| 1. |
- Björnwall, Amanda, et al.
(författare)
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Perceptions and experiences of eating alone among community-living retired Swedes : Loss, routine and independence
- 2023
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Ingår i: Appetite. - : Elsevier. - 0195-6663 .- 1095-8304. ; 186
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The practice of eating together, commensality, is often considered as something positive in later life, particularly regarding peoples' nutritional status and psychosocial well-being. Eating alone, in contrast, is treated as a risk factor, although literature indicates that it is not necessarily something negative. Still, analyses that specifically target older peoples' varied experiences and notions of eating alone are scarce. This study has explored perceptions and experiences of eating alone among older people in Sweden, a country considered highly individualistic, yet with relatively low levels of loneliness in the older population. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 community-living and retired Swedes, 70-90 years of age. A thematic analysis identified three themes: i) 'Eating alone as a manifestation of loss'; ii) 'Eating alone as an everyday routine'; and iii) 'Eating alone as independence and contentment'. General perceptions of eating alone were often related to the current living situation (e.g., cohabiting or single-living). One key finding was an identified tension between the idea of eating alone as something problematic among those living and eating with a partner and the practical experience of an uncomplicated routine among those living and eating alone. Eating together is discussed as a possible social need for many, but perhaps not for all. Some can feel content with eating alone or even enjoy it. Future studies should approach potential disadvantages of eating alone among older people as an open empirical question that is likely to depend on both the individual and the cultural context.
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| 2. |
- Bååth, Jonas, et al.
(författare)
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Social lens or inherently social phenomenon? : The study of food in Swedish sociology
- 2023
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Ingår i: Current Sociology. - : SAGE Publications. - 1461-7064 .- 0011-3921. ; 71:6, s. 945-963
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sociology’s tendency to branch into applied scientific disciplines is regularly debated. This debate focuses either on the organisation of sociology in academic institutions or on how the content of sociologically informed interdisciplinary research diverges from disciplinary sociology. This article bridges these debates in a study of the sociology of food in Sweden. The aim is to analyse how Swedish food sociology reflects the tension between disciplinary sociology and interdisciplinary research. The data comprise the doctoral dissertations and post-PhD career paths of Swedish sociologists whose dissertations are about food. The article finds that these dissertations treat food either as an inherently social phenomenon or as a social lens (i.e. a social phenomenon viewed as instrumental for analysing something else). Second, it is found that sociologists whose dissertations treated food as an inherently social phenomenon were more likely to pursue careers in food sociology but also to hold affiliations outside of sociology departments. The article concludes that the academic locus of Swedish food sociology is organised outside sociology departments but that its approaches are not necessarily any less sociological. Thus, the analysis questions the basis for arguments that interdisciplinary research represents a threat to the critical and analytical core of sociology.
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| 3. |
- Lövestam, Elin, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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Den smaklösa måltiden [The tasteless meal] : Två pågående projekt om att leva med bestående lukt- och smakförändringar efter covid-19-infektion [Two ongoing projects about living with persistent smell and taste alterations following COVID-19]
- 2023
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Ingår i: Tore Wretman symposiet. - Örebro : Örebro universitet. - 9789187789809 - 9789187789816 ; , s. 46-46
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Nedsatt förmåga att känna lukt och smak är ett karaktäristiskt symtom vid insjuknande av covid-19. I takt med pandemins framskridande har det visat sig att detta symtom kan kvarstå även efter tillfrisknande från infektionen. I vissa fall utvecklas luktförvrängningar, vilket förknippas med avsevärt nedsatt livskvalitet. Ett flertal studier har gjorts för att definiera och kartlägga de förändringar av lukt och smak som sker under och efter en covid-19-infektion, men färre har undersökt betydelsen av dessa för de drabbade personerna. Här presenteras två pågående projekt om lukt- och smakförändringar efter covid-19-infektion, med särskilt fokus på mat och måltider.Det ena projektet är en litteraturstudie av typen scoping review, om relationen mellan lukt- och smakförändringar efter covid-19-infektion och matintag och måltider. Två kandidatstudenter genomförde en systematisk litteratursökning i databaserna Scopus, PubMed och PsychInfo, med syfte att kartlägga den befintliga kunskapen på området. Resultatet innefattar fem kvalitativa och fyra kvantitativa artiklar.I det andra projektet, en kvalitativ intervjustudie som delvis bygger på kunskapsluckor identifierade i litteraturstudien, undersöks betydelsen av bestående lukt- och smakförändringar för personer som rekryterats via Karolinska Universitetssjukhusets lukt- och smakmottagning. Fokus ligger på deltagarnas vardagsliv, sociala aspekter och livskvalitet, med maten ochmåltiderna i fokus.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Neuman, Nicklas, et al.
(författare)
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Beyond Conviviality: Facets of eating together
- 2023
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Ingår i: Eating Together in the Twenty-first Century : Social Challenges, Community Values, Individual Wellbeing - Social Challenges, Community Values, Individual Wellbeing. - 9781003373896 - 9781032447698 ; , s. 180-190
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The stability of the human tendency to eat in groups is remarkable. We find it to be valued and mostly desirable across geographical locations, cultures, and historical time periods. Yet, there is a great deal of variety in how the practice is expressed, how individuals experience it, and how the sharing of meals is understood culturally. This chapter focuses on three facets of eating together that deserve more attention in the literature: the biology of eating together; the differentiation and cohesion of eating together; and the performativity of eating together. It ends with a postulation about carefulness with normative claims about meals in company or in solitude.
