Enacting freshness in the UK and Portuguese agri-food sectors (invited resubmission)

像“新鲜”和“天然”这样的术语是当代食品行业的关键词，以几乎一致的积极方式部署在营销和相关商业环境中。然而，在现代农业食品系统的背景下，将新鲜和天然联系起来是矛盾的，因为“新鲜”的销售往往取决于一系列技术创新（如制冷和长途运输），但“自然”。这个项目的重点是商业，在两个截然不同的国家背景下，“新鲜度”作为食品生产和消费的中心问题的环境和社会意义（英国和葡萄牙）和三个不同的商品部门（鱼，家禽，水果和蔬菜）。它考察了支撑“新鲜”食品生产、流通和消费的复杂的社会和技术安排。该项目汇集了三个欧洲领先研究小组的成员，将调查英国食品供应链（调查证据表明，消费者对质量和新鲜度的担忧接近欧盟平均水平）和葡萄牙（这些担忧远高于欧洲平均水平）的“新鲜度”如何制定。这两个国家最近都有“食品恐慌”的历史，削弱了消费者对食品的信心和信任，但在其他烹饪实践领域（包括葡萄牙与所谓的“地中海饮食”的联系）形成了鲜明对比。虽然这两个国家都在宣传食用新鲜水果和蔬菜的健康益处，但葡萄牙的鱼类平均消费量是英国的三倍。与此同时，我们对鸡肉的关注将使我们能够比较每个国家与冷藏和冷冻食品相关的“新鲜度”要求，特别是在其感知的便利性，健康性和可持续性方面。该项目与一系列商业伙伴密切合作，重点关注食品（包括材料）的收获后加工，零售和消费（技术、设备和基础设施）和能力（技能、感官、隐性知识），不同的参与者用来评估和分类食品是否“新鲜”。在消费者中，我们将研究新鲜度在食品购买，储存，烹饪，食用和处置实践中的制定;新鲜度的含义如何与食品的其他质量（如味道，价格或来源）相结合和/或权衡;以及如何通过不同形式的知识来理解它们。我们的方法包括档案和文献研究，与食品零售商和供应商的访谈和观察工作，与消费者的家庭观察和视频民族志以及一系列实验性的“品尝活动”。我们的研究结果将与食品研究人员，食品企业，政府官员以及与食品相关的慈善机构和非政府组织有关。

Terms like 'fresh' and 'natural' are key words in the contemporary food industry, deployed in marketing and related commercial contexts in an almost uniformly positive way. Linking fresh and natural in the context of modern agri-food systems is, however, paradoxical as what is sold as 'fresh' frequently depends on a series of technological innovations (such as refrigeration and long-distance transportation) that are anything but 'natural'.This project focuses on the commercial, environmental and social significance of 'freshness' as a central issue in the production and consumption of food in two contrasting national contexts (the UK and Portugal) and in three different commodity sectors (fish, poultry, and fruit and vegetables). It examines the complex social and technological arrangements that underpin the production, circulation and consumption of 'fresh' food. Bringing together the members of three leading European research groups, the project will investigate how 'freshness' is enacted across the UK food supply chain (where survey evidence suggests that consumer concerns about quality and freshness are close to the EU average) and in Portugal (where such concerns are well above the European average). Both countries have had a recent history of 'food scares', undermining consumer confidence and trust in food, but contrast in other areas of culinary practice (including Portugal's association with a so-called 'Mediterranean diet'). While the health benefits of consuming fresh fruit and vegetables are promoted in both countries, the average consumption of fish is three times higher in Portugal than in the UK. Meanwhile, our focus on chicken will allow us to compare the 'freshness' claims associated with chilled and frozen foods in each country, particularly in terms of their perceived convenience, healthiness and sustainability.Working closely with a range of commercial partners, the project focuses on the post-harvest processing, retailing and consumption of food including the materials (technologies, devices and infrastructures) and competencies (skills, senses, tacit knowledge) that different actors use to assess and categorise food as 'fresh'. Among consumers, we will examine the enactment of freshness in practices of food shopping, storage, cooking, eating and disposal; how meanings of freshness are combined and/or traded-off with other qualities of food (such as taste, price or provenance); and how they are understood through different forms of knowledge. Our methods include archival and documentary research, interviews and observational work with food retailers and suppliers, household observation and video ethnography with consumers and a series of experimental 'tasting events'. Our findings will be relevant to food studies researchers, food businesses, government officials, and food-related charities and NGOs.