The political ideology of food

Using data from a survey of over 700 Americans, we sought to measure and investigate the nature of citizen's political ideologies in relation to food. Results reveal that a majority of respondents can be classified as food statists, desiring more government action in the realm food and agricultural relative to the status quo. People's ideologies with regard to food were multidimensional, falling along lines related to food health and quality, food safety, and farm subsidies. Respondents were most in favor of additional government action related to food safety. Food ideology was related to conventional measures of political ideology with, for example, more liberal respondents desiring more government involvement in food than more conservative respondents, but the relationship was far from determinative, suggesting food ideology represents a unique construct in its own right. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.