ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the example of food consumption to illustrate the way in which a cultural perspective can help inform these decisions. It introduces some key concepts such as cosmopolitanism, sacrifice, and prestige, as well as some key cultural considerations such as class, gender, age, and religion to help in analyzing the effect that marketing offerings are likely to have in different cultures. The chapter discusses a cultural, interpretive approach and uses food as a context in which to better appreciate how considerations of the global and the local should influence strategic and tactical international marketing management. Consumerism is all about indulgence, pursuing pleasure, and seeking out irresistibly good things. While there are other reasons for food consumption, food consumption is perhaps the distilled essence of consumer culture. The foods that are eaten or drunk and the way they are eaten or drunk are only part of the cultural differences important to understanding food consumption globally.
