Organic food and youth at a Norwegian music festival

Summary

We explore how organic food at a festival effect perceptions among youth, and how experiences from the festival context may be transmitted to everyday context. As part of an ongoing European project “innovative Public Organic food Procurement for Youth“ (http://ipopy.coreportal.org/) we have observed at the Øya music festival, interviewed organizers and conducted two focus groups with young people recruited at the festival in August 2008. Being at the festival was a positive experience and thus organic food became associated with something positive. The participants had the opportunity to taste a variety of organic foods and were exposed to information although not all had read it. The participants tended to view organic food as being different from conventional food, and there seemed to be an expectation that it would be better for themselves, animals or environment, or taste better. Price and availability were described as constraining factors. The participants felt that pizza had been the best deal, cheapest and most filling. Festival food was mainly linked to necessity and “fuelling the body”. This notion was also emphasized by mainly offering “finger food” and people eating standing up. There were mixed views on the transmission of organic food from the festival to everyday context. Organic food at festivals was described as a step in the right direction because young people go to festivals and pick up things that they may take with them. However, festivals were also described as separate worlds with limited influence on what people do at home.