Mental Foodscapes

In the following article, the author asks 480 Swedish respondents where they would go to eat well, and, to the same end, which places they would avoid. The results reveal a Swedish mental foodscape, a sort of imaginary geography of food which is shared by the respondents. The Mediterranean region together with Southeast Asia and Japan appear as favorite destinations for the respondents, while the United States stands out as a destination that Swedes would avoid if they wanted to eat well. Finally, the author argues that the way that the Swedish respondents make sense of food and place can be reduced to a small number of binary opposites, most importantly that between culture and nature.