Motivations for choosing various food groups based on individual foods

Understanding “why people eat what they eat” is important for improving the lives of people around the world by helping provide industrial and social solutions for people to have greater pleasure and health from the foods they choose. The objective of this study was to investigate the motivations behind everyday choices of different food groups using a bottom-up approach that targeted the specific choices of foods and beverages people consumed at various times of a day. This study was conducted using an online survey included questions related to demographics, the most recent meal including specific food choices, and a slightly modified Eating Motivation Surveys (2 motivations were added, and Check-All-That-Apply procedure was used), which contained 50 sub-scales to measure 17 motivations including such topics as Liking, Pleasure, Convenience, Health, Price, Variety Seeking etc. A total of 198 participants have completed the surveys. Data were analyzed by Correspondence Analysis. Liking was found to be the strongest motivation that drove people to select all sorts of foods. Need and Hunger and Convenience were the main motivations for baked products, “fast” foods, sausages and meats, and snack foods while Health and Weight Control were found to be the main driving factors for vegetables, fruits & fruit juices, nuts, seeds, dairy & egg, and poultry products. Sweets were linked to Pleasure. For beverages, people were motivated most by Heath and Weight Control to choose water and tea. Coffee was used due to Habits; soda was because of Pleasure and alcoholic was for socialization purposes. This study provided developers, marketers, health educators, etc. With a new method to understand food choice in order to promote better eating.