Food Culture or Cultural Value: Exploring the Different Concepts in Greece and the United Kingdom

Food culture(s) can be regionally or nationally situated, often affected by food fashions, fads, investment in brands, and relational engagement with foods that can be sold worldwide. This research explores personal perspectives on the influence of alternative food networks (AFNs) and the businesses within them on the creation of food-associated cultural value and the ability to reconnect consumers with and through food. Semi-structured interviews (n = 19) were conducted between January and March 2022 in two locations, Fthiotida, Greece, and Gloucestershire, UK. These interviews explored, and grounded, the notion of food culture and the articulated meanings of food-related cultural value. Responses were thematically analyzed collectively and at intra-country and inter-country levels. Interviewees identified a strong national food culture in Greece in both daily interaction with food and on seasonal occasions. National food culture in the UK was neither perceived as strong nor readily identifiable beyond specific seasonal occasions. National food culture and perceived food-related cultural value at a personal level were more identifiable and overlapped more in Greece than the UK. Given the health challenges associated with contemporary UK food consumption practices compared with the Mediterranean diet, facilitating perceptions of food-related cultural value, not least through commensality, could improve diets, with AFNs supporting such initiatives.