The ethics of eating: how do lifestyle politics shape tourists' ethical food consumption behaviours?
Seyfi, Siamak; Orea-Giner, Alicia; Hall, Colin Michael; Zaman, Mustafeed (2025-06-19)
Emerald
19.06.2025
Seyfi, S., Orea-Giner, A., Hall, C.M. and Zaman, M. (2025), "The ethics of eating: how do lifestyle politics shape tourists’ ethical food consumption behaviours?", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 37 No. 13, pp. 103-122. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-10-2024-1537
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© 2025, Siamak Seyfi, Alicia Orea-Giner, Colin Michael Hall and Mustafeed Zaman. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
© 2025, Siamak Seyfi, Alicia Orea-Giner, Colin Michael Hall and Mustafeed Zaman. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-202506274998
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-202506274998
Tiivistelmä
Abstract
Purpose
Guided by the lifestyle politics theory, this study aims to examine how ethical food commitments are negotiated and reshaped within tourism experiences. It explores how travel settings affect political food consumerism by disrupting familiar routines, introducing new cultural and logistical constraints and leading individuals to adjust their food choices in ways that reflect ongoing ethical engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a constructivist ontology and interpretivist epistemology, the study uses a qualitative design based on semi-structured interviews with politically and ethically conscious consumers. The analysis, informed by the grounded theory, identifies key themes related to motivations, emotional dimensions and barriers in travel-related political and ethical food consumption.
Findings
Tourism disrupts the routines that political food consumerism usually relies on. In everyday life, ethical food choices are supported by habit, familiar products and like-minded social settings. But when people travel, they face new cultures and lose control over what food is available. From a lifestyle politics perspective, ethical choices are not fixed – they shift as situations change. In tourism, political food decisions often involve compromise, shaped by practical limits, cultural differences and being more visible. Tourism, therefore, functions as a space for ethical expression and as a context in which political food commitments are tested and redefined.
Practical implications
Understanding how ethical food commitments shift during travel can help providers better support value-driven consumption. This includes improving access to verified ethical food options, clearer sourcing information and recognising the cultural and emotional significance of food choices for ethically motivated travellers. By addressing the challenges faced in unfamiliar settings, industry actors can create more inclusive environments that align with expectations around ethical and sustainable consumption.
Originality/value
A lifestyle politics perspective is applied to political food consumerism in tourism, highlighting food as a highly moralised and contested area of consumption. It offers new insight into how ethical eating practices are shaped through travel and how these practices may contribute to sustainability transitions within tourism and hospitality.
Purpose
Guided by the lifestyle politics theory, this study aims to examine how ethical food commitments are negotiated and reshaped within tourism experiences. It explores how travel settings affect political food consumerism by disrupting familiar routines, introducing new cultural and logistical constraints and leading individuals to adjust their food choices in ways that reflect ongoing ethical engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a constructivist ontology and interpretivist epistemology, the study uses a qualitative design based on semi-structured interviews with politically and ethically conscious consumers. The analysis, informed by the grounded theory, identifies key themes related to motivations, emotional dimensions and barriers in travel-related political and ethical food consumption.
Findings
Tourism disrupts the routines that political food consumerism usually relies on. In everyday life, ethical food choices are supported by habit, familiar products and like-minded social settings. But when people travel, they face new cultures and lose control over what food is available. From a lifestyle politics perspective, ethical choices are not fixed – they shift as situations change. In tourism, political food decisions often involve compromise, shaped by practical limits, cultural differences and being more visible. Tourism, therefore, functions as a space for ethical expression and as a context in which political food commitments are tested and redefined.
Practical implications
Understanding how ethical food commitments shift during travel can help providers better support value-driven consumption. This includes improving access to verified ethical food options, clearer sourcing information and recognising the cultural and emotional significance of food choices for ethically motivated travellers. By addressing the challenges faced in unfamiliar settings, industry actors can create more inclusive environments that align with expectations around ethical and sustainable consumption.
Originality/value
A lifestyle politics perspective is applied to political food consumerism in tourism, highlighting food as a highly moralised and contested area of consumption. It offers new insight into how ethical eating practices are shaped through travel and how these practices may contribute to sustainability transitions within tourism and hospitality.
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