Consumers torn between "cool food" and "taboo food," study notes

By Nina C. Zimmermann Oct 26, 2009, 3:08 GMT

Cologne, Germany - On her desk lay an apple next to a water glass, a tableau that said, 'Look, everyone, my lifestyle is healthy!' In the storeroom, though, out of sight of her co-workers, the woman had surreptitiously wolfed down some chips not long before. She had concealed her desire for unhealthy food to avoid uncomfortable questions.

This is one of many anecdotes collected by Rheingold, a Cologne-based market research institute, for a study on eating habits in Europe and the United States that it presented earlier this month in Cologne during Anuga, an international food and beverage trade show.

'Over the last few years, new fears, norms and taboos have formed in all areas of food and drinks, which are becoming increasingly significant in the marketing of the food and drink products,' Rheingold said.

The study noted a fundamental dichotomy between what is known as 'cool food' - food that is socially acceptable - and pleasurable 'taboo food,' whose consumption has become largely private.

The latter mostly includes products regarded as unhealthy, such as sweets, high-fat cheeses and sausage, fast food and soft drinks. They are either consumed with a guilty conscience or are given a veneer of healthiness and hence 'coolness.'

People unconsciously look for ways to turn taboo food into cool food, Rheingold said. Food producers have long recognized this. Many products that were exhibited at Anuga advertised their health benefits or wooed customers with labels like 'low-fat,' 'low-sugar' or 'cholesterol free.'

A Belgian producer, for example, called its vegetarian steaks and burgers 'fit food' rich in healthful omega-3 fatty acids.

Scientists from Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging (IVV) near Munich are also active in this field. In collaboration with a butcher, they have developed a low-calorie sausage that already can be found on the refrigerated shelves of a large supermarket chain.

The new sausage comes in several varieties and has a fat content of less than three per cent, compared with 20 to 25 per cent in a normal sausage. Its total calorie content is 60 to 80 per cent less 'without a loss of flavour or consistency,' the IVV said.

However, it is somewhat more expensive than its traditional counterpart because only lean meat is used and no rinds. The result is strikingly similar to the original in both appearance and taste. White speckles in the salami look like real fat but are actually made of rice.

Developments of this sort are in conformance with the conclusions of the Rheingold study, which said that 'nutritionally correct' foods were especially attractive when they discreetly appealed - as do the healthful sausage and vegetarian steak - to taboo eating habits.