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Introduction
Food well-being (FWB) was introduced in Block et al. [1, p. 6], refers to “a positive psychological, physical, emotional, and social relationship with food at both individual and societal levels.” Block et al. [1] identified five FWB domains, including food socialization, literacy, marketing, availability, and policy. At the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 28), 159 countries signed the COP28 UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action. Food is critically related to several urgent challenges in contemporary society, including health and sustainability issues (e.g., climate change, food loss, and waste). COP 28 calls for a healthy and sustainable food system to promote human health and face climate challenges [1]. Many food well-being (FWB) domains (e.g., nutrition, health, food accessibility and affordability, reducing food loss and waste) are foundations for establishing a healthy and sustainable system [2, 3].
Previous studies have shown that FWB positively impacts consumers’ objective and subjective well-being and life satisfaction [4, 5]. Other studies focus on interactions between FWB and consumers’ food consumption behaviors, such as calorie intake, consumption volume [6], and purchasing intentions [7]. Many researchers note that consumer FWB is influenced by food-related factors (e.g., freshness, nutrients, diet, and naturalness) [8], contextual factors (e.g., eating context, food transportation, and acquisition), and individual factors [9]. In particular, some studies have shown that consumer FWB significantly depends on knowledge (regarding dietary, nutritional, and labeling systems), motivation [10], tendency to eat [11], and food-related quest for authenticity, achievement, pleasure, and sustainability [12].
However, the understanding of FWB is still limited for two main reasons. First, a systematic review [13] reveals a lack of consensual conceptual definitions and grounded measurement instruments (operational definitions) for FWB, which is a complex, multidimensional, and multidisciplinary phenomenon. The extent of the studies was based on related concepts such as “food pleasure,” “food healthiness,” or “food satisfaction” rather than Block et al.’s [1] FWB definition per se. Second, existing studies focus on only one or several FWB dimensions separately, such as food availability [10] and food socialization [14], rather than FWB as a whole, which makes it difficult to understand how each dimension relates to others.
Thus, this exploratory study aims to better understand the conceptualization of FWB, which clarifies the themes that...