A tipology of prosumption practices in food preparation

Food preparation provides a promising empirical setting for studying the interaction between production, consumption and self-representation. In this working paper we review extant prosumption literature to identity how prosumption practices can be organized around relevant conceptual dimensions. This with the aim of developing an interpretive framework for the analysis of current practices in the representation of cooking actions. From a methodological standpoint, based on a contrapuntal reading of prosumption practices and their underlying oppositional representations in the literature, we identify two basic conceptual distinctions that help organize how the different forms of prosumption have been represented. These conceptual distinctions draw a matrix that classifies four predominant ways of prosuming, conservative, political, intermediary, and eudaimonic. We support this working matrix with preliminary evidence from a focused ethnographic field work.