RISK AND TRUST. FOOD-RELATED CONCERNS AND ‘GOOD’ FOOD PROCUREMENT STRATEGIES. FROM RESEARCH INTO EATING PRACTICES IN POLAND

The article discusses how risk and trust – interpreted as social phenomena characteristic of the late modernity era – are reflected in the concerns related to everyday food choices of residents of Poland. It postulates a link between the perception of food-related threats and the meanings associated with different food procurement practices, and the specifics of a local value system and its historical determinants. Based on the analysis of responses from 70 interviewees speaking about food-related concerns, it outlines diverse strategies for verifying food choices and the types of trust that are granted to various social actors who take part in the production and distribution of food. Since the strategies and forms of trust are largely associated with social and cultural assets of consumers, the article also brings into focus their stratifying aspect, as well as levels of overall trust in people, institutions and abstract systems.