A critical evaluation of the impact of religion on collectivist families’ meal social interaction behaviour in Sierra Leone

The symbolism of religionin the Sierra Leonean collectivist society is encouraged to promote increased interdependency and social bonding among families that share similar beliefsystem. This beliefis further accentuated and translated at the dinner table when interacting socially at mealtimes. The concept of religion is very topical in the everyday lives of Sierra Leonean consumers/families, which largely determines their food purchase and consumption behaviour. This study critically evaluates the impact religion has on families and how it affects the way they interact socially at mealtimes. As a consequence, the paper elaborates and highlights the degree of influence Islam and Christianity have on the meal social interaction behaviour of families in Sierra Leone, which is considered as one of the prime factors responsible for the increased drive forcollectivism. The authors evaluated the scope of the influence of religion on families‘ meal consumption behaviour and provided a comparative analysis of its influence on different gender groups