The breakfast of Italian families: an inside view

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA DELLA COMUNICAZIONE
Author/s Ariela Mortara, Vittoria Sinisi
Publishing Year 2017 Issue 2016/52 Language Italian
Pages 19 P. 84-102 File size 237 KB
DOI 10.3280/SC2016-052007
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The role of breakfast has gained strong momentum in the media system thereby fostering the mantra "breakfast is the most important meal of the day". The paper presents the results of a qualitative research targeted at gaining real insights concerning the breakfast practices of Italian families. Researches have applied an innovative research tool, namely the mobile video ethnography. The 16 involved Italian families - each with children between six and sixteen years of age, coming from the North and the South of Italy and with different education level - have recorded their breakfasts using a smartphone. Moreover, they answered to three simple questions about what they usually eat, with whom they have breakfast and what feeling they have about it. Results confirm the expected notion of breakfast as a key moment in family life, but also a discrepancy between a verbal virtuous attitude toward healthy, organic, and homemade food and the actual widespread consumption of packaged goods. Eventually, the paper outlines different breakfast models, each representing a distinct emerging social trend.

Keywords: Mobile video ethnography, breakfast, consumption practices.

  1. Goody J. (1982), Cooking, Cuisine and Class. A Study in Comparative Sociology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  2. Appadurai A. (1981), Gastropolitics in Hindu South Asia, «American ethnologist», vol. 8, n. 3, pp. 494-511.
  3. Birch L.L. (1998), Development of food acceptance patterns in the first years of life, in «Proceedings of the Nutrition Society», vol. 57, n. 4, pp. 617-624.
  4. Bailey C.A. (1996), A guide to field research, Thousand Oaks, CA, Pine Forge.
  5. Bourdieu P. (1979), La distincion, Édition de Minuit, Paris; trad. it. (1983) La distinzione: critica sociale del gusto, il Mulino, Bologna.
  6. Carson T.A., Siega-Riz A.M., Popkin B.M. (1999), The importance of breakfast meal type to daily nutrient intake: Differences by age and ethnicity, «Cereal Foods World», vol. 44, n. 6, pp. 414-422.
  7. Crowne D.P., Marlowe D. (1960), A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology, «Journal of Consulting Psychology», vol. 24, n. 4, pp. 349-354.
  8. Douglas M. (1972), Deciphering a meal, «Dedalus», vol. 101, n. 1, pp. 61-91.
  9. Douglas M. (1984), Food in the Social Order: Studies of Food and Festivities in Three American Communities, Russel Sage Foundation, New York.
  10. Doxa-Aidepi (2015a), Prima colazione dolce o salata? Così la fanno gli italiani, -- in http://instoremag.it/featured/doxa-aidepi-prima-colazione-dolce-o-salata-cosi-la-fanno-gli-italiani/20150427.74563#sthash.FxGf2cZA.dpuf, 20 agosto 2016.
  11. Doxa-Aidepi (2015b), Quando nasce la colazione italiana? Un salto negli anni ’50, -- in http://iocominciobene.it/quando-nasce-la-colazione-italiana-un-salto-negli-anni-50/, 20 agosto 2016.
  12. Drewnowski A. (2009), Obesity, diets, and social inequalities, «Nutrition Reviews», vol. 67, suppl. 1, pp. S36-S39.
  13. Edensor T. (2003), M6 junction 19-16: Defamiliarising the mundane roadscape, «Space & Culture», vol. 6, n. 2, pp. 151-168.
  14. Gillman M.W., Rifas-Shiman S.L., Frazier A.L., Rockett H.R., Camargo Jr C.A., Field A.E., Berkey C.S, Colditz G.A. (2000), Family dinner and diet quality among older children and adolescents, «Archives of Family Medicine», vol. 9, n. 3, pp. 235-240.
