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Introducing a culture turn in household food waste research: implications for theory, method, and policy

Main questions to be addressed in the workshop

1. What do we mean by culture when we seek its effect on household food waste behavior?

2. How do the effects of cultural factors on household food waste practices vary by country and social group?

3. How can we use local knowledge (e.g., of ethnic or religious communities) to rethink notions of environmentalism and sustainability?

4. In what ways does cultural context influence attitudes and feelings related to food waste?

5. Does cultural context influence the links between food waste determinants (such as attitudes and norms) and food waste behavior?

6. How does cultural context influence the impact of different interventions on food waste?

7. How can we link SDGs that look at environmental sustainability with those that concern economic and social sustainability through a higher sensitivity to the role that culture plays in everyday household practices?

The goals of the workshop

1. To consolidate a group of scholars who can form a network that will continue to study and share research about cultural correlates of household food waste practices.

2. To build on work in different areas (e.g., politics, ecology, psychology, sociology) and using different methods (e.g., surveys, interviews, intervention programs, cohort studies, interventions) to articulate a theoretical framework to study household food waste.

3. To promote a framework that links the disparate findings from research that has already looked into the effects of culture on household food waste into a coherent statement that policy makers can use and implement.

4. To prepare an outline and a timeline for possible continued cooperation in data collection, publications, and grant proposals.

5. To bring together senior and junior scholars working on food waste issues.