Valorising seaweed : Novel food valuation in everyday encounters
Merkel, Annabell LU
(2026)
- Abstract
- Food production and consumption are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. As a transition to sustainable diets and sustainable food systems is widely agreed upon, one strategy is to focus on novel foods, such as previously unused resources, and their integration into everyday diets.
Marine macroalgae (seaweed), which require no freshwater, agricultural land, or fertilizers, are positioned as an environmentally sustainable, regenerative, and underutilized new food resource for Western diets. This thesis follows the empirical study object seaweed as an example of a novel food in Sweden. It highlights valuations as both enablers and constraints in transforming food consumption and how we eat. It explores aspects that... (More) - Food production and consumption are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. As a transition to sustainable diets and sustainable food systems is widely agreed upon, one strategy is to focus on novel foods, such as previously unused resources, and their integration into everyday diets.
Marine macroalgae (seaweed), which require no freshwater, agricultural land, or fertilizers, are positioned as an environmentally sustainable, regenerative, and underutilized new food resource for Western diets. This thesis follows the empirical study object seaweed as an example of a novel food in Sweden. It highlights valuations as both enablers and constraints in transforming food consumption and how we eat. It explores aspects that facilitate the embedding of novel food resources in established contexts through investigating the valorisation of seaweed in different settings.
The research encompasses four academic papers and one book chapter, each addressing different settings and everyday encounters with seaweed in Sweden. The thesis has two analytical foci: consumption contexts and scientific contexts. First, it is analysed how meanings associated with marine macroalgae are constructed, evaluated, and valued in consumption contexts. Paper I analyses consumers’ experience-descriptions to map the values attributed to seaweed and reveals context-specific interactions with marine macro algae. The Book Chapter sheds light on the retail sector’s role in shaping the categorization and uptake of novel foods, emphasizing its potential as change agent. Second, it is investigated how values and attributes connected to novel foods get assessed and assigned in scientific contexts. Paper II, a literature-based study, maps how research approaches the integration of novel foods into consumers’ diets, to examine how implicit values and disciplinary assumptions influence understandings of novel food consumption. Paper III looks behind the scenes of professional evaluating activities and demonstrates how collaboration across disciplines can be fostered through shared experience and reflexive methodologies. It utilizes sensory testing of seaweed as a common empirical focus. Linking valuation with sensory studies, Paper IV frames a sensory analysis as a valuation process. It uses taste as an example and explores how values are formulated, negotiated, and attached to novel food products.
Together, these studies offer a multifaceted understanding of how novel foods are embedded, negotiated, and valued in different contexts, contributing to broader debates on less resource-intensive diets and transitions towards more sustainable food systems. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Översatt sammanfattning:
Livsmedelsproduktion och konsumtion bidrar i hög grad till utsläppen av växthusgaser. Eftersom det råder bred enighet om att en övergång till hållbara kostvanor och hållbara livsmedelssystem är nödvändig är en strategi att fokusera på nya livsmedel, såsom tidigare outnyttjade resurser, och att integrera dessa i den vardagliga kosten.
Marina makroalger (tång), som inte kräver sötvatten, jordbruksmark eller gödsel, ses som en miljömässigt hållbar, regenerativ och underutnyttjad ny livsmedelsresurs för västerländska kostvanor. Denna avhandling tar upp det empiriska studieobjektet tång som ett exempel på ett nytt livsmedel i Sverige. Den belyser värderingar som både möjliggörande och begränsande i... (More) - Översatt sammanfattning:
Livsmedelsproduktion och konsumtion bidrar i hög grad till utsläppen av växthusgaser. Eftersom det råder bred enighet om att en övergång till hållbara kostvanor och hållbara livsmedelssystem är nödvändig är en strategi att fokusera på nya livsmedel, såsom tidigare outnyttjade resurser, och att integrera dessa i den vardagliga kosten.
Marina makroalger (tång), som inte kräver sötvatten, jordbruksmark eller gödsel, ses som en miljömässigt hållbar, regenerativ och underutnyttjad ny livsmedelsresurs för västerländska kostvanor. Denna avhandling tar upp det empiriska studieobjektet tång som ett exempel på ett nytt livsmedel i Sverige. Den belyser värderingar som både möjliggörande och begränsande i omvandlingen av livsmedelskonsumtionen och hur vi äter. Den utforskar aspekter som underlättar integreringen av nya livsmedelsresurser i etablerade sammanhang genom att undersöka hur tång blir uppfattad i olika sammanhang.
