Attention: this text was originally published on July 19th, 2021 on Instituto Comida do Amanhã’s blog.You can access this article in Portuguese by clicking here.

The importance of good eating and digital eating behavior

After all, what is eating “correctly” and what does this have to do with the way we see technology?

According to the latest Household Budget Survey (HBS), carried out between 2017 and 2018, we have never eaten so badly. The study says that, in recent years, our nutritional quality has worsened, since, despite the consumption of fruits, vegetables, and minimally processed foods, ultra-processed foods have gained considerable space on the table. At the same time, we’ve never been more connected. According to the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel), in December 2020 we reached the unbelievable mark of 234 million mobile accesses, an impressive figure for a population of approximately 210 million inhabitants in the country.

These two facts, apparently isolated, can be interconnected to show how people can playa leading role in their own choices, despite the enormous influence of all the actors involved in the food system.

What is good eating?

It is provided for in the Brazilian Constitution, in article 6: “Education, health, food, work, housing, transportation, leisure, security, social security, protection of motherhood and childhood are social rights”. , assistance to the destitute”.

The history of Brazil with the food issue is old: in the 1940s, Josué de Castro already said in his book “Geografia da Fome” that Brazilian hunger can be considered endemic and pandemic, in addition to stating that “interests and prejudices of a moral order and political and economic nature of our so-called Western civilization have made hunger a forbidden topic, or at least not advisable to be addressed”.

The discussion can (and should) go much further, it would be possible to write a text-only on this topic. However, my focus here is on what could be one of the greatest reasons for Brazilian pride: the Food Guide for the Brazilian Population. Created by the Ministry of Health in 2006 (and completely revised in 2014), it is seen as a world reference because it takes into account that a diet is not just a matter of health, but also of sustainability, in addition to taking into account consideration of the cultural relationships developed by it. This can be seen in its first chapter, which talks about its principles:

• Food is more than nutrient intake: food is about nutrient intake, but also about the foods that contain and provide nutrients, how foods are combined and prepared, characteristics of the way of eating, and the cultural and social dimensions of food practices. All these aspects influence health and well-being;
• Food recommendations must be in tune with their time: recommendations made by Food Guides must take into account the scenario of food evolution and the population’s health conditions;
• Adequate and healthy food derives from the food system socially and environmentally: recommendations on food must take into account the impact of the forms of production and distribution of food on social justice and the integrity of the environment;
• Different types of knowledge generate knowledge for the formulation of Food Guides: given the various dimensions of food and the complex relationship between these dimensions and people’s health and well-being, the knowledge needed to develop recommendations on food is generated by different knowledge ;
• Food Guides expand autonomy in food choices: access to reliable information on characteristics and determinants of adequate and healthy food contributes to people, families, and communities expanding autonomy to make food choices and to demand compliance with the human right to food adequate and healthy;

Of course, the discussion can (and should!) go much deeper than that. Even so, we must not forget that, in the last two decades, our country has played a fundamental role in promoting not only healthy but also sustainable, inclusive, empowering, biodiverse, and culturally integrated food. And that this search involves production, commercialization, industry, government, and third sector, but also our power to choose what we want and can put on our plate. However, this power of individual choice suffers numerous external influences, such as the creation and implementation of public policies that guarantee access to food in the most different contexts — for example, school meals, small producers, urban agriculture, and hospital environment — and the digital environment, which is evolving at an accelerated pace, with its experiences of sponsored ads, apps, communities, and increasingly direct interactions.

The influence of digital media

If we compare the way communication-focused technology evolved in its first twenty years — that is, from the 1980s to the 2000s — it is possible to visualize a series of changes. In the last twenty years — from the beginning of the millennium to the present day — these changes have intensified in an accelerated way: if before the telephone was one of the few technologies aimed at facilitating communication, today we do not lack options: WhatsApp, Skype, Instagram, TikTok. Twitter and Kwai are just a few examples of how we’ve purposefully made distances shrink considerably.

And this change has a direct impact on the way food is viewed. If before we were limited to ordering a pizza, today the possibilities are huge. There are countless apps dedicated exclusively to delivery. It is the social network dedicated to photos (where the #FoodPorn movement was even started); are the restaurants that have the decoration purposely made to attract attention; are the actions carried out in reality shows to promote the fast food brand; These are documentaries on streaming services; is the weekly podcast that approaches the topic with a critical view.

This entire panorama, still very recent, can be defined as a digital foodscape. According to the authors, they are geographical spaces, but they make us feel confused about the separation of our online and offline lives. They are also material spaces since we are in constant contact with servers, screens, and platforms that provide digital content related to food. Furthermore, they can also be considered semiotic spaces, since we are constantly exposed to images, texts, meanings, policies, and, ultimately, symbols that are placed in the digital space.

It’s an infinity of possibilities. And everything gets more interesting when you realize that we are no longer just consumers: we can also become producers. This phenomenon was still thought of in 1980, in the book “The Third Wave”, by Alvin Toffler, when he called people prosumers, a combination of producer + consumer. We consume content about food, but we can also produce this type of content. This ends up bringing a series of implications, such as the propagation of fake news, the production of shallow content, and the polarization of world views, but it also makes it possible to search for serious sources of information, to carry out collaborations around the same theme. and the definition of a firm positioning in the digital environment.

This phenomenon explains, for example, the rise of digital influencers and, more recently, brand “ambassadors”. Ambassadors because, more than simply influencing the process of purchasing a product, the ambassador carries the mission, vision, and values ​​of the companies that sponsor them inside and outside this digital environment.

Gilberto Nogueira, a well-known participant in the last edition of the reality show Big Brother Brasil, became known as “Gil do Vigor” during the period he was confined. Ranking fourth in the competition, as soon as he left the program, he signed a contract with the yogurt brand, becoming its “ambassador”, in addition to changing his name on social media to “Gil da Vigor”.

What can be done?

The Brazilian digital food landscape, in recent years, is undergoing profound changes. Within the context of public power, changes such as the extinction of the National Council for Food and Nutrition Security (CONSEA) and recent attempts to change the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) and the Food Guide for the Brazilian Population are very evident examples. , since there is a great repercussions in the digital environment. In the private sector, on the other hand, there is an increasing appeal for ultra-processed food, since these are the companies that hold the financial capital so that their message reaches the population massively, either through paid ads or sponsored content with digital influencers and ambassadors.

Faced with this scenario, we can often feel bewildered about how to behave about everything that is happening. It is at this moment that we must remember our central role as inhabitants of the digital world: we can choose. Although influenced from all sides and at every moment, it is possible to choose between remaining inert in the face of so many events or having an energetic position in the face of facts; being sad or upset about the changes that have occurred, or embracing the impermanence of things; freeze or take action.

Only depends on you. Let’s go together?

Sources:

First Results Family Budget Survey, 2017. Available at: https://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/visualizacao/livros/liv101670.pdf

TELECOMMUNICATION SECTOR FOLLOW-UP REPORT, Anatel, 2020. Available at: https://bit.ly/36LIUie

Food Guide for the Brazilian Population, Ministry of Health. Available at: https://bvsms.saude.gov.br/bvs/publicacoes/guia_alimentar_populacao_brasileira_2ed.pdf

GOODMAN, Michael K. ; JAWORSKA, Sylvia, Mapping digital foodscapes: Digital food influencers and the grammars of good food, Geoforum, v. 117, p. 183–193, 2020. Available at: https://bit.ly/3rirkvy