"I Want Variety!": Dietary Variety As Aesthetic Pursuit, Social Signal, And Nutritional Vehicle In Brazil And Ethiopia

It has long been observed that people all over the world prefer to increase the variety of their diets whenever that option is available. We know very little, however, about why people might seek greater dietary variety. This basic question has implications for how we conceive of and measure food insecurity because food insecurity assessments usually include the measurement of access to dietary variety. In this paper, we use qualitative data from rural and peri-urban sites in Brazil and Ethiopia to explore several hypotheses about why people consistently seek variety in their diets. Our results tentatively suggest that people value dietary variety because it is aesthetically pleasing; because it facilitates social integration and serves as a status marker; and, to a lesser extent, because it is nutritious. Methodological innovations, future research priorities, and policy implications are discussed.