NEWS Doctoral student Hilde Weiser held her mid-seminar on 25 March 2025, where her ongoing doctoral thesis was presented and reviewed. In her thesis, Weiser intends to investigate young people's perceptions of sustainable eating in northern Sweden, and the meaning of sensory experiences. Hilde Weiser is a doctoral student at the Department of Food, Nutrition and Culinary Science, and the Arctic Graduate School at Umeå University.
Hilde Weiser has been working on her doctoral thesis since September 2022 and is now halfway through, which was acknowledged at this mid-seminar. The ongoing thesis was reviewed by Professor Carita Bengs and Lecturer Linda Berggren, both active at the Department of Food, Nutrition and Culinary Science at Umeå University, and Maria Nyberg, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor in Food and Meal Science at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Kristianstad University.
The seminar began with a presentation of the research project in English, followed by a review and discussion with the discussants in Swedish. During the presentation, Weiser explained that the project aims to investigate both perceptions of sustainable eating among adolescents in northern Sweden, and the significance of sensory food experiences for sustainable eating by focusing on young people's relationship with food, themselves, and each other. The project consists of four sub-studies, where the first sub-study is a scope review that examines how sensory food-related activities have been used in previous research, and the second sub-study investigates young people's perceptions and associations with sustainable eating through participants' self-written fictional stories about sustainable food experiences. Sub-studies 3 and 4 will examine the importance of playful sensory experiences through group activities, interviews, and observations.
In the long run, I hope that the thesis will contribute a broader perspective on sustainable eating and the meaning sensory experiences have, which can inspire young people in northern Sweden and elsewhere to new ways of eating.
So far, the first sub-study has been completed while the second sub-study is under analysis with only preliminary study results. The first sub-study shows, among other things, that two main types of sensory activities could be identified, namely those focusing on sensory education and on sensory food familiarization. The second sub-study preliminarily shows that young people tended to associate nature in their stories about sustainable eating. Furthermore, they tended to highlight locally produced food as better than plant-based food, where locally produced and locally grown were associated with something positive, while vegetarian was rather associated with something negative.
Some central terms of the research project were brought up to discussion, such as "sustainability," "playfulness," "young people," and "taste," as terms that may need to be defined more clearly in the ongoing thesis. Weiser explained that the direction of the work has changed over time and agreed that some definitions need to be reviewed and clarified. The importance of place (northern Sweden/Arctic) was also discussed, and Weiser explained that northern Sweden is a place with people whose voices are not always heard, especially the voices of young people.
The importance of highlighting young people's perspectives in the thesis was also discussed. Allowing the participants' opinions and experiences to become clearer in the thesis and letting them take a more central role as co-creators, can add more depth to the research. Weiser expressed that this was one of the fundamental ideas and was open to working further on this.
Weiser was also asked who she thinks might benefit from the future thesis. Weiser replied that it depends on the results, but there is an idea that it could be valuable for parents, as well as teachers and teacher students in home and consumer studies.
In the end, Weiser expresses that she is satisfied with the seminar:
“The seminar was valuable for the continous work of the research project. The discussions were relevant, and the discussants provided valuable input on how I can continue working. I have received good feedback on the formulation of the purpose, the use of terms, the importance of place, and how the participants can be clarified in the thesis. I also received confirmation that the work is on the right track, which feels good,” she says.
Weiser hopes that the thesis will be significant for research, teachers and teacher students in home and consumer studies, as well as others working with food and young people.
“In the long run, I also hope that the thesis will contribute a broader perspective on sustainable eating and the meaning sensory experiences have, which can inspire young people in northern Sweden, and elsewhere, to new ways of eating”.
