Human Informatics and Interaction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba Central 6, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8566, Japan.
Kagome Co., Ltd., 17 Nishitomiyama, Nasushiobara-shi, Tochigi, 329-2762, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2022 Apr 2;12(1):5568. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09485-2.
Food can be a valuable mediator of nostalgia. Japanese food culture places a great emphasis on seasons, and thus there may be a relationship between nostalgic foods and seasonality. In this study, we hypothesized that participants who emphasized seasonality at the time of vegetable purchase (seasonality-oriented; hereafter, SO) would be more likely to feel vegetable-evoked nostalgia than those who did not (non-seasonality-oriented; hereafter, non-SO). To test this hypothesis, we administered an online survey to older Japanese adults regarding 103 representative vegetables considered to be seasonal foods. After participants selected vegetables that they had eaten, they then selected those that evoked nostalgia (hereafter, nostalgic vegetables). For each nostalgic vegetable, they evaluated the degree of nostalgia and state if a past event (autobiographical memory) was recalled. If an autobiographical memory was recalled for a certain nostalgic vegetable, nostalgia for that memory was evaluated. Comparing between SO and non-SO participants, SO participants had significantly higher numbers of nostalgic vegetables with associated autobiographical memories, as well as nostalgia for those vegetables and autobiographical memories. The results supported our hypothesis, suggesting that seasonality-conscious purchasing behavior evokes nostalgia.
食物可以成为怀旧的有力媒介。日本的饮食文化非常注重时令，因此怀旧食品和季节性之间可能存在一定的关系。在这项研究中，我们假设在购买蔬菜时强调季节性的参与者（以下简称 SO 组）比不强调季节性的参与者（以下简称非 SO 组）更有可能因蔬菜而产生怀旧之情。为了验证这一假设，我们向日本老年人进行了一项在线调查，涉及 103 种被认为是季节性食品的代表性蔬菜。在参与者选择他们已经吃过的蔬菜后，他们选择那些能引起怀旧之情的蔬菜（以下简称怀旧蔬菜）。对于每种怀旧蔬菜，他们都会评估怀旧的程度，并确定是否回忆起了过去的事件（自传体记忆）。如果对某一怀旧蔬菜回忆起了自传体记忆，他们会评估对该记忆的怀旧之情。将 SO 组和非 SO 组进行比较后发现，SO 组参与者与自传体记忆相关的怀旧蔬菜数量以及对这些蔬菜和自传体记忆的怀旧程度明显更高。研究结果支持了我们的假设，即具有季节意识的购买行为会引发怀旧之情。
