Food Choices and Sustainability of Wellbeing: Consumer Attitudes towards Organic, Ethical and Typical Food in Italy

This paper analyzes the contribution that consumption models can offer towards the sustainability of wellbeing. In this regard this work explores the role of food consumption patterns in the pursuit of sustainable wellbeing, offering an overview of the theoretical concepts of responsible and sustainable consumption, and presenting the results of an empirical analysis aimed at assessing the degree of responsibility in consumers’ food choices analyzing their attitude towards three specific types of products: Organic, Fair Trade and Typical products and verifying the existence of different market segments. In order to implement the survey a questionnaire was conducted on a sample of 400 Italian consumers using face to face interviews; the data generated in this way were submitted to a descriptive analysis and cluster analysis. The final part of the paper offers a discussion of the main findings from the survey in order to identify some possible guidelines useful for planning public program of information and education to promote more sustainable food choices and also valuable for producers in the formulation of their marketing strategies.