Abstract:

Eating is a complicated act because it concerns a fundamental preoccupation of survival. Once incorporated, the food crosses the border of «the self " to become the eater himself. The intimacy created by this ingestion makes eating a very symbolic act and a simple analysis of marketing models of consumers’ behavior is not sufficient to explain it. Because of the complexity of the food decision, this article adopts a multidisciplinary approach. The contributions of the cognitive psychology, the sociology and the marketing are examined.