  15. Giovannini M., Verduci E., Scaglioni S., Salvatici E., Bonza M., Riva E., Agostoni C. (2008), Breakfast: a good habit, not a repetitive custom, «Journal of International Medical Research», vol. 36, n. 4, pp. 613-624.
  16. Gobo G. (2001), Descrivere il mondo. Teoria e pratica del metodo etnografico in sociologia, Carocci, Roma.
  17. Gonizzi G. (a cura di) (2004), Barilla: centoventicinque anni di pubblicità e comunicazione, Silvana editoriale, Cinisello Balsamo.
  18. Harper L.V., Sanders K.M. (1975), The effect of adults’ eating on young children’s acceptance of unfamiliar food, «Journal of Experimental Child Psychology», vol. 20, n. 2, pp. 206-214.
  19. Istat (2014), Sanità e salute, -- in http://www.istat.it/it/files/2014/11/C04.pdf, 15 settembre 2016.
  20. Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2010), Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media, «Business Horizons», vol. 53, n. 1, pp. 59-68.
  21. Kearney M., Jearney JM., Dunne A., Gibney MJ. (2000), Sociodemographic determinants of perceived influences on food choice in a nationally representative sample of Irish adults, «Public Health Nutrition», vol. 3, n. 2, pp. 219-226.
  22. Kittler P.G., Sucher K.P. (2001), Food and Culture, Wadsworth, Stamford, CT.
  23. Keski-Rahkonen A., Kaprio J., Rissanen A., Virkkunen M., Rose R.J. (2003), Breakfast skipping and health-compromising behaviors in adolescents and adults, «European Journal of Clinical Nutrition», vol. 57, n. 7, pp. 842-853.
  24. Koivisto H.U. (1999), Factors influencing children's food choice, «Annals of Medicine», vol. 31, pp. 26-32.
  25. Lévi-Strauss C. (1958), Anthropologie structurale, Plon, Paris; trad. it. (1966) Antropologia strutturale, il Saggiatore Milano.
  26. Lévi-Strauss C. (1964), Mythologiques I. Le cru et le cuit, Plon, Paris; trad. it. (1966) Mitologica I. Il crudo e il cotto, il Saggiatore, Milano.
  27. Lévi-Strauss C. (1968), Mythologiques III. L’origine des manières de table, Plan, Paris; trad. it. (1971) Mitologica III. Le origini delle buone maniere a tavola, il Saggiatore, Milano.
  28. Lewis S., Pea R., Rosen J. (2010), Beyond participation to co-creation of meaning: mobile social media in generative learning communities, «Social Science Information», vol. 49, n. 3, pp. 351-369.
  29. Marconi P. (2014), Il primo pasto della giornata: la colazione per gli adulti italiani: uomini, donne, gestanti, anziani, 19/09/2014, -- in http://www.idoctors.it/articolo/il-primo-pasto-/422/8, 27 agosto 2016.
  30. MindSwarms Academy (2015), Learn how and when to use mobile video ethnography, in https://www.mindswarms.com/resources/mobile-video-ethnography-academy.
  31. Montanari M. (2010), Il riposo della polpetta ed altre storie intorno al cibo, I Robinson, Bari.
  32. Murphy J.M., Pagano M.E., Nachmani J., Sperling P., Kane S., Kleinman R.E. (1998), The relationship of school breakfast to psychosocial and academic functioning: cross-sectional and longitudinal observations in an inner-city school sample, «Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine», vol. 152, n. 9, pp. 899-907.
  33. Nielsen (2015), Nielsen Market Track, in www.nielsen.com, 20 agosto 2016.
  34. Ortega R.M., Requejo A.M., Lopez-Sobaler A.M., Quintas M.E., Andres P., Redondo M.R., Navia B., López-Bonilla Rivas T. (1997), Difference in the breakfast habits of overweight/obese and normal weight schoolchildren, in «International journal for vitamin and nutrition research. Internationale Zeitschrift fur Vitamin-und Ernahrungsforschung. Journal international de vitaminologie et de nutrition», vol. 68, n. 2, pp. 125-132.
