Cooking for what? Preparing food for self representation

Food preparation has become a massive phenomenon that grew up on a huge and increasing variety of media and channels. With different levels of specialization and skills, individuals show an increasing commitment in food preparation and related discourses. In this setting we see three different dimensions that overlap and integrate: production, consumption, and self-representation. As such, food preparation and its multiple, related practices enables a theoretical assessment of consumption theories that developed from the original “buy and own” approaches toward more recent contributions (e.g. presumption, sharing, etc.), according to which the consumer is responsible for creating and communicating value out of consumption resources and activities. We will discuss some of the recent theoretical developments which gave consumers a more active role in the market process and employ the food preparation setting to demonstrate how these developments can be recognized and attached to empirical evidence.