Evolution of the perception of food quality through the ages

Abstract

This analysis shows that food quality is a concept that has always been a concern among eaters, even when they had the anxiety of lack of food. In ancient times, quality was not limited to food safety, but had many other dimensions: hedonic, dietetic, practical, social, symbolic ... During the nineteenth century, the scientific advances and the industrial revolution have strongly improved certain components of food quality. Since the beginning of the 1980s, French consumers have expressed new qualitative expectations. They reflect the rise of food fears and the emergence of a new ethics of diet, which revolves around five key concepts: the body, the nature, the animal, the solidarity and the sincerity.