Food sufficiency, an approach rooted in the ethics of Epicurus: Analysis framework and research agenda

Valérie Nicolas-Hémar has recently published an article written jointly with Liselotte Hedegaard in Recherche et Applications en Marketing: « La sobriété alimentaire, une démarche ancrée dans l’éthique d’Epicure : Cadre d’analyse et agenda de recherche » / « Food sufficiency, an approach rooted in the ethics of Epicurus: Analysis framework and research agenda.»

Abstract:
Against a backdrop of ecological crisis, our consumption patterns need to be transformed with a view to sustainability. By reducing the negative effects of our food on health and on the social and biospheric environment, food sufficiency is a key lever of this transformation. However, it raises the question of its compatibility with pleasure, a traditional pillar of ‘eating well’. At the crossroads of philosophy and marketing, this theoretical research draws on Epicurus’ ethics to answer this question. On the one hand, it highlights the Epicurean consumer value as the underpinning for an individual and collective ‘eating well’. On the other hand, it proposes an analysis framework for understanding how an approach to food sufficiency, focused on the satisfaction of essential needs, gives access to this value. Based on this framework, we propose a research agenda articulating research avenues and managerial implications.