Social strategies when going against food normativity

The aim of this study has been to contribute to the knowledge about food and eating as a social phenomenon, by examining how individuals who diverge from the food norm construct their social reality. This qualitative study were carried out in Umeå 2017. Individuals who identified as vegans and ate an strict vegan diet were interviewed on the base of a semi structured interview guide. Since the theoretical framework on which the study lies is Kathy Charmaz´s social constructionism, the object of the study is not the vegans themself, but the social situations where they encounter food normativity. The results showed that three different processes were in motion when the deviants navigated through the landscape of food normativity; att konfrontera eller inte konfrontera (to confront or not to confront), tidens inverkan på mängden upplevda konflikter (effect of time on the degree of experienced conflicts) and normföljarnas känslor och dess konsekvenser för normavvikarna (the normfollowers feelings and their consequenses for the deviants). The study showed that the effects of social food norms hade a great impact on the deviants social reality