Future Scenarios of the Food System: Insights from the Consumers’ Perspective

The paper aims at contributing to the construction of food system scenario dynamics with insights from the consumers’ perspective. It is based on an analysis of the food expenditures made from 2002 until the present by Italian families. The paper’s specific goal is to verify a few hypotheses in the evolution of food consumptions, particularly the trends towards a homogenisation of consumption models, with a close look at the younger generations and new lifestyles, the effects of the changes in income due to the recent economic crisis and the role of communication as a factor that conditions food choices.