sustainable Food Consumption: Exploring the Consumer ‘Attitude-
Behavioural Intention’ Gap’, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 19: 169–194.
Visser, M. (1999) ‘Food and Culture: Interconnections’, Social Research 66(1): 117–30.
Winslow, D. (2012) Food For Thought: Sustainability, Community-Engaged Teaching and Research, and
Critical Food Literacy. Writing Program – Dissertations, Syracuse University, New York.
Žižek, S. (1989) The Sublime Object of Ideology. New York: Verso.
Zukin, S. (2008) ‘Consuming Authenticity: From Outposts of Difference to Means of Exclusion’ Cultural
Studies 22: 724–48.

Wided Batat is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Lyon 2 (France). Her research looks
after young consumer education and the ethical implications, consumption cultures, food consumption cul-
tures, alternative food consumption, vulnerability and well-being, consumption meanings, and experiential

Downloaded from mtq.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on June 7, 2016

Vicdan et al. 15

consumption. Her works have been published in French and English academic journals such as Research and
Application in Marketing (RAM), Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Marketing Theory, Journal of
Macromarketing, Journal of Marketing Management, Kybernetes, International Journal for Consumer Stud-
ies, Advances in Consumer Research, Journal of Business Research, and Journal of Research for Consumers.
Address: University of Lyon 2, Campus Porte des Alpes, 5 Avenue Pierre Mendès-France, 69676 Bron Cedex,
France. [email:wided.batat@univ-lyon2.fr]

Paula C. Peter is an associate professor of marketing in the Department of Marketing, College of Business
Administration at the San Diego State University, San Diego, USA. Her research interests include the role of
emotions and emotional intelligence in consumer decision-making, with special emphasis on strategies in
order to ‘‘help consumers help themselves.’’ Her research is published in the Journal of Public Policy and
Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Research for Consumers,
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management and
Advances in Consumer Research. Address: Department of Marketing, College of Business Administration,
San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182-8239, USA. [email:
ppeter@mail.sdsu.edu]

Valerie Manna is a senior lecturer of marketing in the Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce at Lincoln
University, New Zealand. Her research spans the areas of consumer well-being, social marketing, and ethics,
with a particular emphasis on health issues. Current research projects focus on developing dairy-based
functional food products for the Chinese market and the Chinese consumer’s attitudes regarding organic
foods. Address: Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce, Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand. [email:
valerie.manna@lincoln.ac.nz]

Handan Vicdan is an associate professor of marketing in markets at EMLyon Business School, Ecully,
France. She specializes in consumer culture and transformative consumer research, including topics such as
sustainable consumption/production, food consumption and alternative diets, and implications on consumer
wellbeing. Her work has appeared extensively in international journals such as Journal of Consumer Culture,
Journal of Business Research, Consumption, Markets & Culture, Journal of Customer Behaviour, Journal of
MacroMarketing, Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, and Journal of International Consumer Marketing,
and in books such as The Digital Consumer and Digital Virtual Consumption. She also presented her research
in top conferences in consumer research, such as Transformative Consumer Research, Association for Con-
sumer Research, and Consumer Culture Theory. Address: Emlyon Business School, 23 Avenue guy de
Collongue, 69131, Ecully, France. [email: vicdan@em-lyon.com]

Ebru Ulusoy is an assistant professor of marketing in College of Business Administration at the University of
Maine, Maine, US. Her research interests include experiential consumption and sustainable/responsible
consumption. Her research is published in Journal of Business Research, Consumption, Markets and Culture,
Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, and Advances in Consumer Research. Address:
University of Maine, Maine Business School, Orono, ME 04473, USA. [email: ebru.ulusoy@maine.edu]

Emre Ulusoy is an assistant professor of marketing at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. He
is primarily interested in the social, cultural, philosophical, and critical issues as they relate to the phenomena
of consumption, marketing, and markets. Of these, primary research projects cover studies of subcultures,
music consumption, consumer resistance, market co-optation, fragmentation, identity politics, social move-
ments, ethical consumption, sustainability, alternative food consumption, veganism, and the like. His articles
have been published in journals such as Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Business
Research, and Advances in Consumer Research. Address: Williamson College of Business, Youngstown
State University, Youngstown, OH, USA. [email: eulusoy@ysu.edu]

Downloaded from mtq.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on June 7, 2016

16 Marketing Theory

Soonkwan Hong is an assistant professor of marketing at Michigan Technological University. His research
focuses on sociocultural and ideological aspects of consumption, which should better facilitate our under-
standing of a variety of consumption practices, consumers’ lived experiences, and stylization of their lives.
Currently, he studies alternative sustainable lifestyles in multiple ecovillages in the United States and Europe
and conducts research on alternative food system to help transform the current system. His research interests
also extend to globalization of popular culture. He has published in international journals, such as Journal of
Business Research, Qualitative Market Research, and Arts and the Market, and presented at prestigious
conferences. Address: School of Business and Economics, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Town-
send Drive, Houghton, MI 49931, USA. [email: shong2@mtu.edu]

Downloaded from mtq.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on June 7, 2016