Changing Food Consumption Practices Among the Emerging Middle Classes in Metro Manila

This paper will present preliminary research results from an ongoing research project that considers the dynamics of food consumption among the middle classes in Bangalore and Metro Manila, including consumption patterns, practices and policies. Asia is often seen as the center of gravity for the “new consumer” phenomenon, where a rise in affluence can translate to consumers who enjoy better diets, private transport, throwaway products, and fashionable versus functional clothing (Myers and Kent 2004). The focus of this paper is on Metro Manila and the emerging middle classes, who may not necessarily be experiencing ‘better’ diets, but where there does seem to be a trend towards ‘organic’ and ‘local’ food consumption and production among some people. This paper wishes to highlight the emergence of organic and/or local food and composting as entry topics for environmental concern, as well as the influence of globalization on environmental initiatives.

One main finding is that changes in food consumption practices are not only related to a rise in affluence, but to changes in other practices, such as changing the location of your home, joining a new workplace, or the employment of a domestic worker. Specifically, a change towards organic food consumption seems to be motivated by a different set of reasons, not directly related to environmental concerns: certain people interviewed as part of this research project and who have chosen this kind of diet claim to do so because of health reasons, proximity to certain markets, as well as the influence of travels abroad. Looking upstream at organic farming and further downstream at composting, people engaged in these new practices had all been ‘elsewhere’ and brought new ways of doing back with them, upon returning to the Philippines. The significance of demonstration projects towards more ‘sustainable’ practices will be discussed.