The cultural taste of Gamalost fra Vik: Reflections about the meanings of a local cheese

Atle Wehn Hegnes; Virginie Amilien; Hanne Torjusen

The cultural taste of Gamalost fra Vik: Reflections about the meanings of a local cheese

In: Ethics and the politics of food

Authors:

Atle Wehn Hegnes

Atle Wehn Hegnes SIFO, National Institute for Consumer Research, Sandakerveien 24 C, Bygg B, Box 4682 Nydalen, 0405 Oslo, Norway, atle.hegnes@sifo.no

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Virginie Amilien

Virginie Amilien SIFO, National Institute for Consumer Research, Sandakerveien 24 C, Bygg B, Box 4682 Nydalen, 0405 Oslo, Norway, atle.hegnes@sifo.no

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, and

Hanne Torjusen

Hanne Torjusen SIFO, National Institute for Consumer Research, Sandakerveien 24 C, Bygg B, Box 4682 Nydalen, 0405 Oslo, Norway, atle.hegnes@sifo.no

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 280–284

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.3920/9789086865758_047

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This paper focus on Gamalost fra Vik - the old Norwegian cheese - as a natural, cultural, industrial, economic and political food product in Norway. After a contextual presentation of the case study describing the cheese in a field of tensions, we outline the way dimensions and paradoxes are embedded in the comprehensions related to this product. The paper is based on qualitative interviews with consumers, producers and marketing actors in 2005, as well as a public discourse analysis around Gamalost fra Vik. Our main research questions are: How do consumers experience Gamalost fra Vik? What are possible ethical implications of discrepancies between conceptions and presentations of the cheese by different actors? By exploring the distance between the actual product consumers purchase and eat, and the associations arising from eating it, our findings indicate that Gamalost fra Vik is understood in diverse ways by different consumers. Different consumers also tend to use different strategies in understanding and appropriating Gamalost. Whereas participants in the group with “enthusiasts” use active strategies to achieve their preferred taste and experience, such as physical modifications of the product and “mental techniques”, “ordinary” consumers have other expectations and typically apply a defensive strategy of not buying the product because of its reputation. After exploring and analyzing the meaning of Gamalost fra Vik, we end by questioning and problematising the ethical implications of discrepancies between presentations and conceptions.

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Ethics and the politics of food

Preprints of the 6th Congress of the European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics

E-Book ISBN:: 9789086865758

Publisher:: Wageningen Academic

Print Publication Date:: 10 Oct 2006

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- Life Sciences

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The cultural taste of Gamalost fra Vik: Reflections about the meanings of a local cheese

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Ethics and the politics of food

Preprints of the 6th Congress of the European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics

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