Foods for Sharing: The Social Value of Handmade Foods

Mass-manufactured foods are ubiquitous in busy daily life. However, consumers still search for food products with handmade feature (Pieniak, Perezcueto, and Verbeke 2009). Market surveys and academic research indicate that handmade products are more attractive than machine-made ones (Fuchs, Schreier, and Osselaer 2015; Ga et al. 2013). Why are handmade foods so popular? Numerous research have documented the necessity of involving interpersonal relationship in food choices research. Food is widely regarded as a means of expression and a hallmark of social relationships (Cramer, Greene, and Walters 2011). The type of food we select and the amount of food we consume reflects social relationships (White and Dahl 2006) and social motives (Meiselman 2008) when we eat with others. For example, when women have relationship formation motives, their food choices are susceptical to men’ chocie (Hasford, Kidwell, and Lopez-Kidwell 2018). While men are influenced by females’ choices when they have relationship maintenance motives (Hasford et al. 2018). Choosing handmade foods may serve as a cue to signal social motives, since handmade products are imbued with love, which assists people in conveying affection (Fuchs et al. 2015). In the present research, we propose that the social motives to initiate or maintain a close relationship may direct people to choose handmade foods over machine-made foods. The current article contributes to our understanding of how social motives influence consumers’ predilection for handmade foods and beverages. We find that, consumers prefer handmade foods when they have motives to form a relationship with a new acquaintance or maintain a relationship with a familiar person. In addition, the current article provides insights for advertisers and managers in promoting handmade foods and beverages, and implications that could improve consumers’ wellbeing in social life.