Sustainability of Well-being: Are We Really Choosing Fruit and Vegetables for Our Health?

ObjectivesThe French philosopher Brillat-Savarin with his sentence: “Tell me what you eat and I’ll tell you who you are”, has focused attention on nutrition from what should be a mere physiological necessity to an important social choice. The study intends to determine if indeed the choice of consumers in respect of fruit and vegetables depends by choices related to their welfare and / or health, or only by induction or passive choice.MethodologyFor this purpose, a survey carried out using as tools of analysis a structured questionnaire face to face with closed questions. The target group was represented by selected citizens of urban areas (so far away from the places of production of fruit and vegetables, where the concept of freshness and quality are known), from different social-demographic and cultural. In addition, an investigation on food choice into schools and market has been performed.ResultsThe study has highlighted the age and cultural background can influence food choices, not because of the affordability as the prospect of achieving a physical and / or psychological.Practical implicationsThe study will be useful to develop communication strategies aimed at encouraging the consumption of leafy vegetables and fruit in a conscious way for food education and sustainability of well-being as indicated in the Mediterranean Diet.Originality of the workSeveral studies have shown the relationship between food choices and environmental sustainability or the attention to quality. The following study sets the stage instead to push the subject to focus attention on the needs of their choices not hedonistic but on the criteria related to health as a conscious choice, functional, the sustainability of well-being