Forskningen omfattar fyra vetenskapliga artiklar och ett bokkapitel, som var och en behandlar olika sammanhang och vardagliga möten med tång i Sverige. Avhandlingen har två analytiska fokus: konsumtionssammanhang och vetenskapliga sammanhang. Först analyseras hur betydelser kopplade till marina makroalger konstrueras, utvärderas och värderas i konsumtionssammanhang. Artikel I analyserar konsumenters beskrivningar av sina upplevelser för att kartlägga de värden som tillskrivs tång och belysa kontextspecifika interaktioner med marina makroalger. I bokkapitlet belyses dagligvaruhandelns roll när det gäller att forma kategoriseringen och acceptansen av nya livsmedel, med fokus på dess potential som förändringsaktör. Därefter undersöks hur värden och egenskaper kopplade till nya livsmedel bedöms och tillskrivs i vetenskapliga sammanhang. Artikel II, en litteraturbaserad studie, kartlägger hur forskningen närmar sig integreringen av nya livsmedel i konsumenternas kostvanor, i syfte att undersöka hur implicita värderingar och disciplinära antaganden påverkar förståelsen av konsumtionen av nya livsmedel. Artikel III blickar bakom kulisserna på professionella utvärderingsaktiviteter och visar hur samarbete mellan olika discipliner kan främjas genom gemensamma erfarenheter och reflexiva metoder. Den använder sensoriska tester av tång som ett gemensamt empiriskt fokus. Genom att koppla samman värdering med sensoriska studier betraktar artikel IV den sensoriska analysen som en värderingsprocess. Artikeln tar smak som exempel och undersöker hur värden formuleras, förhandlas fram och kopplas till nya livsmedelsprodukter.
Tillsammans ger dessa studier en mångfacetterad bild av hur nya livsmedel integreras, diskuteras och värderas i olika sammanhang, vilket bidrar till bredare debatter om mindre resurskrävande kostvanor och övergångar till mer hållbara livsmedelssystem. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/d41fb89e-736a-4661-9e01-043e7e94a6b2
- author
- Merkel, Annabell
LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Docent Abrahamsson, Sebastian, Uppsala universitet
- organization
- alternative title
- Att använda tång : Värdering av nya livsmedel i vardagen
- publishing date
- 2026-04
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Valuation, Valorisation, Commodity, Consumption, Value, Novel food, Follow the thing, Multi-sided ethnography, Sensory, Seaweed, Sweden
- pages
- 111 pages
- publisher
- Department of Service Studies, Lund University
- defense location
- U203, Universitetsplatsen 2, 252 25 Helsingborg
- defense date
- 2026-05-22 13:00:00
- ISBN
- 978-91-8104-956-5
- 978-91-8104-955-8
- project
- Service Studies Sustainability
- Marine food resources for new markets
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- d41fb89e-736a-4661-9e01-043e7e94a6b2
- date added to LUP
- 2026-04-20 21:12:28
- date last changed
- 2026-04-27 11:53:39
@phdthesis{d41fb89e-736a-4661-9e01-043e7e94a6b2,
abstract = {{Food production and consumption are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. As a transition to sustainable diets and sustainable food systems is widely agreed upon, one strategy is to focus on novel foods, such as previously unused resources, and their integration into everyday diets.<br/><br/>Marine macroalgae (seaweed), which require no freshwater, agricultural land, or fertilizers, are positioned as an environmentally sustainable, regenerative, and underutilized new food resource for Western diets. This thesis follows the empirical study object seaweed as an example of a novel food in Sweden. It highlights valuations as both enablers and constraints in transforming food consumption and how we eat. It explores aspects that facilitate the embedding of novel food resources in established contexts through investigating the valorisation of seaweed in different settings.<br/><br/>The research encompasses four academic papers and one book chapter, each addressing different settings and everyday encounters with seaweed in Sweden. The thesis has two analytical foci: consumption contexts and scientific contexts. First, it is analysed how meanings associated with marine macroalgae are constructed, evaluated, and valued in consumption contexts. Paper I analyses consumers’ experience-descriptions to map the values attributed to seaweed and reveals context-specific interactions with marine macro algae. The Book Chapter sheds light on the retail sector’s role in shaping the categorization and uptake of novel foods, emphasizing its potential as change agent. Second, it is investigated how values and attributes connected to novel foods get assessed and assigned in scientific contexts. Paper II, a literature-based study, maps how research approaches the integration of novel foods into consumers’ diets, to examine how implicit values and disciplinary assumptions influence understandings of novel food consumption. Paper III looks behind the scenes of professional evaluating activities and demonstrates how collaboration across disciplines can be fostered through shared experience and reflexive methodologies. It utilizes sensory testing of seaweed as a common empirical focus. Linking valuation with sensory studies, Paper IV frames a sensory analysis as a valuation process. It uses taste as an example and explores how values are formulated, negotiated, and attached to novel food products.<br/><br/>Together, these studies offer a multifaceted understanding of how novel foods are embedded, negotiated, and valued in different contexts, contributing to broader debates on less resource-intensive diets and transitions towards more sustainable food systems.}},
author = {{Merkel, Annabell}},
isbn = {{978-91-8104-956-5}},
keywords = {{Valuation; Valorisation; Commodity; Consumption; Value; Novel food; Follow the thing; Multi-sided ethnography; Sensory; Seaweed; Sweden}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Department of Service Studies, Lund University}},
school = {{Lund University}},
title = {{Valorising seaweed : Novel food valuation in everyday encounters}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/248042896/Avhandling_Annabell_Merkel_LUCRIS.pdf}},
year = {{2026}},
}