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| 6. |
- Neuman, Nicklas, 1987-, et al.
(författare)
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Food-related experiences and behavioral responses among people affected by chemosensory dysfunctions following COVID-19 : A scoping review
- 2023
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Ingår i: Research in Nursing & Health. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0160-6891 .- 1098-240X. ; 46:4, s. 385-399
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A category of symptoms that became characteristic early in the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was chemosensory dysfunctions (alterations ofsmell and taste). Such symptoms substantially affect food and eating – cornerstones for both nutrition-related health outcomes and for quality of life. Based on this, this scoping review aimed to map out existing scientific literature on food-related experiences and related behavioral responses among people affected by chemosensory dysfunctions following COVID-19. A librarian-supported search of PsycInfo, PubMed, and Scopus for publications written in English (2020 to April 26, 2022) was conducted. Two authors searched for and screened publications and three others extracted and collated data. These are reported following the Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. Of 1169 hits, 9 publications were included in the review. The results are thematized as “Psychological and social aspects” and “Nutritional aspects,” each with the subsections “Experiences” and “Behavioral responses.” A great variety of food-related problems, nutritional and mental health effects, and implications for social life are identified. People affected by chemosensory dysfunctions following COVID-19 suffer, as evident both in stories from qualitative studies and in measurements of quality of life. The results impact all professions who are and may come to be involved in treating these patients, such as nurses, physicians, dietitians, and psychologists. With more knowledge about the dysfunctions’ manifestation, duration, and impact on everyday life, multiprofessional teams need to collaborate in supporting patients medically, psychosocially, and nutritionally.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Neuman, Nicklas, 1987-, et al.
(författare)
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Sensing sociality : Food in the life of patients with persisting chemosensory dysfunctions after COVID-19
- 2023
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- As human beings, we move through life with our senses. Hearing, seeing, feeling, smelling, and tasting are all central to how social life is organized. A disruption in one or several of these senses will therefore disrupt sociality. An example of such a disruption that has affected many people in the recent years is smell and taste alterations – chemosensory dysfunctions – caused by COVID-19.We have interviewed 30 patients (25 women and 5 men) from a clinic specialized in chemosensory dysfunctions that opened up during the pandemic. All participants developed their problems after having COVID-19, but the intensity and type of symptoms differed profoundly – from minor inconveniences with decreased sensory perceptions, to devastating disabilities from severe taste and smell distortions. Interviews were focused on the participants’ encounters with healthcare, the trajectory of their symptoms at the onset until the time of the interview, everyday (mainly food-related) practices, experiences, and strategies, as well as their thoughts about the future.This particular analysis focuses on social relations, especially concerning food and meals. Among other things, the participants spoke about the realization that “food is everywhere” in social interaction, the ways that social relations were managed when food was or could be involved (e.g. avoiding restaurants, not eating with colleagues, eating prior to a shared dinner out of worry that the food there would be inedible, eating despite not enjoying it, etc.), and relying on social support from people with awareness of their situation. The findings are discussed in relation to sociological questions about commensality and the everyday life of living with a chronic illness.
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| 9. |
- Neuman, Nicklas, 1987-
(författare)
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Studying Meals Beyond the Nature/Culture Dichotomy; or, Why Commensality Cannot Be Reduced to “Veneer Theory” Analysis
- 2023
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Ingår i: Tore Wretman symposiet. - Örebro : Örebro universitet. - 9789187789809 - 9789187789816 ; , s. 40-41
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This presentation introduces ideas that have been growing for about five years, finally leading to a submitted manuscript during the summer of 2022. The paper is an in-depth analysis of the social biology of why humans seem to have a more or less universal appeal to eat in groups. I call this “commensal attraction”, drawing on the sociological concept of commensality: the practice of eating together (Jönsson, Michaud, and Neuman 2021).The basics of the paper will be outlined, followed by an argument about what Frans de Waal famously called “veneer theory” in his discussion about human morality (de Waal, 2006). In short, veneer theory refers to a theoretical analysis that reduces human behaviors, preferences, values and so forth to no more than a sociocultural furnace with no foundation (at least not explicitly) in human evolution. For de Waal, the criticism was directed at moral philosophy that, to him, overlooked how the human capacity for moral judgment is a product of evolution, not a just a veneer of an exclusively human capacity for reason that allows us to depart from our “bad nature”.My argument is that the same holds for how we approach meals. If I am correct in thinking that commensal attraction is due, in part, to how shared meals manifest evolved human traits such as social learning, cooperation, ritualized behavior, and symbolic thinking, then veneer theory analyses are clearly insufficient. Eating in groups and generously sharing food is not a cultural taming of naturally egoistic urges to grab it for yourself and run. Both are equally natural and cultural aspects of what it is to be human.Referencesde Waal, Frans. 2006. Morally evolved: primate social instincts, human morality, and the riseand fall of “veneer theory”." In Primates and philosophers: how morality evolved.Stephen Macedo and Josiah Ober, eds. Pp. 1-58. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UniversityPress.Jönsson, Håkan, Maxime Michaud, and Nicklas Neuman. 2021. What is commensality?: acritical discussion of an expanding research field. International Journal ofEnvironmental Research and Public Health 18 (12):6235.
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