The aim of this study is to explore the content of lay definitions of happiness containing food/drink and food-related terms. This research is part of CRO-WELL—the Croatian Longitudinal Study of Well-Being project—which was conducted via an online application consisting of a comprehensive battery of questionnaires related to well-being and life events. The current study uses only an open-ended question in which the respondents provide their own definition of happiness by answering the question “What is happiness for you?” Definitions containing food-related terms (N = 207) were selected for the purpose of this study. The central purpose of this research is to explore which meals/food/drink people include in these definitions, and under what circumstances. Some respondents mentioned specific types of food/drink, while others (33.3%) used generic terms such as “food,” “lunch,” or “meal.” The most frequently mentioned specific food or drink items were coffee (28%) and sweets (22.1%). Two main dimensions of values attributed to food emerged: hedonic (76.8%) -existential (18.3%) and individual (52.2%) -social (44%). The study offers an explanatory model suitable for classifying the main values of food expressed within people's subjective constructs of happiness.
Happy Treat: Food and Drink as Important Parts of Daily Life and Happiness
Ines Sučić, PhD, is Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar and Assistant Professor of Forensic Psychology at the University of Zagreb. Her research interests include risk, deviant and antisocial behavior, and offender supervision, in addition to well-being. She has worked in the areas of research methodology, questionnaire development, and statistical data analyses. Currently, she is a research team member of the EU Horizon 2020 PROMISE project, EU Horizon 2020 CHIEF project, and a national Croatian longitudinal study of well-being project financed by the Croatian Science Foundation.
Tihana Brkljačić, PhD, is Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar in Zagreb, Croatia, and Assistant Professor at Croatian Catholic University. She is also working as a part-time professor in electrical engineering and computing and Croatian studies at Zagreb University. Her main interests are in the field of communication and well-being. She has published over 30 scientific papers and presented her work at more than 20 international scientific conferences. Currently, she is a research team member of the national Croatian longitudinal study of well-being project financed by the Croatian Science Foundation.
Ljiljana Kaliterna Lipovčan, PhD, is a research advisor and Assistant Director of the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar. Her research interests include subjective indicators of quality of life, psychophysiology of work, and psychological consequences of aging. She has published over 90 research papers and book chapters and participated in more than 90 international and national conferences. She has led four international and 11 national projects and participated in several other projects. Currently she leads the national project “CRO-WELL Croatian longitudinal survey of well-being” funded by the Croatian Science Foundation.
Renata Glavak-Tkalić, PhD, is Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar. She is also Assistant Professor of Psychology of Addiction in the Department of Psychology at the University of Zagreb. Her research interests focus on the psychology of drug (ab)use and addiction, psychopathology, adolescent problems, interpersonal acceptance and rejection, and cross-cultural research. Currently, she is a research team member of the national Croatian longitudinal study of well-being project financed by the Croatian Science Foundation.
Lana Lučić, PhD student, is a junior researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar. She is enrolled in a doctoral psychology program at the University of Zagreb. Her main research interests are well-being, happiness, and play, especially in exploring well-being in families of children with difficulties. She is a research team member of the national Croatian longitudinal study of well-being project financed by the Croatian Science Foundation.
Ines Sučić, Tihana Brkljačić, Ljiljana Kaliterna Lipovčan, Renata Glavak-Tkalić, Lana Lučić; Happy Treat: Food and Drink as Important Parts of Daily Life and Happiness. Gastronomica 1 August 2019; 19 (3): 79–92. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2019.19.3.79
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