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This chapter analyzes consumers’ social representations associated with food waste and their influence on their behavior. A series of semi-structured face-to-face interviews was conducted with 22 individuals, who were heterogeneous in terms of age (21–64, mean age 42), gender, SPC, geographical location, and family situation. The second set of data collection involved administering a questionnaire to 76 consumers aged between 19 and 37 in France. They were asked to give four synonyms on the basis of key words (waste and food waste) and to classify 20 terms presented to them from the most to the least significant as regards the theme of food waste. The results show that food waste depends on the individual’s emotional and gustatory, health-related, economic and/or symbolic, and moral representations. The central core of social representations is around the nature/culture of food. Managerial action should focus on the revalorization of foods and to restoring meaning to the eating/food relationship, orienting consumers toward the hedonic, ethical and symbolic values of food products, and experiences.

“Social eating initiatives” are framed as a specific type of community-based food service that provides opportunities for people to eat together in local spaces using surplus food. These initiatives provide a meal that is fresh, affordable and more environmentally friendly than fast or convenience foods. In this research, we build upon the food well-being model to explore how food consumption is experienced in these community settings and the role of social eating projects in shaping the different dimensions of people's foodscapes. We adopted a community-based participatory approach and engaged in a series of dialogues with staff volunteers and coordinators at four “social eating initiatives”. We also conducted 45 interviews with service users and volunteers at three sites in the Midlands region.

The role of community-based food initiatives responding to hunger by utilising surplus food to feed local populations is often conceptualised critically. However, closer attention to the experiences of staff, volunteers and customers at these spaces, reveals them as sites where knowledge and experience of food is being developed with this contributing to a sense of well-being beyond nutrition. Shared food practices and eating together contribute to social capital and are important dimensions of food well-being that are significantly restricted by food insecurity. The “food well-being” model envisages a shift in focus from health, defined as the absence of illness, towards well-being as a positive relationship with food at the individual and societal level. In the concluding remarks of this article, it is suggested that this holistic conception is required to understand the role and function of social eating initiatives.