  35. Paulhus D.L., Reid D.B. (1991), Enhancement and denial in socially desirable responding, «Journal of Personality and Social Psychology», vol. 60, n. 2, pp. 307-317.
  36. Pearson N., Biddle S.J., Gorely T. (2009), Family correlates of breakfast consumption among children and adolescents. A systematic review, «Appetite», vol. 52, n. 1, pp. 1-7.
  37. Petr C., Belk R., Decrop A. (2015), Videography in marketing research: mixing art and science, «Arts and the Market», vol. 5, n. 1, pp. 73-102.
  38. Prahalad C.K., Ramaswamy V. (2004), Co-creation experiences: The next practice in value creation, «Journal of Interactive Marketing», vol. 18, n. 3, pp. 5-14.
  39. Rampersaud G.C., Pereira M.A., Girard B.L., Adams J., Metzl J.D. (2005), Breakfast habits, nutritional status, body weight, and academic performance in children and adolescents, «Journal of the American Dietetic Association», vol. 105, n. 5, pp. 743-760.
  40. Scaglioni S., Salvioni M., Galimberti C. (2008), Influence of parental attitudes in the development of children eating behavior, «British Journal of Nutrition», vol. 99, suppl. 1, pp. 22–25.
  41. Savage J. S., Fisher J.O., Birch L.L. (2007), Parental Influence on Eating Behavior: Conception to Adolescence, «The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics», vol. 35, n. 1, pp. 22-34.
  42. Spinelli A., Baglio G., Cattaneo C., Fontana G., Lambert A. (2008), OKkio alla SALUTE: promozione della salute e crescita sana nei bambini della scuola primaria, «Annali Igiene», vol. 20, n. 4, pp. 337-44.
  43. Spinney J. (2011), A chance to catch a breath: Using mobile video ethnography in cycling research, «Mobilities», vol. 6, n. 2, pp. 161-182.
  44. Squadrati (2014), Video Etnografia. Testare prodotti e scovare insight all’interno del contesto di consumo, -- http://www.squadrati.com/ricerche-di-mercato/.
  45. Sullivan A. (2001), Cultural capital and educational attainment, «Sociology», vol. 35, n. 04, pp. 893-912.
  46. Summerbell C.D., Moody R.C., Shanks J., Stock M.J., Geissler C. (1996), Relationship between feeding pattern and body mass index in 220 free-living people in four age groups, «European Journal of Clinical Nutrition», vol. 50, n. 8, pp. 513-519.
  47. Toschke A.M., Küchenhoff H., Koletzko B., Kries R. (2005), Meal frequency and childhood obesity, «Obesity Research», vol. 13, n. 11, pp. 1932-1938.
  48. Vaisman N., Voet H., Akivis A., Vakil E. (1996), Effect of breakfast timing on the cognitive functions of elementary school students, «Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent medicine», vol. 150, n. 10, pp. 1089-1092.
  49. Warde A. (1996), Consumption, Food and Taste, Sage, London.
  50. Warde A. (2005), Consumption and theories of practice, «Journal of Consumer Culture», vol. 5, n. 2, pp. 131-153.
  51. WeAreSocial (2015), Digital, Social & Mobile 2015, -- in http://www.slideshare.net/wearesocialsg/digital-social-mobile-in-2015?ref=http://wearesocial.it/blog/2015/01/digital-social-mobile-2015-tutti-numeri-globali-italiani/, 20 novembre 2015.
  52. Zwass V. (2010), Co-creation: Toward a taxonomy and an integrated research perspective, «International Journal of Electronic Commerce», vol. 15, n. 1, pp. 11-48.

  • The Italian breakfast: Mulino Bianco and the advent of a family practice (1971-1995) Daniela Pirani, Benedetta Cappellini, Vicki Harman, in European Journal of Marketing /2018 pp.2478
    DOI: 10.1108/EJM-06-2018-0374

Ariela Mortara, Vittoria Sinisi, La prima colazione delle famiglie italiane: uno sguardo dall’interno in "SOCIOLOGIA DELLA COMUNICAZIONE " 52/2016, pp 84-102, DOI: 10.3280/SC2016-052007