Abstract
The choice of foods by free-living individuals is an area of concern for many people involved in the production and distribution of foods, but also for those concerned with nutrition and health education. Despite a great deal of knowledge gained on the impacts of diet on health and on specific diseases (Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy, 1994), relatively little is known about how and why people choose the foods that make up their diets or about how to influence their choices in an effective way. Given recommendations, for example, to reduce fat in the diet or increase the consumption of fruit and vegetables, it is then necessary to understand what determines people’s choices of foods and what obstacles there might be to such changes. Although official recommendations have been in place in the UK since the report by COMA in 1984 (Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy, 1984) for a reduction in the energy in the diet derived from fat there has been relatively little change (Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy, 1994).