Toward sustainable attunement? Sensory and embodied experiences of vegans in Iceland
Viðarsdóttir, Auður ; Hafstein, Valdimar Tr. and Jönsson, Håkan LU
(2026)
In Food and Foodways
34(3).
p.208-228
- Abstract
This article deals with the embodied and sensory experiences of individuals in Iceland who have become vegan in recent years. Grounded in ethnology and theoretically informed by embodied and relational approaches to eating, the study employs the concept of attunement to analyze empirical material from in-depth interviews with eighteen vegans aged 21–63 years old, as well as thirty-five written responses from another group of vegans to an online qualitative questionnaire. The results show how adopting a vegan diet can lead to altered sensory relations to one’s own body and other bodies, along with sensorial reinterpretations of what is edible and what is not. Increased awareness and a sense of reconnection—or enhanced attunement with the... (More)
This article deals with the embodied and sensory experiences of individuals in Iceland who have become vegan in recent years. Grounded in ethnology and theoretically informed by embodied and relational approaches to eating, the study employs the concept of attunement to analyze empirical material from in-depth interviews with eighteen vegans aged 21–63 years old, as well as thirty-five written responses from another group of vegans to an online qualitative questionnaire. The results show how adopting a vegan diet can lead to altered sensory relations to one’s own body and other bodies, along with sensorial reinterpretations of what is edible and what is not. Increased awareness and a sense of reconnection—or enhanced attunement with the non-human world—can follow as well, regardless of the initial motivation for the new diet. The article thus highlights the transformative potential of eating as a simultaneously cultural and physiological act. In doing so, it develops the concept of sustainable attunement and demonstrates how this form of attunement observed among the vegans in the study can serve as a useful lens for understanding and advancing research on sustainable dietary transitions, particularly their long-term maintenance.
(Less)- Abstract (Swedish)
- This article deals with the embodied and sensory experiences of individuals in Iceland who have become vegan in recent years. Grounded in ethnology and theoretically informed by embodied and relational approaches to eating, the study employs the concept of attunement to analyze empirical material from in-depth interviews with eighteen vegans aged 21–63 years old, as well as thirty-five written responses from another group of vegans to an online qualitative questionnaire. The results show how adopting a vegan diet can lead to altered sensory relations to one’s own body and other bodies, along with sensorial reinterpretations of what is edible and what is not. Increased awareness and a sense of reconnection—or enhanced attunement with the... (More)
- This article deals with the embodied and sensory experiences of individuals in Iceland who have become vegan in recent years. Grounded in ethnology and theoretically informed by embodied and relational approaches to eating, the study employs the concept of attunement to analyze empirical material from in-depth interviews with eighteen vegans aged 21–63 years old, as well as thirty-five written responses from another group of vegans to an online qualitative questionnaire. The results show how adopting a vegan diet can lead to altered sensory relations to one’s own body and other bodies, along with sensorial reinterpretations of what is edible and what is not. Increased awareness and a sense of reconnection—or enhanced attunement with the non-human world—can follow as well, regardless of the initial motivation for the new diet. The article thus highlights the transformative potential of eating as a simultaneously cultural and physiological act. In doing so, it develops the concept of sustainable attunement and demonstrates how this form of attunement observed among the vegans in the study can serve as a useful lens for understanding and advancing research on sustainable dietary transitions, particularly their long-term maintenance (Less)
- author
- Viðarsdóttir, Auður
; Hafstein, Valdimar Tr.
and Jönsson, Håkan
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-07-10
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Attunement, embodiment, Iceland, sensory experience, sustainable eating, veganism
- in
- Food and Foodways
- volume
- 34
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 21 pages
- publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105044486933
- ISSN
- 0740-9710
- DOI
- 10.1080/07409710.2026.2694818
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2026 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
- id
- 26dd074e-66fd-47ae-9993-3aad2288f573
- date added to LUP
- 2026-08-12 10:50:09
- date last changed
- 2026-08-21 12:50:32
@article{26dd074e-66fd-47ae-9993-3aad2288f573,
abstract = {{<p>This article deals with the embodied and sensory experiences of individuals in Iceland who have become vegan in recent years. Grounded in ethnology and theoretically informed by embodied and relational approaches to eating, the study employs the concept of attunement to analyze empirical material from in-depth interviews with eighteen vegans aged 21–63 years old, as well as thirty-five written responses from another group of vegans to an online qualitative questionnaire. The results show how adopting a vegan diet can lead to altered sensory relations to one’s own body and other bodies, along with sensorial reinterpretations of what is edible and what is not. Increased awareness and a sense of reconnection—or enhanced attunement with the non-human world—can follow as well, regardless of the initial motivation for the new diet. The article thus highlights the transformative potential of eating as a simultaneously cultural and physiological act. In doing so, it develops the concept of <i>sustainable attunement</i> and demonstrates how this form of attunement observed among the vegans in the study can serve as a useful lens for understanding and advancing research on sustainable dietary transitions, particularly their long-term maintenance.</p>}},
author = {{Viðarsdóttir, Auður and Hafstein, Valdimar Tr. and Jönsson, Håkan}},
issn = {{0740-9710}},
keywords = {{Attunement; embodiment; Iceland; sensory experience; sustainable eating; veganism}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{07}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{208--228}},
publisher = {{Taylor & Francis}},
series = {{Food and Foodways}},
title = {{Toward sustainable attunement? Sensory and embodied experiences of vegans in Iceland}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07409710.2026.2694818}},
doi = {{10.1080/07409710.2026.2694818}},
volume = {{34}},
year = {{2026}},
}