The course focuses on determinants of food choice. This is a relevant topic because food choice influences health and environment and vice versa. Although healthy eating is in fact quite simple, food choice is complex because dietary behaviours are influenced by many factors such as psychosocial factors, biological factors and factors in the physical environment. There is a need for a greater understanding of the determinants that affect food choice so the right determinants can be targeted when trying to improve food choice.

In this course we will discuss determinants associated with sensory aspects of food (taste), the physical environment (portion sizes and factors in home settings and school settings), social-cultural environment (culture and family) and sustainability. In addition, students will design and perform their own small-scale research project on determinants of food consumption.

Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course therefore, CEA's recommended credits are based on the ECTS credits assigned by VU Amsterdam. 1 ECTS equals 28 contact hours assigned by VU Amsterdam.