MOTIVATIONS OF EVERYDAY FOOD CHOICES:

AN APPLICATION OF THE FOOD CHOICE MAP

Uyen Phan | Kansas State University (Current: Univ. of Georgia)

Edgar Chambers IV | Kansas State University

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Understanding food choice…create new successful products

… change eating behaviors to more sustainable products

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… encourage people to eat foods that may be more healthful

than current options but not typical in their diet

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Approaches to Food Choice

• Interview and focus groups

• Survey questionnaires • Food Choice Questionnaire1

• The Eating Motivation Survey

(TEMS)2

• The food choice map3

• links data on dietary behaviors with

perceptions that respondents use to

explain of those behaviors

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Source: Sevenhuysen & Gross (2003)

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1Steptoe, Pollard, & Wardle, 1995 2 Renner, Sproesser, Strohbach, & Schupp, 2012 3 Sevenhuysen & Gross, 2003

Objective

• To explore and validate the driving factors underlying

people choices of different food groups in different eating

occasions using the Food Choice Map

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Materials and Method

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• About 700 pictures of foods and

beverages

• 100 consumers

• 90-min one-on-one interview

• Build the food choice map for a

usual week

• Provide reasons for each food item

on the map

6 am

6 am

12 pm

6 pm

12 am

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Data Analysis

• Food items were grouped into food categories based on

an USDA food database.

• Reasons for choosing the foods were classified into 17

motivation constructs1,2

• Correspondence Analysis (CA)

• Proportion tests using Pearson’s chi-squared test

statistics

• Analyses were performed in R 3.0.1 using FactoMineR

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1 Phan & Chambers, 2016a and 2016b 2 Renner, Sproesser, Strohbach, & Schupp, 2012

A Food Choice Map resulted from the study

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Breakfast

• Cereal – easy to prepare | tastes good| used to

• Coffee – wake up

Mid-morning snack

• Iced coffee| chai tea – hungry | tired | need

caffeine| like the taste

• Water – healthy | no calories

Lunch

• Fruit & salads – easy to prep | healthy

• Chips, tacos, pizzas, Mac n cheese – treats |

pleasure

Mid-afternoon snack

• Apple – convenient | low cost

• Nuts, pretzels - like

Dinner

• Pasta – convenient | like

• Fries, burger, fried foods – hungry | cheap |

easy to eat

After dinner

• Chocolate, ice cream – treats

• Fried foods – hungry | taste good | friends’

choices

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Different Dietary Patterns

Moderate | Healthful Routine | Healthful Variety | Pleasure

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Motivations associated with different eating occasions

Liking

Need &Hunger

Health

Convenience Habits Pleasure

Traditional Eating Sociability

Price

Weight Control

AffectRegulation

Social Norms

Social Image

Choice Limitation

Variety Seeking

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

BREAKFAST

DINNER

LATE-NIGHT SNACK

LUNCH

MID-MORNING SNACK

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

-0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4

Dim

2 (

28%

)

Dim 1 (58%)

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PM

AM PM

Meal

Snack

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Key findings

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• Liking was the strongest motivation of all food choices for

all eating occasions.

• Meals:

• Breakfast and lunch: Habits, Hunger, Convenience

• Dinner: Variety Seeking, Sociability

• Snacks were different from meals in motivations and

variety of food & beverage consumed.

• Day-time snacks: Weight Control, Health

• Late-night snacks: Pleasure, Visual Appeal

• Motivations changed from physical-oriented to mental-

oriented from day to night.

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Motivations associated with different food groups

Liking

Need &Hunger

Health

Convenience

Habits

Pleasure

Traditional Eating

Sociability

Price

Weight Control

Affect Regulation

Social Norms

Social Image

Choice Limitation

Variety Seeking

Alcohol

Baked

Beverages, other

Breakfast Cereals

Coffee

Dairy&Eggs

Fast Foods

Fish&shellfish

Fruits

Grains&Pasta

Legumes

Entrée&sides

Nuts&seeds

Meats

Poultry

Restaurant foods Sausages

Snacks

Soda

Soups&sauces

Sweets Tea

Veggies

Water

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5

Dim

2 (

27%

)

Dim 1 (31%)

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Key findings

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• Liking was the strongest motivation of all choices of foods.

• Main motivation constructs:

• Grains & pasta, soups & sauces, fish & shellfish, poultry, and

vegetables: Variety Seeking, Convenience, Price

• Nuts, seeds, legumes, breakfast cereals, dairy, eggs, tea: Health,

Need & Hunger

• Meats and fast foods: Traditional Eating

• Water : Weight Control

• Coffee: Habits

• Alcoholic beverages: Sociability

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Conclusions

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• Every food choice is the result of the interplay of various

motivations.

• Liking was the strongest motivation of all choices of foods

and eating occasions.

• Meals and snacks were different:

• Choices for meals: more complicated, incorporating more

motivations and a variety of food groups

• Choices for snacks: fewer motivations and fewer food groups

• Motivations for choosing foods changed from more

utilitarian to more symbolic from day time to night time.

• New perspective to investigate food choice

• incorporating both interview technique and a food map

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References

• Phan, U.T.X. & Chambers, E. IV. (2016a). Application of an eating

motivation survey to study eating occasions. Journal of Sensory

Studies, 31, 114-123.

• Phan, U.T.X. & Chambers, E. IV. (2016b). Motivations for choosing

various food groups based on individual foods. Appetite, 105, 204-

211.

• Renner, B., Sproesser, G. Strohbach, S. & Schupp, H.T. (2012). Why

we eat what we eat. The Eating Motivation Survey (TEMS). Appetite

59, 117-128.

• Sevenhuysen, G. P. & Gross, U. (2003). Documenting the reasons

people have for choosing their food. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical

Nutrition 12 (1), 30-37.

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Thank you for your attention!

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