Attitudes Toward Food as an Indicator of Core Values: A Study of Subcultural Differences in Louisiana Rural Communities.

The study investigated the relationship of selected situational attitudes toward food to the subcultural variables of religious locality, race, and age of homemakers in 2 Louisiana communities. A systematic random sample of 362 homemakers from an Anglo-Saxon Protestant community and a French Catholic community was used. Communities were selected for being representative of a distinct subculture; a trade center for a surrounding farming area; and with a population between 4,000 and 8,000. Seventy-one statements related to attitudes about food, its selection, preparation, and service were developed to theoretically fall into the following indexes: propensity to change, convenience, frugality, concern for health, concern for social status, and sociability aspects. Religious locality, race, locality by race, age, age by race, education, and family income were used as independent variables. Some of the findings were: (1) homemakers in the Protestant community scored higher on the quality of product and concern for social status indexes; (2) women under 45 scored higher on the convenience index; and (3) increasing educational levels were positively associated with the concern for health, quality of product, and sociability indexes. (NQ)